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Looking for a technical solution to share a desk with 2 monitors (feddit.nu)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/wfh

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My girlfriend just moved in with me. We both work in tech and both work from home at the same time occasionally. We have one wide desk with a couple of monitors on it.

Whenever we switch between who gets to sit at the desk there are a lot of cables that have to be switched between devices and it looks a bit messy.

I would like to have a setup that would allow us to sit side by side at the desk and use one screen each.

I would like it to be as simple as plugging in a single USB-C cable and everything is set up (one for each side, that is).

The big ask is; I also want to be able to take control of both screens from a single computer whenever one of us is not working from home and the one who does has access to the whole desk.

I want to be able to switch between sharing 2 screens between 2 laptops and controlling both screens with that same computer. Switching should be quick and easy.

The problem is; All solutions I have found include getting something like 2 KVM switches and 3 USB-C docks and plugging them together in a funky configuration.

Not only is that a lot of tech for solving the problem, it is also very expensive.

Do you have any advice on how we could get this to work in a reasonable way? How would you solve it?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

XPRA or waypipe could help if you're running Linux on the workstations the apps actually run on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Pretty sure OP is dealing with laptops, not workstations.

[–] Concave1142 2 points 1 month ago

What you want is a KVM or if both devices are laptops, share a docking station between the two.

I have my work laptop & personal PC on a KVM so I can just press a button to to from work to personal.

I've had my dual monitor supporting KVM from TESsmart since the start of Covid and will never not have a KVM again so I can just one the one desk setup.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So, do the monitors have multiple inputs? If so, two usb C docks and four display cables should do it.

Set each dock up for each of you, then connect both docks to both monitors with the four display cables.

Then you use the input switch button on either monitor to switch which dock it is displaying from to swap between two people one monitor and one person two monitors.

Edit: Just realized the fourth cable is unnecessary, and then one of the docks can be a cheaper one with only one display output, since you'll never use both docks with both monitirs at the same time.

This effectively turns the input switch button on one of the monitors into what switches the setup between the two modes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

It sounds like what you want could be achieved with no extra hardware (other than a couple cheap USB-C to USB-A adaptors) if the following things are true:

You have 2 monitors with multiple USB-C ports.
Your laptops have multiple USB-C ports.

Plug one keyboard and mouse into one monitor, plug the other into the other monitor. If you're both at the desk, you each plug in one monitor. If only one of you is at the desk plug in both monitors.

If your monitors/computers don't fit those requirements you're gonna end up buying more stuff.