Once you get Synergy going, it’s incredibly cool to copy some text on the Ubuntu machine, mouse over to the Windows machine, and then paste that text on Windows. Again, that’s two dashes in front of the word “config.” On the Ubuntu server, click System->Preferences->Sessions (or on more recent versions of Ubuntu, click System->Preferences->Startup Applications) and then click Add and make a startup program (I called it “Synergy Server”) that runs the command “ /usr/bin/synergys -config /etc/nf“. If you have sufficient Administrator access rights, I’d set Synergy to run when the computer starts: Click the button and choose to start Synergy either when you log in or when the computer boots up. On Windows, there’s an “Autostart” button. Finally, make Synergy run on both machines on start-up.On the Windows computer, just click “Start” on the Synergy window. That’s the same command that you ran before, except remove the “-f” option to run in the foreground. On the Ubuntu server, run the command “ synergys -config /etc/nf” with two dashes in front of ‘config’. If Synergy works fine in test mode, it’s time to run it for real.The mouse/keyboard will be routed through Synergy to your Windows PC, so your KVM switch has to be set to the Synergy server. If you’re using a KVM switch, don’t forget to shift your mouse/keyboard back to the Synergy server running on Ubuntu. You’ll need to enter the name or IP address of the Ubuntu Synergy server and then click Test. There’s also a synergyc to run the client. Note that the command is “synergy s” because the ‘s’ stands for server. The “-f” option means “run Synergy in the foreground” and it lets you see debugging and other Synergy messages. On the Ubuntu server, run “ synergys -f -config /etc/nf” (that’s one dash in front of the ‘f’ and two dashes in front of the ‘config’). Next, test the server and client and make sure that everything works.Run the command “sudo chmod a+r /etc/nf” to do that. Make sure that the Ubuntu configuration file is world-readable.I have a KVM switch that uses the Scroll Lock key, so I redefined the “lock Cursor to Screen” key to a harmless button (f12). – Synergy normally uses the “Scroll Lock” key as a toggle that prevents your mouse from leaving the screen. – The “screenSaverSync = false” command says not to link the screensavers of the two machines. In theory you can create really weird mappings, but keeping it simple is usually best. – In the “links” section, you have to define both behaviors: going offscreen-left on the Ubuntu (right) machine, and going offscreen-right on the Windows (left) machine. On Linux/Ubuntu, use “ifconfig” to find your machines’s IP address. To find your IP address on Windows XP, do Start->Run, enter cmd, and type “ipconfig /all”. The “aliases” section lets you do that in a clean way. – If one of your machines doesn’t have a DNS name, you can use the IP address of that machine. There are several things to note in this configuration file: Keystroke(f12) = lockCursorToScreen(toggle) # hotkey to lock the cursor to the screen to something else # My KVM uses Scroll Lock to switch screens, so set the As root on the Ubuntu machine, create an /etc/nf file with the command “sudo vi /etc/nf”.Ubuntu: Run the command “sudo apt-get install synergy” Install Synergy on both Ubuntu and Windows.I picked the Ubuntu machine to be the server. One of the two machines will run as the Synergy server and the other will run as a Synergy client. We’ll put the Windows machine on the left and the Ubuntu machine on the right. Let’s assume that you have two home machines called “windowspc” and “ubuntu”. Here’s how to configure Synergy with two computers. Plus cut-and-paste works between the machines as well. If I move my mouse off my Windows (left) monitor to the right, it shows up on the Ubuntu (right) monitor and vice-versa. On the right-hand monitor I run Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn). On the left-hand monitor I have a Windows XP system running. This is what my desk at home looks like when my desk is clean: It’s almost like the computers are welded together. With one mouse and keyboard, you can control two computers, and even move your mouse from one desktop to the other. What is Synergy? It’s a program that lets you share a virtual desktop between two different computers.
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