Best ways to share a thunderbolt display between two macs?

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Best ways to share a thunderbolt display between two macs?

I have a mini and a MBP. I have the mini connected to the rear thunderbolt port, the MBP connected to the front (integrated tb cable). Based on everything I'd read, what I had hoped would happen is that when the MBP is connected in the front, it takes over the monitor, and when disconnected, the mini connected in the back takes it over. It appears that this is not the case - if I disconnect the MBP, I still need to reboot the mini in order to get it to takein some cases a reboot is required to force the display to attach to one or the other mac.

Are there any workarounds or better ways to share a TB (and all of the peripherals connected to it) between two macs? I'm wondering if there's a keystroke or command to force it to scan its connections again and display the connected mac.

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 25, 2011 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

SkullOne

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Oct 25, 2011 9:12 AM in response to anearthling

Afaik this is technically not possible. You would need a KVM-switch for this, but they do not come in thunderbolt flavour...

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Answer 2

Column

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Oct 26, 2011 9:18 PM in response to anearthling

There is no mechanism on the Thunderbolt display to switch between the signals, so what you're trying to do probably won't work. If you want to share the display, you could always remote control the 2nd machine. If you have 2 Macs, you could use Apple Remote Desktop to remote control the 2nd Mac across the network. Or, you might be able to use Chicken VNC as a free alternative: http://sourceforge.net/projects/chicken/ How To: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bccoyb8YMIU

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Answer 3

anearthling Author

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Oct 27, 2011 6:25 AM in response to Column

Thanks - you're probably right, but I was hoping someone might have figured out a hack. I don't need to switch between them very often (like not often enough that I'd need a KVM switch), and VNC systems don't seem to work reliably with both plugged in to the T-bolt.

Ijust wanted the convenience of some sort of auto-detection so that when the laptop is plugged in, it has the con, and when it's not, the other machine does. The system behaves like that about 40% of the time, but requires a reboot the other 60%. Seems like it would be a nice feature for people who have a travel and home machine and would continue to encourage that behavior, which feels like it fits in with where all of this is going for Apple.

Update: new firmware update for the MBP relating to Thunderbolt compatibility: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1450

I wonder if this has any effect. Will let you know.

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Answer 4

Column

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Oct 28, 2011 12:00 AM in response to anearthling

I'm praying for more Thunderbolt peripherals (RAID disks, KVM switches, hubs, audio devices, video cards, cameras, anything really).

Interested to see how the firmware update did ya...

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Answer 5

Apr 25, 2012 4:25 AM in response to anearthling

The best, most relaibe way to do this is via VNC.

You will be able to use the TB display with the main Mac you use then VNC the other Mac whenever you need to use it.

I am at college at the moment, but I will see what I use and send you the details as I have a similar situation at home and use different VNCs for different machines. Intel Macs need certain types of VNCs. G5s need PPC VNCs...

TB KVMs and hubs will come along eventually. Just not yet!

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