Synergy: Sharing Single Keyboard and Mouse Cross Platforms.
I’ve been wanting to do this, I can’t work comfortably with the laptop’s keypad, especially without numpad. Now this is one innovative open source program that needs some serious credit. Synergy, lets you share a single set of keyboard and mouse across multiple operating systems, namely, Windows, Linux and Mac.
Visit the download page here. On my desk, there are one IBM Thinkpad(Windows XP) and a PC(Debian GNU Linux). I’m going to share one set of logitech keyboard and mouse across these two machines.
Decide which machine to be the server. In my case, I’m going to choose Debian machine as the synergy server, no doubt. The IBM Thinkpad is going to be the client machine. Before you start, you should make sure that, all machines involved must have TCP/IP connections. In other word, local area network is needed.
Setting Synergy Server on Debian machine
This requires a little work. I’m on Debian Unstable, Synergy is available in the repository. Just use your favorite package manager and install it. After the installation, nothing will be changed on the desktop screen yet.
A config file needs to be created in order to startup the Synergy Server. In my case, I create a new config file in /etc/synergy. Both the directory and the file are not existing, you will need to create them yourself.
Codes:
mkdir /etc/synergy
touch /etc/synergy/synergy.conf
I name the file synergy.conf. Now edit the file with your favorite editor.
Codes:
section: screens
hostname1:
hostname2:
end
section: links
hostname1:
left=hostname2
hostname2:
right=hostname1
end
Replace hostname1 and hostname2 with the actual hostnames of your machines, and set their positions. In my case there are only 2 screens, one is next to each other.
To start synergy server with the newly created config:
Codes:
synergys -f –config /etc/synergy/synergy.conf
At this point you should see a lot of output in the console. If it states that server successfully started, then leave it running there for the moment. Let’s continue to setting up the Windows XP client.
Setting up Synergy Client on Windows XP
Download the SynergyInstaller from the download page. After the installation, you should see a Synergy desktop icon. Double click and you will see this.
For me, entering the hostname did not work. I had to enter the local IP address of Debian Machine to get this to work. Once the client has successfully established connection with the server, you should be able to drag your mouse across the screens, and keyboard will work in the screen your mouse stays on. Easy task, right?
Key features that I like about Synergy
- Multiple O/S support. This is the crucial feature of software development.
- COPY and PASTE. Sweetest of all! Now I can copy and paste text across the screens. Great for programmers.
Autostarting
You can set Synergy to autostart when you boot up your machines.
On Debian
You need add a few lines into several KDE files.(I’m a KDE user).
- /etc/kde3/kdm/Xsetup
Codes:
/usr/bin/killall synergys
sleep 1
/usr/bin/synergys –config /etc/synergy/synergy.conf
- /etc/kde3/kdm/Xstartup
Codes:
/usr/bin/killall synergys
sleep 1
- /etc/kde3/kdm/Xsession
Codes:
/usr/bin/killall synergys
sleep 1
/usr/bin/synergys –config /etc/synergy/synergy.conf
On Windows
Simply click on Autostart button in the program. Refer to picture above. You can choose “When computer starts” or “When you login”, depends on your requirement here. I’ve chosen “when computer starts”.
Here’s my desk.
That’s it. This is a long post, please correct me if you find any spelling error. Also check out nice multi monitor setup got featured on lifehacker.com
