[RTTY] Point-and-click vs typing

[Don Hill AA5AU]

Ditto... Ed has it right and his scores prove it.

Switching the same keyboard and/or mouse between two PCs is a huge waste of time and effort. Running SO2R with separate keyboards is
actually ergonomic since you can relax your hands at the base of each keyboard when no action is required at a particular time. It's
this small amount of "rest" that is actually particularly important, especially when you start to age! A continuous effort of
switching between PCs or in the case of a single PC, switching the focus between two radios is energy consuming and therefore
counter-productive to efficient SO2R or SO3R operation.

73, Don AA5AU

-----Original Message-----
From: RTTY [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ed Muns
Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2014 10:48 PM
To: rtty at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Point-and-click vs typing

Multiplicity and other KVM switches are inadequate for one-PC/radio contesting.  The context switching overhead kills the ability to
run multiple radios effectively, efficiently and fast in high-rate contesting.
Yes, KVMs "work", but that's not nearly good enough for this application.

In SO2R RTTY contesting, for example, I have one hand on the keyboard associated with each radio.  I can time and synchronize runs
on each radio with a single key press.  There is no time available to also be doing context switching for every key press, to move
the UI from one PC to another.  That effectively doubles the amount of key presses or actions needed to accomplish the same results.
It is an unnecessary additional action that has to be made thousands of times during a weekend's contest.
Furthermore, it is far too easy to inadvertently wind up on the wrong PC.
With distinct, separate keyboards/trackballs/LCDs, that seldom, if ever, happens.

If I wanted to run SO2R from a single UI (keyboard/mouse/monitor), I'd simply use the native SO2R capability built into the contest
logging software.

KVM make sense when the amount of typing or key presses on each PC is far greater than the key presses, or other action, to switch
between PCs.  That is not the case in radio sport. 

Ed W0YK

------------------------------------------------------

Michael N1EN wrote:

If you're using one-computer-per-radio and are using Windows, take a look at Multiplicity (http://edgerunner.com/multiplicity)

Multiplicity is a virtual KVM switch.  You run it on two or more computers, and it allows you to take mouse and keyboard input from
one computer to drive multiple computers connected via IP.  Properly set up, the effect is similar to having multiple monitors on
your desk.

I've been using it for years.  It isn't necessarily intuitive to set up, and I have had an occasional glitch, but it beats having
multiple keyboards and multiple mice/trackballs if you have to use multiple computers.

Warning: if using it for with shack computers that will be doing digital modes, I recommend disabling audio-sharing between
computers in Multiplicity.  

There is (was?) also a free, multi-platform program called Synergy that claims to do much the same thing.  I tried it several years
ago; at that time it had issues, but if it's still around and actively maintained, I suspect it has improved.

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