Tools of the Trade: Synergy
Of all the tools I use, Synergy is arguably the most unsung but valuable of the bunch. It sits in the background on both my PC laptop and Mac Mini and allows me to share one keyboard and mouse between them. “So what?” some might say. “A KVM switch can do the same thing.”
Well, they’d be half right. If I was sharing a single monitor, a KVM would be the way to go (in fact, that’s what I used in the beginning), but I’ve got a 20″ LCD hooked to the Mac Mini (since I can’t share my laptop screen). What Synergy allows me to do, then, is similar to having multiple monitors hooked to the same computer: I simply move my mouse to the edge of one screen and it shows up on the other. But, instead of sharing one OS, I’m going seamlessly between Windows XP and Mac OS X. Brilliant!
While this setup may not be as great having an Intel Mac with Parallels or VMWare Fusion, it definitely beats using VNC (speed), having two separate computers (space), or using a KVM (having to use a single monitor and a switch to activate each computer). Best of all, I can copy and paste text between computers, which is an incredible time saver. Plus, it’s free.
As far as I know, Synergy works on Windows, Mac, and Linux (though I haven’t tried the latter). For the Mac, I use SynergyKM, which installs a preference panel GUI wrapper for Synergy.
Overall, Synergy is an amazing piece of software and I highly recommend it.
Let me know if you use Synergy or something similar.
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You just blew my little mind. I’m gonna have to check that out. Thanks.
Comment by John — October 18, 2007 @ 5:28 am
Oh, I really need your help!
Synergy is JUST what I need so I can use my iMac and a PC on the same desktop without losing all the space. But when I went to synergy2.sourceforge.net I was well confused: do I want Binaries, Experimental or Sources????
Then I went to SynergyKM … and I’m so out of my depth. Sigh.
Please can you tell me which of what to download? iMac is G5 PPC; and the PC runs Windows XP, by the way.
Jane
Comment by Jane Howitt — December 5, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
Hi Jane,
I’m currently not running Synergy since I just got an new Intel iMac, but I’ll try to help.
For your Windows PC, you’ll need the binaries from the Synergy Site. It’s called SynergyInstaller-1.3.1.exe This will install an application that you launch in the normal way, allowing you to configure Synergy as required.
For the Mac, you’ll need SynergyKM-Beta6.dmg. Just follow their instructions for installing. This installs a preference pane, available through System Preferences.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember enough of the set up to pass along any details in that regard, but hopefully this will get you started.
Comment by Eric — December 5, 2007 @ 3:28 pm