synergy

Synergy seems to be a very promising software. It does everything it said. I compiled Synergy for my IRIX console because there is no binary available for it. It was very easy to set it up, what I did was only cd synergy-1.2.2;./configure --prefix=/opt;make;sudo make install 3 steps. I choose to use my IRIX box as a server because I want to use my decent SGI keyboard more often. I just need to setup the configuration then launch /opt/bin/synergys -f --config synergy.conf . My configuration is like this:

section: screens
    servername:
    clientname:
end
section: links
    servername:
        right = clientname
    clientname:
        left = servername
end

Make sure servername is the exact output of hostname command and clientname is the exact FQDN (or the defined hostname in /etc/hosts) of the client you want to use.

In the meantime, I downloaded the Mac OS X binary of synergy and extract it to some path I'd like to test on my powerbook. This time I don't need a config file for client side, I just need to launch /usr/local/bin/synergyc -f server-host-name (This name doesn't need to be exactly to be servername, it can even be an ip address....) We now have a synergy working. I just need to use the mouse for my IRIX box and move the curser to forward the right side and outside the right boundary of the monitor. Viola! My curser now appears from the left side of my powerbook!

My alt key on SGI keyboard becomes command key, however there is no option key available on SGI keyboard. I am able to copy text from IRIX's X window and paste to my powerbook's Aqua side. But the text I copied from my powerbook is not available in the IRIX side, this is actually a known issue documented in synergy's website.

It seems fun to use this kind of tool when you have several screens but don't want to waste your space. However I agree with my friend julian9:

19:34 <@julian9> mjhsieh: using synergy with 3 machines, then i realizedd that I might need a wireless mouse.

LOL ⌘