Shared hardware
GavinWraith (26) 1532 posts |
On my desk I have two RPis, one running RISC OS 5.23, the other Raspbian Jessie, each with their own power supply, monitor, keyboard and mouse. I also have a separately powered USB hub, which I can connect to either. This is quite convenient, because I can read into Raspbian any files saved onto a memory stick from RISC OS, or vice versa. However it does mean unplugging the hub from one machine and replugging into the other. Both OSs seem to cope with such changes of hardware configuration while they are running without complaint. But is there any way of having the hub permanently connected to both machines simultaneously? Apologies if this is a naive question; I am sure lots of readers have a better developed natural sympathy for electronic devices than I have. |
mark stephens (181) 125 posts |
Why don’t you run a USB switch or keep them plugged into one machine and access the other machine remotely via VNC? It would be a lot safer than trying to share. On my desk I have 2 monitors and a USB switch (CJEmicros have a whole range from cheap and cheerful to all bells and whistles). So I only need 1 keyboard and mouse, and my monitors can be shared by anything which can support dual screen (my Macs and hopefully Titanium after London Show). Lot less clutter. |
Vince M Hudd (116) 527 posts |
Not if you want it connected via USB, AFAIK. The closest I can think of to do it via USB – which would still require dismounting on one before mounting on the other (if any writes have been made) is via a simple USB switch. I used to do it with this one – hub plugged into it and shared between two computers, with keyboard, mouse and a USB memory stick plugged into the hub. I didn’t really need to add a USB hub into the mix, but I did just because I could. IIRC I bought it as a quick, temporary fix when my (RGB) KVM died1. A possibly better solution would be to use a NAS rather than a USB memory stick. However, if you don’t have (or want to buy) a NAS, check your router. It may have a USB port on it for connecting either a printer or USB storage, in order to provide a shared resource for everything on your network. If it does have one, you could plug the memory stick into that. (I don’t know how good an idea that is with a memory stick, though – I’ve never considered trying it.) You could also set up a network share on one of the two machines, accessed on the other, and just transfer files between them that way. 1 Most of my kit these days uses HDMI for video, so I now have a four port HDMI KVM for keyboard and mouse2 – but I do still use the USB switch because my newly set up desktop PC (running Linux Mint) only has an RGB port. The USB switch therefore switches between the HDMI KVM and the USB hub depending on whether I’m using that PC, or a computer that uses HDMI for video. 2 In fact, I have two – I ordered one from Amazon, but it wasn’t in stock, so in the meantime I found one on eBay and bought that. I left the Amazon order in place (and it has now been fulfilled) so that I’d have a spare. |
George T. Greenfield (154) 716 posts |
You should be able to get rid of the monitor/keyboard/mouse duplication by using a KVM switch – I use a Rextron DAG12 2-port DVI switch supplied by CJE to connect a Pi and PC to a single monitor, keyboard and mouse. LanMan98 on the Pi allows it to access shared folders on the PC over the network, including the detachable (F) drive; I’d imagine (without knowing anything about Linux!) it should be possible to set up something similar on your Raspbian Jessie Pi, so you can leave the memory stick permanently plugged in, but access it from the RISC OS machine. It should certainly make dusting the desktop easier! |