Synergy is a mouse and keyboard sharing tool. This open source and free tool allows you to share mouse and keyboard between multiple computers easily, without the need of hardware. Thus, instead of looping multiple computers via hardware a user can control multiple computers with a single mouse and keyboard.
A user simply needs a network connection - and once you get the program running, you can switch the cursor from one computer screen to another by just pushing the cursor off the edge of a computer screen. Besides this, one can even share all his clipboard data. We have already blogged about Mouse Without Borders from TecNet - now let us learn about Synergy.
Synergy Server Setup
This procedure is divided into 2 parts:
- Download the latest Windows Package (link provided at the end of the article) for your Windows computer
- Double-click on the Synergy file and run the program
- Next, check the ‘Server’ option showing the following message ‘Share this computer’s keyboard and mouse’ and then on ‘Configure Server’ tab
- Doing so opens up a ‘Server Configuration’ dialog wherein you can add different computers to be controlled by the server’s keyboard and mouse
- While configuring, under ‘Screens and Links’ tab you will find the following dialog displayed “Configure the layout of your synergy server configuration”. Plus, you will notice the name of host computer in a layout screen
- Add another computer(client) to the program by simply dragging and dropping its icon onto the layout screen and placing it in a neat order
- Next, enter the name of the added computer and double-click on its icon and enter the name
Synergy Client setup
Here, you will be required to download and install Synergy package on Client computers. To do this, you need to install the same Windows package that you did for host computer (server) and launch it in the same manner. However, instead of checking ‘Server’ option, you need to check ‘Client’ option. Final step is to enter the name of the server and try connection.
Remember, Clients should immediately report a successful connection. If not visit here and check where the problem is.
Download page: Synergy.
Synergy is cross-platform and works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.
If you have liked this post, you might want to check out some more, on topics like Freeware, Keyboard, Mouse, Multiple Monitors.
