Two years ago, I tried Synergy2 on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).
Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all. Learn more about how it works.
At that time, I had to use the console on Mac OS X and Linux to start/stop Synergy2. Configuration was done by editing text files. A GUI was only available for the Windows version, so that at least on Mac OS X and Linux the usability could have been better.
Yesterday, I read Adam Pash’ Hack Attack: Control multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse on lifehacker.com. He mentions, that for Mac OS X a GUI for Synergy2, called SynergyKM, is available. So, I gave it another try. This time, the setup was very smooth. Just a few clicks on Mac and Notebook and the setup was complete.
What I like most is, that my TFT display has an analog as well as a DVI connector. So, the Mac is connected using DVI, whereas the notebook is attached to the display via an analog cable. Now I can switch between both using a button on the display. Together with Synergy2, it is a really cheap KVM switch.
