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This is great! I did something very similar using AutoHotKey and Synergy : https://moshen.net/posts/virtual_kvm/ https://moshen.net/posts/virtual_kvm/

by m0shen 6y ago

D13Fd 6y ago
That looks nice! But there are two downsides: - Your solution requires Synergy. In my experience, Synergy has been buggy--or at least extremely finicky--every time I've tried it since release circa 2001. When it comes to input devices, I want things to be basically flawless. So I like this very simple fix better. - The posted solution is cross-platform between Mac and Windows, which is a common use case. Yours relies on Autohotkey, which is awesome on Windows but, last I checked, terrible on Mac OS.
- m0shen 6y ago
  Yeah, fair points. Every now and then I have to stop/start Synergy for it to work. Since my mouse/keyboard remain connected to my Windows machine, it can act as the "server" and issue the DCC to the monitor to switch when my key combo is hit. So I only ever run it on the Windows box.
- kitsunesoba 6y ago
  The other thing about Synergy is that it's a bit of a question mark in terms of security, even with encryption enabled (at least that I've seen — would be happy to be corrected!)
nly 6y ago
Please support Barrier[0] (FOSS) or, perhaps, just buy ShareMouse[1] or download Input Director[2] (free but closed source) rather than supporting Synergy. I worked for Symless for 2 years and I can tell you first hand that the owner had little interest in fixing or improving the core functionality, the code for which has remained largely unchanged for 12-15 years. Most of the input bugs in the software are a decade old, and unless a community patch comes along that can be merged, the owner only has interest in keeping it working on new OS versions, and tarting up the UI/UX to support Symless as a lifestyle business. In the 2 years since I left I've seen exactly 3 bugfix releases, one of which broke TLS, and none of which seemed to contain any significant original work. Supposedly Synergy 3 is in the works, after Synergy 2 (which I worked on) was scrapped, but this will almost certainly only be a proprietary Electron UI for the FOSS CLI instead of a Qt/QML UI for the FOSS CLI (as v2 was). Major versions of Input Director (v2.0) and ShareMouse (v5.0) have been announced in the last few months, and it looks like significant work has taken place on both projects. Both of these products need better marketing. Unfortunately none of the alternatives to Barrier/Synergy seem to want to support Linux, which remains its moat. The days for that are numbered due to Wayland though (Synergy uses the X11 XTest extension to inject input). [0] https://github.com/debauchee/barrier https://github.com/debauchee/barrier [1] https://www.sharemouse.com/ https://www.sharemouse.com/ [2] https://www.inputdirector.com https://www.inputdirector.com
- m0shen 6y ago
  That's good to know. I certainly haven't seen progress made on Synergy in the years I've been using it. Barrier wasn't forked when I initially made and wrote about my setup either, but I think I will make the switch and write a follow up. The issue I repeatedly ran into with these solutions is that they want to have a "hot" edge and both systems up on independent screens at the same time. I really only want a hot key and one system on my single monitor at a time. Which I could configure with Synergy 1 (not 2).
- m0shen 6y ago
  Thanks for this, I have completely switched over to Barrier. It was painless as I was just able to point it at my old Synergy configuration. I also updated my post with the recommendation to use Barrier.

This is great! I did something very similar using AutoHotKey and Synergy : https://moshen.net/posts/virtual_kvm/ https://moshen.net/posts/virtual_kvm/

by m0shen 6y ago

This is great! I did something very similar using AutoHotKey and Synergy : https://moshen.net/posts/virtual_kvm/ https://moshen.net/posts/virtual_kvm/

D13Fd 6y ago

That looks nice! But there are two downsides: - Your solution requires Synergy. In my experience, Synergy has been buggy--or at least extremely finicky--every time I've tried it since release circa 2001. When it comes to input devices, I want things to be basically flawless. So I like this very simple fix better. - The posted solution is cross-platform between Mac and Windows, which is a common use case. Yours relies on Autohotkey, which is awesome on Windows but, last I checked, terrible on Mac OS.

m0shen 6y ago
Yeah, fair points. Every now and then I have to stop/start Synergy for it to work. Since my mouse/keyboard remain connected to my Windows machine, it can act as the "server" and issue the DCC to the monitor to switch when my key combo is hit. So I only ever run it on the Windows box.
kitsunesoba 6y ago
The other thing about Synergy is that it's a bit of a question mark in terms of security, even with encryption enabled (at least that I've seen — would be happy to be corrected!)

nly 6y ago

Please support Barrier[0] (FOSS) or, perhaps, just buy ShareMouse[1] or download Input Director[2] (free but closed source) rather than supporting Synergy. I worked for Symless for 2 years and I can tell you first hand that the owner had little interest in fixing or improving the core functionality, the code for which has remained largely unchanged for 12-15 years. Most of the input bugs in the software are a decade old, and unless a community patch comes along that can be merged, the owner only has interest in keeping it working on new OS versions, and tarting up the UI/UX to support Symless as a lifestyle business. In the 2 years since I left I've seen exactly 3 bugfix releases, one of which broke TLS, and none of which seemed to contain any significant original work. Supposedly Synergy 3 is in the works, after Synergy 2 (which I worked on) was scrapped, but this will almost certainly only be a proprietary Electron UI for the FOSS CLI instead of a Qt/QML UI for the FOSS CLI (as v2 was). Major versions of Input Director (v2.0) and ShareMouse (v5.0) have been announced in the last few months, and it looks like significant work has taken place on both projects. Both of these products need better marketing. Unfortunately none of the alternatives to Barrier/Synergy seem to want to support Linux, which remains its moat. The days for that are numbered due to Wayland though (Synergy uses the X11 XTest extension to inject input). [0] https://github.com/debauchee/barrier https://github.com/debauchee/barrier [1] https://www.sharemouse.com/ https://www.sharemouse.com/ [2] https://www.inputdirector.com https://www.inputdirector.com

m0shen 6y ago
That's good to know. I certainly haven't seen progress made on Synergy in the years I've been using it. Barrier wasn't forked when I initially made and wrote about my setup either, but I think I will make the switch and write a follow up. The issue I repeatedly ran into with these solutions is that they want to have a "hot" edge and both systems up on independent screens at the same time. I really only want a hot key and one system on my single monitor at a time. Which I could configure with Synergy 1 (not 2).
m0shen 6y ago
Thanks for this, I have completely switched over to Barrier. It was painless as I was just able to point it at my old Synergy configuration. I also updated my post with the recommendation to use Barrier.