Synergy

Lately it has been a necessity for me to work using both of my computer (my Mac OS X iBook Laptop and my Linux AMD64) on my desk. Working with two computer on the same desk is sometimes frustrating, because sometimes I forgot to use my PC keyboard when I meant to use my iBook keyboard. And not only that, sometimes I wanted to copy and paste things between this two computer, and although it is not impossible, it is time consuming.

I remember that few weeks ago I header something called Synergy that could just do what I want (share my desktop mouse and keyboard). I Installed this program, and within less than five minutes, everything has been running smoothly. I could easily move my mouse and keyboard from a computer to the other, and I could copy and paste text from one screen to the other. In fact, I wrote this entry using my PC's mouse and keyboard. Granted, not all things works smoothly, for example, sometimes I'm confused when using the alt key on my PC keyboard that acts as command key on my iBook, but that is just a small annoyance.

One tip: if you are using Mac OS X, I suggest you use SynergyKM instead of the official program, because it is much easier to use. With SynergyKM you can access the synergy preferences from System Preferences, and you can turn Synergy on or off through the menu bar.