I’m sure i’m the not the only one who have two computers at home, using their own screen but i would like to share on keyboard and mouse. I’ll take my own situation since this is the best way to explain my thoughts, i have one laptop and one desktop computer. So when i want to use both at the same time, i needed either to use a KVM Switch or to use the laptop keyboard and mouse for what happens on that computer, and use another keyboard and mouse for my desktop. This is a big lost of time and effectiveness, as you know all geeks try to use their systems to save time and energy, so that’s where my journey began.

It’s at that time that my researches led me to Synergy, how to explain what it does better than quoting what the website says

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).

Website: http://synergy-foss.org

Basically, it allows you share a keyboard and mouse through many computers of any OS. Isn’t that amazing? Yes it is, and you know the best part? It’s working pretty well.

I’ll show you here how to share between two Linux machines, as it’s currently what i have in front of me, but believe me it’s very easy to apply the same thing to any other OS.

Server (where keyboard and mouse is connected)

  1. Using your favorite method, install synergy and quicksynergy, it’s in the Ubuntu repositories, so it’s pretty easy to install using aptitude or Ubuntu Software Center.
  2. Once the packages are installed on the server power up quicksynergy by going into Applications / Accessories / QuickSynergy
  3. Go in the Share tab and depending where your other computer screen is enter the DNS name or IP address or NetBIOS name of that machine in the corresponding. So if the other computer screen is at the left of the server, enter it’s name in the box at the left of the center icon.


    4. As you can see my laptop name is dlaplap, so i typed it in the left box! Easy enough?

  4. Hit Execute
  5. Now your server should be running, and waiting for a remote connection

Client

  1. Using your favorite method, install synergy and quicksynergy, it’s in the Ubuntu repositories, so it’s pretty easy to install using aptitude or Ubuntu Software Center.
  2. Once the packages are installed on the server power up quicksynergy by going into Applications / Accessories / QuickSynergy
  3. Go in the Use tab and enter the name or IP of the server to connect to.


    4. Just enter the server IP or name!

  4. Hit Execute
  5. Your mouse and keyboard should now work on both PC.

So this is very easy to setup and it works very easily. If you have any problems just post in the comments section, and i’ll try to help you to the best of my knowledge.