Synergy ======= synergy: [noun] a mutually advantageous conjunction of distinct elements Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own display. Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all. Synergy is open source and released under the GNU Public License (GPL). The synergy home page is: http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ The synergy project page is: http://sourceforge.net/projects/synergy2/ Report bugs to: synergy@groundhog.pair.com Please see the following files for more information: AUTHORS -- The list of synergy's authors BUGS -- A list of known bugs and limitations COPYING -- The license synergy is release under HISTORY -- A brief history of synergy INSTALL -- Detailed build and installation instructions NEWS -- News about the synergy project PORTING -- Porting guide for developers System Requirements ------------------- * All operating systems: keyboard, mouse, TCP/IP networking; * Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me (the Windows 96 family); * Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP (the Windows NT family); * Linux: X Windows version 11 revision 4 or up with the XTEST extension (use `xdpyinfo | grep XTEST' to check for XTEST). Installation ------------ See INSTALL for detailed build and installation instructions. Quick Start ----------- Synergy lets you use one keyboard and mouse across multiple computers. To do so it requires that all the computers are connected to each other via TCP/IP networking. Most systems come with this installed. The first step is to pick which keyboard and mouse you want to share. The computer with that keyboard and mouse is called the "primary screen" and it runs the synergy server. All of the other computers are "secondary screens" and run the synergy client. The Windows NT family, starting with NT 4 with service pack 3, is the best choice for the primary screen but Linux is good too. (This is based on the known bugs; see BUGS for more details.) Next you must install the software. You must install the synergy server on the primary screen and the synergy client on all the secondary screens. If it's easier just install both on all of the systems. Third, you create a configuration file for the server. Only the server requires configuration. Create a text file named synergy.conf with the following: section: screens : : end section: links : right = : left = end Replace each occurrence of `' with the host name of the primary screen computer and `' with the host name of a secondary screen computer. In the above example, is to the right of and is to the left of . If necessary you should replace `right' and `left' with `left', `right', 'up', or `down'. If you have more than two computers you can add those too: add each computer's host name in the `screens' section and add the appropriate links. Finally, you start the server then all of the clients. Normally synergy wants to run "in the background." It detaches from the terminal and doesn't have a visible window, effectively disappearing from view. Until you're sure your configuration works you should start synergy "in the foreground" using the `-f' command line option. To get a command line on Windows, choose Run... from the Start menu. Type `cmd' if you're using the Windows NT family or `command' if you're using the Windows 95 family and press enter. To start the server, enter the following on the command line: synergyd -f --config synergy.conf To start a client, enter the following: synergy -f where `' is replaced by the name of the computer running the synergy server. Both the client and server should immediately report the connection or an error. If successful, you should now be able to move the mouse off the appropriate edge of your server's screen and have it appear on the client's screen. Use the mouse and keyboard normally except use the edge of the screens to jump to other screens. You can also cut-and-paste across computers. Currently, only text transfers between computers. Start the remaining clients. Be aware that not all keystrokes can be handled by synergy. In particular, ctrl+alt+del is not handled. You cannot use synergy to log into a Windows NT family system that requires the user to press ctrl+alt+del to log on. You'll need to keep that computer's keyboard handy in order to log on. Once the configuration is verified, see the instructions in INSTALL under `Starting Automatically' for details on running synergy in the background and on starting synergy automatically when you start your computers. Tips and Tricks --------------- * A screen can be its own neighbor. That allows a screen to "wrap". For example, if a configuration linked the left and right sides of a screen to itself then moving off the left of the screen would put the mouse at the right of the screen and vice versa. * You cannot switch screens when a key or mouse button is pressed. * You cannot switch screens when the scroll lock it toggled on. Use this to prevent unintentional switching. * Turn off mouse driven virtual desktop switching on X windows. It will interfere with synergy. Use keyboard shortcuts instead. * Synergy's screen saver synchronization works best with xscreensaver under X windows. Synergy works better with xscreensaver if it is using of the screen saver extensions. Prior to xscreensaver 4.0 you can use `-mit-extension', `-sgi-extension', or `-xidle-extension' command line options to enable an extension (assuming your server has the extension). Starting with 4.0 you must enable the corresponding option in your .xscreensaver file. * To work around the lack of ctrl+alt+del, you can configure Windows 2000 and XP to not require ctrl+alt+del to log on using the System control panel. If you're the only user of an NT system you might want to enable auto-logon. In any case, you should keep each computer's keyboard handy, perhaps under the desk or on top of the computer itself. If the system supports USB you should also be able to attach/detach a keyboard as necessary. * Synergy automatically converts newlines in clipboard text (Linux expects \n to end each line while Windows expects \r\n). * Clients can be started and stopped at any time. When a screen is not connected, the mouse will jump over that screen as if the mouse had moved all the way across it and jumped to the next screen. * A client's keyboard and mouse are fully functional while synergy is running. You can use them in case synergy hangs. Bug Reports ----------- Synergy is being improved all the time but we can only fix problems that we know about. Please let us know of any problems you encounter, including confusing or unhelpful documentation. Send reports to: synergy@groundhog.pair.com