Share One Keyboard and Mouse with Synergy

Have you ever wanted to control several machines at once? Well now you can with Synergy.

This post is not sponsored.

I’ve struggled with my workspace preference (and clutter) for as long as I can remember. The issue comes when having several displays but several machines connected to them. People often opt for a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch but I couldn’t find one I liked without spending $100 or more!

I was referred to Synergy by a friend who used it long before I knew about it. At first I was skeptical about sharing my peripherals over the network but within my local network over TLS, I was hardly concerned.

My current setup exists of 3 monitors, 2 computers, one keyboard and one mouse. I currently use 2 of the 3 monitors for work during the day and usually take all 3 back for my personal workstation after hours. Some people choose to use one machine dedicated to a work machine or separate machine, however I toggle between input on the wildcard monitor quickly.

After describing my setup, a KVM wouldn’t lend itself as well because I would be swapping back and forth far too often. With Synergy, you have a grid layout and the edge of your screen can transfer you to the machine in the respective area. There are also several hotkeys including Scroll Lock which will lock your cursor to the active screen to avoid controlling the wrong computer.