Chapter 4. Sharing Your Display, Keyboard, and Mouse

Certainly, many buyers of the Mac mini switching from a Windows machine will just unplug their PCs and put them in the closet. Others, however, will want to keep their PCs around so they can continue to use Windows-only applications or make full use of a Microsoft Exchange server. This chapter is for those latter users, who aren't so much switchers as adders.

As you read this chapter, you will learn:

• How to share a single display, keyboard, and mouse between a Mac mini and a Windows PC.

• How to select the necessary keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch.

• How to deal with a lack of USB and FireWire ports on the Mac mini.

• How to select USB and FireWire hubs to expand your Mac mini.

• About the important difference between Mac and Windows keyboards and how to deal with it.

• How to select speakers to use with your Mac mini.

• How to share data between your Mac mini and a Windows PC.

It is easy for your Mac mini and Windows PC to share the same display, keyboard, and mouse. All that's required is a single piece of additional equipment: a KVM switch, costing as little as $60. If there is one essential accessory for the Mac mini, this is it.

The letters KVM stand for keyboard, video, and mouse, all of which the device switches between the two computers. Press the switch one way, and you'll see your Mac mini's desktop on the display; press it the other way, and your PC's Windows desktop appears. Whichever computer appears on the screen is also the machine to which your keyboard and mouse are connected.

Some KVM switches also switch your speakers along with your keyboard, display, and mouse. And the one I'm using now doesn't even require pressing a switchjust four keystrokes, and my screen changes from one machine to the other. And the actual switch is hidden under my desk.