Synergy

[JPC-Greg]

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

This is cool stuff Id thought Id share with you guys. With this you can hook up multilpe machines and monitors to act as one unit. You can run the mouse off of the edge of one screen and it shows up on the next as if you had dual monitors on one machine. It works across different OS's and things like copy and paste even work across the seperate systems letting you copy frmo one system and paste to the other.

[Ron]

That sounds pretty cool... have you tried it?

[Gwaihir]

Hmm.. you could look into the various incarnations of VNC as well. They have offered this for years. It is in fact so much alike that I can't quite figure out whether or not this is a fancy presentation of VNC. Why hide that legacy then? Although.. I don't recall VNC ever did copy/paste for me..

[jason]

I used to use VNC several years ago to access my personal computer in my college dorm room from computer labs and whatnot (before Remote Desktop existed). I haven't really looked at VNC since then (I'm now using Remote Desktop over SSH to connect to my home computers, though), but the VNC that I knew was a remote desktop tool.

From the looks of things, Synergy is a keyboard and mouse sharing solution--kind of like a KVM switch without the "V." It sounds like each computer you connect to has to have its own monitor, but you use one keyboard and mouse to access them all.

It looks pretty cool, especially shared clipboard idea, but I already have two monitors on my desk for one computer. There isn't much room left for any more.

--Jason

[Spathiphyllum]

Yeah, it does look interesting and quite versatile. I used VNC a few years ago and it was great for troubleshooting remote systems, but I have since garnered more paranoia about running a remote server on PCs operated by users unaware of the risks of running and tweaking such applications. I'd rather not leave such a potentially risky app open for exploit even if I think things are secured.

If synergy runs the same way, it will have some of the same benefits and pitfalls as VNC, obviously.

[Gwaihir]

but the VNC that I knew was a remote desktop tool.

Well yes, but 20 centimeters away is "remote" too. Indeed, in addition to allowing you control with your keyboard + mouse, it could also project the remote screen for you on your "primary" computer, which this tool does not. However, just as in this system you can define a specific screen area to mean "switch control to next pc", you could always do so in VNC.

I don't know about the clipboard, as, like you, I soon found one computer with two screens to be the better solution anyway.

I already have two monitors on my desk for one computer. There isn't much room left for any more.

Well, you know how people sometimes have a document holder between screen and keyboard? At times, I am thinking of fitting a third screen into that space. Some of those times I am even thinking of making it one of those cool drawing screens.

[sehh]

synergy is not related to VNC in any way. Its a completely different beast.

VNC is a remote desktop controller. It "grabs" what you see on one machine and transfers it over a network (internet, dialup, lan, etc) to another system so you can remotely control the desktop.

Synergy is a KVM switch in software!!! Basicaly, you have 3 machines on your desk (Linux, Windows, MacOSX). With synergy you can have ONE keyboard and ONE mouse and control all of them.

You just slide the mouse to the 'edge' of the monitor and it 're-appears' to your other monitor (and your keyboard now works on that machine only).

I'm using it to control several machines that i have infront of me. I have 4 LCD monitors and control all 4 computers (2 desktops, 2 laptops) with one keyboard and one mouse.

Quite handy

[Vin DSL]

Doesn't everybody have one of these...

http://www.42u.com/iogear-gcs84a.htm

LoL! How depressing?!?!? This cost me 170 bones...

[sehh]

LOL you paid to do something that can be done with a simple open source utility?

not to mention that synergy is waaay more flexible.

i can customise it so the "screens" are up<->down, not just left<->right, and i can have way more systems connected via synergy than a KVM switch thats limited by hardware (and money).

OOHHH did i mention the best part????????

synergy can synchronise the screen savers!!! i can get ALL 4 systems to start and stop their screen saver all at once!!

ooh wait... i forgot the real best part!!!!

synergy shares your copy/paste buffer!!! you can copy/paste across different operating systems!!! HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

i dare you to do that with you KVM switch

[Gwaihir]

.. so you can remotely control the desktop.

=

.. you can have ONE keyboard and ONE mouse and control all of them.

Look; I'm happy for you that you found something you like and that works for you. But don't go pretending it's all revolutionairy when it is just a stripped down version of something that's been around for years and years.

[mattsiegman]

LOL you paid to do something that can be done with a simple open source utility?

We use those at my job all the time. Those kind of boxes allow control over the machine completely, from BIOS (startup) to shutdown.