12.24.2. Other Solutions
I don't use a docking station myself. They seem really expensive and I can't see any usefulness. Alright you have to deal with some more cables, but is it worth so much money? Docking stations are useful in an office environment when you have a permanent network connection, or need the docking station's expansion bus slots (e.g. for some excotic SCSI device).
Also all docking stations I know are proprietary models, so if you change your laptop you have to change this device, too. I just found one exception a docking station which connects to your laptop via IrDA ® the IRDocking IR-660 by Tekram . It supports these connectors: 10Base-T (RJ-45) ; PS/2 Keyboard; PS/2 Mouse; 25-Pin Printer Port (LPT) ; IR Transceiver; Power (6 VDC). So it seems that a VGA port and a port to connect a desktop PC directly are missing. This device should work with Linux/IrDA ®, though I couldn't check it out.
I would prefer to buy a PC instead and connect it via network to the laptop.
Or use an external display, which usually works well as described above, and an external keyboard and mouse. If your laptop supports an extra PS/2 port you may use a cheap solution a Y-cable , which connects the PS/2 port to an external keyboard and an external monitor. Note: Your laptop probably has support for the Y-cable feature, e.g. the COMPAQ Armada 1592DT.
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