Synergy - Keyboard & mouse sharing

I raised this in acorn.apps but thought it worth repeating here.

Synergy with the GUI QuickSynergy are applications that allow keyboard and mouse sharing between different networked computers using port 24800. There are Windows/Mac/Linux versions and a RISC OS version would be very useful especially now the Pi is running our OS.

That’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long while! I thought it sounded quite simple, but after reading this, I realise how naive I was. A RISC OS port would be fantastic, but it’s certainly not something I could tackle right now.

There’s been a bit of discussion in “.acorn.apps” about VNC being used instead (as its already ported to RISC OS) which involved requesting Leo White to see if its possible to 32bit !VNCInput. This client passes mouse & keyboard events to the remote server so you view on a second monitor.

However there are some Ubuntu “issues” with VNC and the latest Unity desktop to be resolved

requesting Leo White to see if its possible to 32bit !VNCInput

This has been on my to do list for a while! But I keep getting distracted by Raspberry Jams, toy tanks and rockets…

I got prodded about VNCInput this weekend and have started updating it to build on the RPi (The software pointer’s screen corruption is a little distracting…)

Hopefully I’ll have it up and running soonish..

VNCInput working on new systems would be excellent.

However synergy works a little differently. The server is what shares the mouse and keyboard, (the only difference I can see in practice, is that automatic connection is simpler.)

It also shares the clipboard.

VNCInput working on new systems would be excellent.

Its almost working.. Having some issues with the code that detects when the mouse hits the edge of the screen doesn’t seem to be working quite right.

Amusingly my PC display is so now so large (3760×1920) that if I move the pointer right far enough it eventually wraps around and reappears on my RISC OS display again… Guess I need to turn the mouse pointer off when its on the remote machine

synergy works a little differently

I’ve used synergy in the past, however I ran into strange network issues where it would loose one of the machines, and then my keyboard/mouse stopped working on all of them…

It also shares the clipboard.

VNC can share the clipboard too, I think my full VNCViewer app allowed that (would have to go and check) but I don’t think VNCInput does

Many thanks Leo for looking at this. If the clipboard can be shared as well this would be great.

I’m looking at mounting a “Pi” on the back of the first monitor with network, keyboard and mouse and running RISC OS on it (as it runs my mail) and a second machine and monitor using a VNC server to accept the keyboard and mouse commands so the clipboard interaction would allow pasting URLs into the Linux browser.

Its almost working.. Having some issues with the code that detects when the mouse hits the edge of the screen doesn’t seem to be working quite right.

Did anything come of your attempts to get this working, Leo? This would be an ideal solution for me. Better still, a full server but this would be very useful.

To be precise, Synergy use (did use ?) the same protocol as VNC.

Leo, I would love to get a 32 bit version of VNCInput. I could even wait or pay for this :) With NFS server/client and clipboard sharing, it would be very usefull.

Nota : if some public API permits to add communication things, I’ll probably add a few things, for example to transfer an application from one screen to one another (fire up application on screen two, transfer data, and close application on screen one), or two synchronise some system parameters.

I show a lot of possibilities :)

I’m new to RISC OS (closest I got to this world before was using an old BBC Micro when I was at primary school!)

I have used Synergy for ages though and am a keen supporter of it so I have it on my list of things to port/write for RISC OS.

I have no idea if it I’ll be able to do it, but if I make any progress I’ll let you all know! :—)

That would be really cool…

THAT would be really cool indeed! Something I’d happily pay for. Although, given how effective Andrew Sellor’s RDPClient is, you could always have a stab at porting an RDP server. Now that would be cool too!

I’m surprised that no-one has mentioned Tom Milius’s KMSwitch – http://tinyurl.com/nnmfz9w
“KMSwitch is a module that enables Keyboard/Mouse-switching between RISC OS machines via the network.”
(Tho’ I can’t get it to work.)

I’m surprised that no-one has mentioned Tom Milius’s KMSwitch

They did¹ – different thread. :)

¹ Fred G I think

Yes, I meant in this thread!

I’ve just managed to get KMSwitch to work. I think it will need a dead simple little GUI to make it useful, though.

The tinyurl link above is to the sources only. You need to add a VersionNum file and a Messages file at the same level as the Source folder. The VersionNum file needs one line like this:

#define Module_MajorVersion_CMHG 0.01

The Messages file needs one line:

_TaskName:KMSwitch

Then the app and the module will build with Norcroft.

A !Run file with an RMEnsure line will be handy.

Run the app, then open a task window on the client and server machines. In the server task window, type

KMSwitch_Server

In the client task window, type

KMSwitch_Connect server_name -V

KMSwitch_Client 0 -V

I posted the wrong URL, the full app. is here:
KMSwitch