Hotseat
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Four desks it was made for

Each has more than one computer and one good keyboard, mouse, headset or monitor. Here is what Hotseat replaces on each, and what it does not do.

Your PChostWork laptopHeadsetYour PCMonitorKeyboardMouse
You are on the work laptop: the keyboard, mouse and headset went there, and the monitor stays with your PC.

Desk 1

A work laptop beside your own PC

The laptop from work stands open beside your monitor. Your good keyboard, mouse and headset are plugged into your own PC.

You tell Hotseat where the laptop's screen stands. From then on you push the pointer past that edge of the monitor and you are on the laptop: you type there, and its sound plays in your headset. Push back and you are on your PC again.

It replaces

  • A second keyboard and mouse on the desk.
  • Moving the headset's plug from one computer to the other.

It does not

  • Work unless it is installed on both computers. If you may not install software on the work laptop, Hotseat is not for this desk.
  • Carry your headset's microphone to a Windows laptop. For calls there, use the laptop's own microphone.
  • Cross at the edge when your own PC runs Ubuntu. There the key does the moving.
Ubuntu boxhostMacBookHeadsetMacBookMonitorKeyboardMouse
One press of F11: the keyboard, the mouse, the sound and the picture are on the MacBook.

Desk 2

A Mac and a Linux box

You write on the MacBook and build on the Ubuntu box under the desk. Both are plugged into the one monitor, on two inputs, and the keyboard and mouse into the Ubuntu box.

F11 moves the keyboard, the mouse and the picture from one to the other. The error message you copied on the Ubuntu box is there to paste when you arrive on the Mac, and a folder dropped on the Mac in the Hotseat window lands in its Downloads.

It replaces

  • Reaching behind the monitor for its input button.
  • A second keyboard for the box under the desk.
  • Mailing yourself a line of text to get it from one computer to the other.

It does not

  • Show one computer's screen in a window on the other. Each computer has its own picture, on its own input of the monitor.
  • Carry pictures on the clipboard: text and files only.
  • Cross at a screen edge from the Ubuntu box, since that is where the keyboard is plugged in. With the keyboard on the Mac, crossing to the Ubuntu box works.
Work PChostHome PCHeadsetHome PCMonitorKeyboardMouse
Everything is on the second tower, the monitor's input included.

Desk 3

One monitor, two towers

Two towers under the desk and one monitor on top, one tower on DisplayPort and the other on HDMI. One keyboard, one mouse, one headset.

Press F11 and all four are on the other tower: you type there, hear it, and see it. Nothing on the desk has to be touched.

It replaces

  • A KVM switch and its cables.
  • The monitor's own input button.
  • A second keyboard and mouse.

It does not

  • Carry the picture. Each tower needs its own cable to the monitor, and the monitor has to support DDC/CI.
  • Switch faster than the monitor: ours takes about 2.6 s to change input.
  • Reach a tower where Hotseat has not started yet. It starts when you sign in, so start-up menus and the first sign-in need a keyboard plugged into that tower.
Gaming PChostWork laptopHeadsetGaming PCMonitorKeyboardMouse
The keyboard, mouse and monitor are in the game; the headset alone plays the work laptop.

Desk 4

Play on one, work on the other

You play on the gaming PC and keep the work laptop open for messages. The headset is plugged into the gaming PC and stays there.

While you play, a click on the headset in the Hotseat window lets you hear the laptop without taking the keyboard out of the game. When you move over to answer, the sound follows the keyboard. If the game runs on the computer the mouse is not plugged into, Game mode sends the pointer more often and shortens the sound buffer.

It replaces

  • Two headsets, or one whose plug you keep moving.
  • A second mouse beside the first.

It does not

  • Mix the two computers' sound. You hear one at a time.
  • Promise a figure for delay. Game mode has not been measured on a real desk yet; Hotseat shows the delay it adds itself, so you can judge on your own desk.
  • Carry the headset's microphone to a Windows computer.

Each thing Hotseat moves, in detail

$9.99 once, for all the computers on your desk

A lifetime licence with all updates.

Lifetime licence

$9.99

Pay once.

  • Every computer on your desk
  • A second desk, at home or at work
  • All updates
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