synergy
-------
synergy: [noun] a mutually advantageous conjunction of distinct elements
synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between
multiple computers, each with its own display, using software only.
redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse
off the edge of your screen. synergy merges the clipboards of all
the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. it
also synchronizes screensavers so they all start and stop together
and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a
password to unlock them all.
system requirements
-------------------
all systems:
keyboard
mouse
TCP/IP networking
Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me (the Windows 95 family):
??? MB RAM
Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP (the Windows NT family):
??? MB RAM
Linux, Unix:
??? MB RAM
X Windows, revision 4 or up with the XTEST extension
use `xdpyinfo | grep XTEST' to check
manifest
--------
linux windows
----- -------
README README this file
synergy synergy.exe the synergy client
synergyd synergyd.exe the synergy server
synrgyhk.dll the synergy hook dll
synergy.conf synergy.conf sample configuration file
synergy.linux.init startup script for client
synergyd.linux.init startup script for server
running synergy
---------------
synergy is simple to configure. the server uses a configuration file
and command line options while the client uses only command line
options. it's recommended that both the client and server be run in
the foreground until the configuration is verified to work.
step 1: create a configuration file
edit the sample configuration file. there are two sections you
must fill in and a third optional section. you should delete
the existing lines inside the sections.
in the "screens" section, add a line for each computer you'll
be using (server and clients). put the hostname of the computer
followed by a colon (with no space in between). the computers
can be listed in any order.
in the "links" section you define how screens are connected.
each screen is listed as in the "screens" section except
following each screen is a list of links to other screens in
the form "<direction> = <screen>" where <direction> is "left",
"right", "up", or "down" and <screen> is a screen listed in
the "screens" section.
as an example, if we have "left=foo" under the "bar" screen
then screen "foo" is on the left of screen "bar". the user
will be able to move the mouse off the left edge of "foo" and
will appear on the opposite (right) edge of "bar". note that
it's entirely possible to have one-way (asymmetric) links and
screens with only links into them. the latter should be
avoided since there's no way to move the mouse off those
screens.
in the "aliases" section you can list other names for each
screen. this is especially useful for dealing with fully
qualified domain names versus simple hostnames.
step 2: start the server
the server is the system with the mouse and keyboard to be
shared. each platform has its own tradeoffs when running as
the server. see the release notes below for more information.
run the synergy server on the server system using the following
command line:
synergyd -f --config <config-pathname>
replacing <config-pathname> with the path to the configuration
file. you can use `synergyd --help' for a list of command line
options.
step 3: start the clients
on each client system start the synergy client using the
following command line:
synergy -f --debug INFO --no-camp <server-hostname>
replacing <server-hostname> with the hostname or address of the
server system.
the client should quickly report `connected to server'. if it
does not but doesn't print an error and exit immeditately then
it's trying to connect to the server but cannot. it will time
out in 30 seconds and exit (use ctrl+c to exit earlier). you
should check that the server is running and try again.
otherwise, if the client doesn't connect it should print an
error describing the problem. here are typical problems and
possible solutions:
failed to open screen:
check permission to open the X display;
check that the DISPLAY environment variable is set.
already connected:
check that synergy isn't already running.
refused client:
add client to the server's configuration file.
connection failed:
check server-hostname;
the server cannot open the desired port, stop the
program using that port (24800) and restart the
server.
step 4: verify the configuration
once the clients are connected, use the mouse to check that
the screens are properly linked. moving the mouse off the
edge of a screen with a link should cause it to appear on
the opposite edge of the linked-to screen.
using synergy
-------------
using synergy is very easy. once clients have connected to the
server all you do to redirect keyboard and mouse input to a screen
(i.e. switch screens) is move the mouse cursor off the edge of the
screen you're on. which edges go to which screens depends on the
configuration.
clients can be connected and disconnected at any time. until a
client is connected, switching to it works as if you switched to
it then moved all the way across it in the same direction and
switched to the next screen. this repeats until you reach a
connected screen. if there is no connected screen in that
direction then the mouse will not leave the starting screen.
disconnecting a client while the mouse is on it causes the mouse
to instantly jump to the center of the server screen.
the clipboard is automatically transferred between screens. if
you copy on one screen you just switch to another screen and paste.
note that X Windows has two major clipboards: the primary
selection and the clipboard. synergy supports both. however,
Microsoft Windows only supports the clipboard. the Windows
clipboard is transferred to both the X primary selection and the
clipboard. whichever X clipboard was changed last becomes the
Windows clipboard. end-of-line sequences (LF on linux and unix,
CRLF on Windows) are automatically converted as necessary.
synergy synchronizes screensavers. the screensavers on client
screens are disabled when they connect to the server. when the
primary screen's screensaver starts, the screensaver on each
secondary screen starts too. all the secondary screensavers are
stopped when the primary screensaver stops. moving the mouse or
pressing a key will stop the primary screensaver, regardless of
which screen the mouse was on when the screensavers started. if
the primary screensaver requires a password to unlock then the
user is prevented from switching to the secondary screens until
the primary screen is unlocked.
installing as a daemon/service
------------------------------
synergy can run in the foreground or as a daemon/service. it's
recommended that you run it in the foreground until you've sorted
out your configuration.
on the Windows NT family you cannot run a service directly.
instead you install the service then run or stop it via the
Services control panel. on the Windows 95 family, you can use
the `--daemon' command line option to start synergy as a service
or you can install the service and restart your computer.
in the text below, except where noted, synergy refers to the
client and/or the server.
windows:
to install synergy just run one of the following:
synergy --install [other command line options]
synergyd --install [other command line options]
the client/server is installed as a service and the command
line is saved and used when starting the service. the system
will expect to find the program wherever it was when you used
the --install option so make sure it's not on a network share
from another system because the network share will not be
available at boot time. synergyd will also try to load
synrgyhk.dll so that should be in the same directory as
synergyd.exe.
note that when installing the client you must provide the
server hostname argument. to change the arguments you must
first uninstall then reinstall.
you must also install the configuration file along with the
server. it's recommended that you put it in the windows
directory (e.g. C:\WINNT) and call it "synergy.sgc". the
server will automatically find this file. however, you can
also use the --config command line option and specify an
*absolute* path to the file. remember that this file must be
accessible when the system starts up, before network shares
are mapped.
to uninstall use:
synergy --uninstall
synergyd --uninstall
linux, unix:
before starting synergy as a daemon you should understand that
synergy requires an X server that it can connect to. synergy
can start before the X server does and will repeatly attempt to
connect to the X server until it succeeds. however, if the
server requires authorization then it's unlikely that synergy
will ever succeed. in that case synergy should be (re)started
by the X display manager.
the DISPLAY env var should be set appropriately before starting
synergy. note that it probably will not be set when running
boot scripts so you have to set it yourself (probably to ":0").
if it's not set then synergy will use the default ":0.0" which
is correct in most cases.
finally, some display managers (xdm and kdm, but not gdm)
grab the keyboard and do not release it until the user logs
in, also for security reasons. this prevents a synergy server
from sharing the mouse and keyboard until the user logs in
but it doesn't prevent a synergy client from synthesizing
mouse and keyboard input.
to install synergy as a daemon, you'll need to add the
appropriate lines and/or files to start synergy at boot time
or modify the display manager screen initialization scripts.
do not use the `-f' or `--no-daemon' options. for the server
use the `--config' option to specify the path to the
configuration file or just put the configuration in
/etc/synergy.conf.
linux:
you should modify xdm's Xsetup script to start the synergy
client or server. for example, somewhere near the bottom of
Xsetup (but someplace before anywhere the script calls exit)
you might add:
/usr/bin/killall synergy
/usr/sbin/synergy 192.168.1.101
this assumes synergy is installed in /usr/sbin. these lines
make sure any already running synergy is terminated and starts
a fresh copy. it's important to kill old copies so that you
don't end up with multiple synergy instances fighting each
other or, at the very least, using up system resources.
to start the synergy server you might use:
/usr/bin/killall synergyd
/usr/sbin/synergyd --config /root/synergy.conf
assuming synergyd is installed in /usr/sbin. if you've put
the configuration data in /etc/synergy.conf then you don't
need the --config option.
another option is to put the synergy startup in .Xsession in
your home directory. that allows users without root access to
start synergy when they login. in this case synergy will not
be running while on the login screen.
if your X server does not require authorization then you can
start synergy at boot time. if starting the synergy client
using init.d then:
# /bin/cp synergy /usr/sbin/synergy
# /bin/cp synergy.linux.init /etc/init.d/synergy
# /sbin/chkconfig --add synergy
if starting the synergy server using init.d then:
# /bin/cp synergyd /usr/sbin/synergyd
# /bin/cp synergyd.linux.init /etc/init.d/synergyd
# /bin/cp synergy.conf /etc/synergy.conf
# /sbin/chkconfig --add synergyd
of course, /etc/synergy.conf should be edited your for systems.
to manually start or stop the client
# /etc/init.d/synergy start
# /etc/init.d/synergy stop
to manually start or stop the server
# /etc/init.d/synergyd start
# /etc/init.d/synergyd stop
to uninstall the client:
# /etc/init.d/synergy stop
# /sbin/chkconfig --del synergy
# /bin/rm /etc/init.d/synergy
# /bin/rm /usr/sbin/synergy
to uninstall the server:
# /etc/init.d/synergyd stop
# /sbin/chkconfig --del synergyd
# /bin/rm /etc/synergy.conf
# /bin/rm /etc/init.d/synergyd
# /bin/rm /usr/sbin/synergyd
note that synergy.linux.init and synergyd.linux.init are not
tested on a wide variety of platforms and may need editing
for your platform.
common command line options
---------------------------
-d, --debug <level> use debugging level <level>
--daemon run as a daemon (linux,unix) or background (windows)
-f, --no-daemon run in the foreground
-n, --name <name> use <name> instead of the hostname
--restart automatically restart on unexpected failures
-1, --no-restart do not restart on unexpected failure
-h, --help print help and exit
--version print version information and exit
--install install as a service (windows)
--uninstall uninstall service (windows)
debug levels are from highest to lowest: FATAL, ERROR, WARNING, NOTE,
INFO, DEBUG, DEBUG1, and DEBUG2. only messages at or above the given
level are logged. messages are logged to a terminal window when
running in the foreground. unix logs messages to syslog when running
as a daemon. the Windows NT family logs messages to the event log
when running as a service. the Windows 95 family shows FATAL log
messages in a message box and others in a terminal window when running
as a service.
the `--name' option lets the client or server use a name other than
its hostname for its screen. this name is used when checking the
configuration.
server command line options
---------------------------
-a, --address <address> listen for connections on the given address
-c, --config <pathname> read configuration from <pathname>
<address> has one of the following forms:
<hostname>
:<port>
<hostname>:<port>
<hostname> is a hostname or address of a network interface on the
server system. <port> is a port number from 1 to 65535. <hostname>
defaults to the system's hostname and <port> defaults to 24800.
client command line options
---------------------------
--camp retry connection to server until successful
--no-camp try connection to server only once
<address> address of server
see the "server command line options" for a description of <address>
but note that there is no default <hostname> though there is a
default <port>.
release notes
-------------
synergy does not yet fully capture all possible input or have full
control over the mouse and keyboard on all platforms. each platform
has its own limitations and these limitations may influence your
choice for the server.
the following lists enumerate the limitations of each platform. a
key (combination) that cannot be captured is not detected by synergy.
a key (combination) that cannot be blocked will be passed through to
the server system even when the mouse is on a client system. if a
key cannot be captured then it also cannot be blocked.
windows 95 family, windows NT prior to service pack 3:
* cannot capture:
* ctrl+alt+del
* ctrl+esc
* alt+[shift+]tab
* alt+[shift+]esc
* windows+E
* windows+[ctrl+]F
* windows+[shift+]M
* windows+R
* windows+F1
* windows+tab
* windows+break
* accessibility shortcuts (e.g. press shift 5 times for sticky keys)
* the individual keys are captured but the dialogs still appear
* cannot synthesize:
* accessibility shortcuts
windows NT family (except NT prior to SP3):
* cannot block:
* ctrl+alt+del
* accessibility shortcuts (e.g. press shift 5 times for sticky keys)
* the individual keys are captured but the dialogs still appear
* cannot synthesize:
* accessibility shortcuts
linux, unix:
* cannot capture:
* ctrl+alt+del
* ctrl+alt+backspace (only if used by the X server)
* ctrl+alt+keypad_plus (only if used by the X server)
* ctrl+alt+keypad_minus (only if used by the X server)
* keyboard/mouse grabs prevent switching screens for their duration
* some display managers grab the keyboard until login
currently, the windows NT family (except NT prior to SP3) makes the
best server.
known bugs
----------
all:
* non-ASCII characters are not supported
* plain text is the only supported clipboard format
windows:
* screen flashes when entering the screen
* synergy may interfere with desktop switcher programs. however,
synergy understands and handles multiple desktops.
* there should be a control panel
* there should be a taskbar icon
windows 95 family:
* typing into a console window can be slow
windows NT family:
* the event viewer reports a message lookup error for synergy logs.
however, the full synergy message is in the extra data portion of
the event dialog.
* does not gracefully handle NoInteractiveServices being enabled
linux:
* some keyboards have toggle keys that toggle on on key press and
toggle off on the key release after the next key press. synergy
doesn't handle these properly.
* shift-lock (as opposed to caps-lock) is not supported
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 screensaver synchronization works best with xscreensaver
under X windows.
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