Synergy – One Mouse to Rule Them ALL

A LOT of my time these days is spent at the computer. I’ve got 2 computers I use side by side – a Macbook Pro and my new Dell desktop. Up until now had to use 2 different mice/keyboards for them which can get very frustrating. I’ve always wanted a “ONE Mouse (and keyboard)” solution. I tried some of the KVM cables that can connect peripherals from 2 computers together but I’ve found them a little buggy (slow to switch, and sometimes I get problems restarting my PC without the keyboard USB switched the correct way first).

Just the other day I was procrastinating and searching on the internet for a simpler solution – I was actually looking for a simple USB switcher – thinking that since the KVM switchers handle audio & video maybe a USB-only fix might work better.

But I found an even better way to fix the problem. SYNERGY. Its a software solution, and so far (I’ve used it for 3 days now) it is AWESOME. Since the keyboard and mouse are connected to the Dell, my PC is the “server” and the Mac is the “client”. If I’m working on my PC and I want to send off a quick email, all I have to do is move my mouse to the right and it appears on the screen of my Mac. Since the keyboard switches with the mouse, I can use my PC keyboard to type up a quick email, send it, and – with a leftward swipe of my mouse – I’m back in PC land.

So far the only issue I have is the control keys don’t work on the mac (command, option, control) – But I think I can fix that if I put some time into it – it looks like Synergy has some utilities to address that. It probably doesn’t help that I use a mac keyboard on the Dell (I just like the feel of an Apple keyboard) and I’ve had to remap some of the control settings so it works on the PC (using Sharpkeys).

I keep expecting some huge problem to crop up, but so far it is fantastic. Thanks SYNERGY!