Uh, get a KMM switch?

(From Alex: I tried that once. I regretted it.)

To cut down on the number of keyboards and mice, you need synergy -- http://synergy2.sf.net/ . It's really nice being able to move your mouse pointer of the edge of your windows desktop to your linux desktop, copy some text, move the mouse back to the windows box and paste. Too bad dragging application windows across OSes don't work :)

What about just a KVM. Much simpler solution.

(From Alex: See above.)

You can set up Synergy and only use one keyboard and mouse across multiple computers.

A very handy tool!

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

The desk I'm using now, I got at Office Depot a couple of years ago, and it works reasonably well for multiple computers. It's a corner desk, with a space directly in front for a tower case to go, then above that plenty of room for two monitors on a riser. Then two wings off on each side.

I've got my iMac and a second monitor up on the riser, a Mac SE off to my left that I use for various �ber-geeky stuff, and my Mac mini is to my right with its monitor on the right wing of the desk. The charging cradle for my wireless headphones sits on top of the mini.

Occasionally I have a PC in the tower enclosure space, but right now I'm using it to store books because since Parallels came out, I haven't had a real need for a physical PC.

Works pretty well for me.

Try using a KVM switch - at least for the keyboard & mouse, if not also the displays.

You could try synergy [ http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ ]. Like a KVM, but in software.

Lifehacker had a good guide on setting up synergy you might want to check out:

http://lifehacker.com/software/dual-monitor/hack-attack-control-multiple-computers-with-a-single-keyboard-and-mouse-254648.php

If the KVM degrades the images on the monitor, then return it and get a better one. The one I've got is branded LinXcel. It's a 4 port USB KVM, and it handles the 1920x1440 resolution that I use perfectly. On the other hand it's not perfect, because it's only got a single button. That means that to get to the previous computer you have to cycle through all of them. I went ahead and got it anyway, because at around $40 it was less expensive than the alternatives.

I do agree with you though, image quality is paramount. There's no point in using anything that hurts you in that department.

Synergy is also a good way to go, especially if you want to keep both monitors.

Another approach would be to use a remote desktop program of some sort to be able to use two of the machines on a single screen.

For example, I have XDMCP enabled on a Ubuntu Linux box and have set it so that Nautilus doesn't draw the desktop (it's a setting in GConf). I connect to that machine using XMing on my Windows desktop, in rootless mode.

The result is that I have a Windows taskbar at the bottom of the screen and a Gnome panel at the top. Launching something from the Gnome panel runs it on the Linux box, but sends the output to XMing on the Windows system. Two systems simultanteously available but using only one keyboard, mouse and monitor.

I've done the same using XNest on a Mac to access a Linux box, but never needed to look into a rootless system on there.