synergy ?

xwrench3 · September 13, 2017

i went to the link provided in one of linus's videos, but it really does not explain how this works. do you have to have wireless keyboard and mouse, with 3 identical dongles for each one? or are the computers linked via wired/wireless lan?

NoRomanBatmansAllowed · September 13, 2017

They're linked via Synergy software. So you have to install it on all your devices.

fjdhdhcyfhf · September 13, 2017

any mouse, any keyboard, wireless or wired connected to one pc, this is the synergy server. all other computer need to be on the same network, these are the synergy clients. Mouse and keyboard input is sent over LAN or wifi, what ever your network is run on from server to clients.

NakotaDinzeo · September 16, 2017

First off, Synergy used to be GPL and free and the free version is still available on SourceForge.

So, here's my usecase for Synergy, and how it works.

In the past, I've had a desktop and laptop on my desk at the same time. Why would I lean over to use the laptop keyboard, when I have a Mechanical keyboard in front of me, why would I use a touchpad, when I have a mouse?

So I install synergy on both computers, and set the desktop as the primary and the laptop as secondary. Once this is done, my laptop acts like a second screen in a way. The cursor falls off the desktop monitor, and reappears on the laptop screen.

The neat thing is, the other computer is still running independently of the other, and can be running a different OS. So you could have a game in border-less window mode on the desktop in Windows, and Firefox and Discord under Linux on the other. You could even have a third computer running capture software and iMovie on MacOS. Each system sharing your one keyboard and mouse.

They all link over LAN.