I noticed an interesting post over at geekchix blog – about particular open source app that lets you use two comps with one keyboard and mouse. This was exactly what I needed since my monitor has two inputs.
I bought KVM switch, but was not suitable for what I needed. I had no use for its VGA switcher, and I had USB mouse which had to be connected over USB-PS/2 converter. This caused the mouse to move the cursor on its own and second computer reported strange messages about power surging on USB port (?!).
Thus obviously this brought my attention. Synergy is small, easily configurable and works like a charm. You need to install it on both comps, setup properly and, for the easiest using set:
- set to start automatically with Windows or when particular user login
- set your client computers to always go to stand-by (no turn off)
- do not require password when computer wakes up from stand-by
- turn off mouse/keyboard check in BIOS, if you have one
And that’s about that. Simple and powerful. There are many issues in various situation but in general works very well. Now I have one KVM switch to sell…
I’m using it, too. It’s kinda cool, but also has a lot of bugs related to caps lock / num lock / scroll lock switching etc. It seems to cause trouble on the server sometimes even when no client is connected. Still a cool app, tho.