Synergy: How to Share a Mouse / Keyboard Between Multiple PCs

Synergy allows you to share a mouse / keyboard between multiple computers, as long as each one has its own monitor.

And what would I want to use this for? Well, this is where things get good: Let's assume these 2 typical cases: a) you, your laptop and your sofa. There, far ... your television with its respective Media Center. Using a remote can be an option, albeit a bit awkward for some. Ha! Now you can use your computer keyboard and mouse to control your Media Center without leaving the couch !; b) in your sad and lonely job, there is only you and your compus for video editing, design, programming, etc. Doesn't it make you sick to have so many mice / keyboards hanging around?

The idea is simple, a computer acts as a server and shares the keyboard and mouse with the rest of the computers. In this way we avoid having as many keyboards as PCs we can have. The wonderful thing about this program is that it is not necessary to acquire any special hardware, only to have an ethernet connection. Synergy is cross-platform so it runs best on MacOSX, Windows, and Linux.

Synergy Key Features

• Allows you to share the mouse / keyboard between different computers
• Only requires an ethernet connection
• Allows copy / paste between different machines
• No need to use mouse / keyboard switches
• Multiple monitors can be used on a single computer
• Allows you to lock the mouse to a single screen

Installation

En Ubuntu and derivatives, simply enter the following in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install synergy

In Arch and derivatives:

sudo pacman -S synergy

On Fedora and derivatives:

yum install synergy

Synergy comes with a user interface that includes a very easy-to-use setup wizard. Run it from Applications> Accessories> Synergy. Then you can run the wizard by going to File> Configuration Wizard.

Once the wizard is open, you have to select whether it is a client (the computer that does NOT have the keyboard / mouse) or a server (the computer that has the keyboard / mouse):

Finally, the connection must be encrypted so that passwords are not stolen, etc. in case of intercepting the data transmitted over the network.

Server configuration

Click the button Configure Server ... in order to configure some details of it.

In the Screens and Links Enter the names of the computers that will function as clients in the corresponding squares. The idea of ​​up, down, right, left can be a bit confusing at first, but it's actually very simple: when the mouse exceeds the chosen margin, it will activate on that other computer. For example, if I put my notebook on the right, when I am on the server computer and move the mouse to the right edge, the mouse will activate on my notebook.

To discover the name of the computers that you want to function as clients, note that on the main Synergy screen, when selecting the Client option, the screen name of that computer will be displayed.

Clients Configuration

Once the server is activated, go to the machine that will function as a client, open Synergy, select the Client option and enter the IP address of the server.

Finally, click on Run. Ready. Everything should work perfectly.

I want the magic to run when my system starts

Go to System> Preferences> Applications at the beginning and enter the following depending on whether it is the server or the client.

employee:

synergys --config ~ / .quicksynergy / synergy.conf

Client:

synergys -f SERVER_IP

… Where IP_SERVIDOR is the IP of your server.