Synergy review

[saab_gobbler]

I didn't know where else to post this, but I wanted to leave a glowing review of Synergy by Symless (one of the new sponsors).

 

As a proponent of FOSS, I rarely purchase software, but in this case it was well worth it. Synergy is, simply put, amazing.

 

I recently set up an Ubuntu Plex/Motion (security cam) server using mostly recycled parts after upgrading my gaming rig to Ryzen. I busted out my old secondary monitor & mounted it right next to my ultrawide (never thought I'd be using two displays again after getting that lol). The biggest issue for me though was controlling it. I was using some garbage wireless keyboard/trackpad combo originally intended for my htpc. On a 1440x900 screen (in portrait) this is claustrophobic to say the least & very frustrating when I needed to use the command line. Not ideal.

 

I'd been looking at buying a KVM & just using the usb connections, but even that was hardly an elegant solution. For one, Ubuntu hates my mouse for whatever reason & it is a royal pain to get it setup properly. Two, it's hardly seamless. Pressing a button to switch between, not being able to control both at once if need be, adding all those extra cables & latency to my setup. Yah, not great.

 

Just as I was deciding on a kvm model on amazon, the sponsor spot for Synergy came up on the LTT video I was watching (talk about coincidence!). I immediately looked into it & it ended up being cheaper, more feature rich & more seamless than a KVM. Instabuy. Setup was an absolute breeze on both operating systems, it was up & running in just a few minutes. And it just works! Seamlessly! Even with both machines on wifi, there is no cursor lag or anything. I didn't have to jump through hoops to get my mouse working in Ubuntu & all of the media shortcuts I have set to the mouse buttons & thumbwheel work without a hitch! It even works flawlessly with my SixKeyBoard arrow/macro cluster.

 

The best part though is being able to copy & paste text between operating systems. It means I can have an unencumbered browsing experience on my main monitor, copy something I need to toss into the command line, move my mouse over to the second monitor & paste it into the terminal, all as if it were one machine. It does all this while being super lightweight & using a minuscule amount of bandwidth. It even auto-reconnects when one of the machines reboots. Color me thoroughly impressed!

 

The one thing that doesn't currently work with my setup is file drag & drop between systems. While that would be super convenient, it's hardly a dealbreaker for me considering the value the software already provides & the number of other ways I can easily do that.

 

So cheers guys! Excellent product, well worth the money & I hope you got some good sales from the LTT sponsorship =]