2004-08-01 16:00:18 +00:00
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="synergy.css" media="screen" />
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<title>Synergy FAQ</title>
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</head>
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<body class="main">
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<h3>Synergy Frequently Asked Questions</h3>
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<h4>Questions</h4>
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<ol class="faq">
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<li><a href="#faq1">Why doesn't ctrl+alt+del work on secondary screens?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq2">Can the server and client be using different operating systems?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq3">What's the difference between synergy and x2x, x2vnc, etc?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq4">What does "Cannot initialize hook library" mean?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq5">What security/encryption does synergy provide?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq6">What should I call my screens in the configuration?</a>
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2004-09-28 22:19:11 +00:00
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<li><a href="#faq7">Why do my Caps-Lock, Num-Lock, Scroll-Lock keys act funny?</a>
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2004-08-01 16:00:18 +00:00
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<li><a href="#faq8">Can synergy share the display in addition to the mouse and keyboard?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq9">Can synergy do drag and drop between computers?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq10">Do AltGr or Mode-Switch or ISO_Level3_Shift work?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq11">Why isn't synergy ported to platform XYZ?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq12">My client can't connect. What's wrong?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq13">Linking fails on Solaris. What's wrong?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq14">The screen saver never starts. Why not?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq15">I can't switch screens anymore for no apparent reason. Why?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq16">I get the error 'Xlib: No protocol specified'. Why?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq17">The cursor goes to secondary screen but won't come back. Why?</a>
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<li><a href="#faq18">The cursor wraps from one edge of the screen to the opposite. Why?</a>
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</ol>
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<h4>Answers</h4>
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<ol class="faq">
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<li><a name="faq1"></a><span class="fakelink">Why doesn't ctrl+alt+del work on secondary screens?</span>
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<p>
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Synergy isn't able to capture ctrl+alt+del on PC compatible
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systems because it's handled completely differently than
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other keystrokes. However, when the mouse is on a client
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screen, pressing ctrl+alt+pause will simulate ctrl+alt+del
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on the client. (A client running on Windows NT, 2000, or XP
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must be running as a service for this to work.)
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq2"></a><span class="fakelink">Can the server and client be using different operating systems?</span>
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<p>
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Yes. The synergy network protocol is platform neutral so
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synergy doesn't care what operating systems are running on
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the server and clients.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq3"></a><span class="fakelink">What's the difference between synergy and
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<span class="code">x2x</span>, <span class="code">x2vnc</span>, etc?</span>
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<p>
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Unlike <span class="code">x2x</span>, synergy supports any number of computers and
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it doesn't require X on Microsoft Windows platforms. It
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also has more advanced clipboard support and synchronizes
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screensavers. <span class="code">x2vnc</span> is also limited to two computers,
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requires the separate vnc package, and is really only
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appropriate for using an X system to control a non-X system.
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However, the right tool for the job is whatever tool works
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best for you.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq4"></a><span class="fakelink">What does "Cannot initialize hook library" mean?</span>
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<p>
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This error can occur on a synergy server running on a
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Microsoft Windows operating system. It means that synergy
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is already running or possibly was not shut down properly.
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If it's running then first end the synergy task. If it's
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not then try logging off and back on or rebooting then
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starting synergy again.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq5"></a><span class="fakelink">What security/encryption does synergy provide?</span>
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<p>
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Synergy provides no built-in encryption or authentication.
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Given that, synergy should not be used on or over any untrusted
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network, especially the Internet. It's generally fine for home
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networks. Future versions may provide built-in encryption and
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authentication.
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</p>
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<p>
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Strong encryption and authentication is available through SSH
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(secure shell). Run the SSH daemon (i.e. server) on the same
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computer that you run the synergy server. It requires no
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special configuration to support synergy. On each synergy
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client system, run SSH with port forwarding:
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</p>
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<pre>
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2004-08-01 17:37:28 +00:00
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ssh -f -N -L 24800:<span class="arg">server-hostname</span>:24800 <span class="arg">server-hostname</span>
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</pre>
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<p>
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where <span class="arg">server-hostname</span> is the name of the
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SSH/synergy server.
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Once ssh authenticates itself, start the synergy client
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normally except use <span class="code">localhost</span> or
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<span class="code">127.0.0.1</span> as the server's
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address. SSH will then encrypt all communication on behalf of
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synergy. Authentication is handled by the SSH authentication.
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</p>
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<p>
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A free implementation of SSH for Linux and many Unix systems is
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<a href="http://www.openssh.com/">OpenSSH</a>. For
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Windows there's a port of OpenSSH using
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<a href="http://www.cygwin.com/">Cygwin<a>.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq6"></a><span class="fakelink">What should I call my screens in the configuration?</span>
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<p>
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You can use any unique name in the configuration file for each
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screen but it's easiest to use the hostname of the computer.
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That's the computer name not including the domain. For example,
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a computer with the fully qualified domain name <span class="code">xyz.foo.com</span> has
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the hostname <span class="code">xyz</span>. There should also be an alias for <span class="code">xyz</span> to
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<span class="code">xyz.foo.com</span>. If you don't use the computer's hostname, you
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have to tell synergy the name of the screen using a command line
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option, or the startup dialog on Windows.
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</p>
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<p>
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Some systems are configured to report the fully qualified domain
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name as the hostname. For those systems it will be easier to use
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the FQDN as the screen name. Also note that a Mac OS X system
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named <span class="code">xyz</span> may report its hostname as
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<span class="code">xyz.local</span>. If that's the case for you
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then use <span class="code">xyz.local</span> as the screen name.
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</p>
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2004-09-28 22:19:11 +00:00
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<li><a name="faq7"></a><span class="fakelink">Why do my Caps-Lock, Num-Lock, Scroll-Lock keys act funny?</span>
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2004-08-01 16:00:18 +00:00
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<p>
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2004-09-28 22:19:11 +00:00
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Some systems treat the Caps-Lock, Num-Lock, and Scroll-Lock keys
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differently than all the others. Whereas most keys report going down
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when physically pressed and going up when physically released, on
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these systems the keys report going down when being activated and
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going up when being deactivated. That is, when you press and release,
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say, Caps-Lock to activate it, it only reports going down, and when
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you press and release to deactivate it, it only reports going up.
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This confuses synergy.
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</p>
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<p>
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You can solve the problem by changing your configuration file.
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In the screens section, following each screen that has the
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problem, add any or all of these lines as appropriate:
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2004-08-01 16:00:18 +00:00
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</p>
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<pre>
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halfDuplexCapsLock = true
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halfDuplexNumLock = true
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halfDuplexScrollLock = true
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</pre>
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<p>
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2004-09-28 22:19:11 +00:00
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Then restart synergy on the server or reload the configuration.
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2004-08-01 16:00:18 +00:00
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq8"></a><span class="fakelink">Can synergy share the display in addition to the mouse and keyboard?</span>
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<p>
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No. Synergy is a KM solution not a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse)
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solution. However, future versions will probably support KVM.
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Hopefully, this will make synergy suitable for managing large
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numbers of headless servers.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq9"></a><span class="fakelink">Can synergy do drag and drop between computers?</span>
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<p>
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No. That's a very cool idea and it'll be explored. However, it's
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also clearly difficult and may take a long time to implement.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq10"></a><span class="fakelink">Does AltGr/Mode-Switch/ISO_Level3_Shift work?</span>
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<p>
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Yes, as of 1.0.12 synergy has full support for AltGr/Mode-switch.
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That includes support for most (all?) European keyboard layouts.
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All systems should be using the same keyboard layout, though, for
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all characters to work. (Any character missing from a client's
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layout cannot be generated by synergy.) There is experimental
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support for ISO_Level3_Shift in 1.1.3.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq11"></a><span class="fakelink">Why isn't synergy ported to platform XYZ?</span>
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<p>
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Probably because the developers don't have access to platform XYZ
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and/or are unfamiliar with development on XYZ. Also, synergy has
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inherently non-portable aspects so there's a not insignificant
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effort involved in porting.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq12"></a><span class="fakelink">My client can't connect. What's wrong?</span>
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<p>
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A common mistake when starting the client is to give the wrong
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server host name. The last synergyc command line option (Unix)
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or the "Server Host Name" edit field (Windows) should be the
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host name (or IP address) of the server <b>not</b> the client's host
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name. If you get the error <span class="code">connection failed: cannot connect
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socket</span> followed by <span class="code">the attempt to connect was forcefully
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rejected</span> or <span class="code">connection refused</span> then the server isn't started,
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can't bind the address, or the client is connecting to the wrong
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host name/address or port.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq13"></a><span class="fakelink">Linking fails on Solaris. What's wrong?</span>
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<p>
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Did you add
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</p>
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<pre>
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<nobr>--x-includes=/usr/openwin/include --x-libraries=/usr/openwin/lib</nobr>
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</pre>
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<p>
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to the <span class="code">configure</span> command line? Solaris puts
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the X11 includes and libraries in an unusual place and the above lets
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synergy find them.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq14"></a><span class="fakelink">The screen saver never starts. Why not?</span>
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<p>
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If the synergy server is on X Windows then the screen saver will
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not start while the mouse is on a client screen. This is a
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consequence of how X Windows, synergy and xscreensaver work.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq15"></a><span class="fakelink">I can't switch screens anymore for no apparent reason. Why?</span>
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<p>
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This should not happen with 1.1.3 and up. Earlier versions of
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synergy would not allow switching screens when a key was down and
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sometimes it would believe a key was down when it was not.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq16"></a><span class="fakelink">I get the error 'Xlib: No protocol specified'. Why?</span>
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<p>
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You're running synergy without authorization to connect to the
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X display. Typically the reason is running synergy as root when
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logged in as non-root. Just run synergy as the same user that's
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logged in.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq17"></a><span class="fakelink">The cursor goes to secondary screen but won't come back. Why?</span>
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<p>
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Your configuration is incorrect. You must indicate the neighbors
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of every screen. Just because you've configured 'Apple' to be to
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the left of 'Orange' does not mean that 'Orange' is to the right
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of 'Apple'. You must provide both in the configuration.
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</p>
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<li><a name="faq18"></a><span class="fakelink">The cursor wraps from one edge of the screen to the opposite. Why?</span>
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<p>
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Because you told it to. If you list 'Orange' to be to the left of
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'Orange' then moving the mouse off the left edge of 'Orange' will
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make it jump to the right edge. Remove the offending line from the
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configuration if you don't want that behavior.
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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