Keyboard and Mouse Sharing
Overview
Synergy is a brilliant piece of software that doesn't require much effort to get going, Though after that it required me some more time to get it to function just how I want it to = faultless autostart.
So What Does Synergy Do?
I can now use my favourite keyboard & mouse to operate two computers (synergy will do plenty more computers if you have them) one at a time of course...
The two machines are set up to load synergy when they boot, & it doesn't matter what order the server or the client is booted in, when they are both up, synergy automatically does its stuff, using next to no system resources.
The Three B's - BS, Blurb & Bug:
Years ago I paid a lot of money for a really good quality four machine handling KVM switch box. It worked very well via keyboard command until the day it failed. :( In those days when I was fixing computers, that KVM was far superior to synergy because it was hardware that was system independent & worked on anything that had a working BIOS.
For my needs today, the synergy system shits all over a KVM, though there are varying limitations which are dictated by the display manager / OS you are using.
Running Openbox, I can't make use of synergy until OB has loaded. On some Linux display managers you can use it before hand & I'm sure that OS/X & the various Windows all have their strengths & weaknesses in this regard. In the end this doesn't really matter to me as I spend very little time outside of OB anyway. So for my current computer usage synergy is all but gob smacking perfect.
All but? Yes, just one tiny bug that effects a few of us. For some users when moving the mouse from one computer screen to another you get a one or (far more rare) a two second black screen.
I got the one second one when moving from the client to the server. For most this is fixed by issuing the command xset -dpms. This works for me so I issue it in ~/.xinitrc so the problem never appears.
This problem has been around for about a year, & someone has written a patch for it inside of the last month, so I'll hang back & wait for the next release which I expect to have killed this bug, in the mean time I no longer know it exists.
I'm sure that this bug no longer exists, don't be put off by it.
The Synergys Server:
Installation:
Rather than me duplicating it, the Archwiki has a great page on Synergy installation.
Configuration:
My /etc/hosts file follows which should speak for itself:
192.168.1.3 rightpc.localdomain rightpc ## the HP server 192.168.1.6 leftpc.localdomain leftpc ## the iMac client
Synergy.conf
Here is a great start (a complete solution in my case) for a very smoothly running pair of machines (easily edited for more though), via one mouse & keyboard being connected to the synergys server - this synergy.conf is the server configuration file which does the job faultlessly for me:
#synergy.conf section: screens leftpc: halfDuplexCapsLock = false halfDuplexNumLock = false halfDuplexScrollLock = false xtestIsXineramaUnaware = false switchCorners = none +top-left +top-right +bottom-left +bottom-right switchCornerSize = 0 rightpc: halfDuplexCapsLock = false halfDuplexNumLock = false halfDuplexScrollLock = false xtestIsXineramaUnaware = false switchCorners = none +top-left +top-right +bottom-left +bottom-right switchCornerSize = 0 end section: aliases leftpc: 192.168.1.6 rightpc: 192.168.1.3 end section: links leftpc: right = rightpc rightpc: left = leftpc end section: options heartbeat = 1000 relativeMouseMoves = false screenSaverSync = false win32KeepForeground = false switchCorners = none +top-left +top-right +bottom-left +bottom-right switchCornerSize = 4 end
This synergyc.conf file suits my uses perfectly, I found it on the Arch wiki, & it needed no functional modification. I put it in /home/handy as a <.dot> file i.e. ~/.synergy.conf .
OK, that is the server taken care of above, now its time for;-
The Synergy Client(s):
Install synergy.
Client /etc/hosts:
Edit the /etc/hosts file, mine is below for those that do need to reference, & if you do make sure you compare it with the server side one posted earlier on this page:
192.168.1.6 leftpc.localdomain leftpc ## the iMac client 192.168.1.3 rightpc.localdomain rightpc ## the HP server [/code]
(By the way, due to synergy I could just use the keyboard shortcuts to copy the above from the Terminal on the client & then move my mouse over to the server where I'm typing this & then use the keyboard to paste it! Synergy shares the clipboard too!!! Which is brilliant.)
~/.xinitrc
Add the following to the ~/.xinitrc file (guess how I copied it?):
synergyc -d ERROR rightpc
No need for the xset -dpms bug fix on this machine thankfully (It extremely likely that this bug is now long dead).
Conclusion:
The server is where the hardest work is, beyond that it comes down to getting your auto-start sorted so that it just works no matter which machine(s) come on in what order. For me the above works in that regard perfectly, (once Openbox has loaded).
I hope the above makes the info that is already on the net just a little easier to optimise for your usage.
I'm SO happy to at last not be swapping the ***king keyboards & mouses all the time, it drives me ***king nuts.