The Secret Techie Blog

Being a software developer and general geek, when I'm working at home on my desktop computer I usually have my laptop sitting next to my main monitor, as there are bits and pieces on it that I am always using (and besides I occasionally need to use that dreaded operating system).

One thing that is a pain though is having to swap between my main computer keyboard/mouse and the laptop. Enter a handy piece of software called Synergy.

Synergy allows you to share your mouse and keyboard from one machine with another computer on your local network. Now, when I want to use my laptop I simply move the mouse cursor off the right edge of my desktop monitor and it appears on may laptop, where I can type and do anything with my main mouse and keyboard. When I want to switch back to my desktop computer I simply move the mouse cursor off the left edge of the laptop and it reappears on my desktop monitor. Very simple and natural.

In techie parlance this is called "KM sharing" where "KM" stands for "Keyboard & Mouse". There is other software that can do "KVM sharing" where "KVM" stands for "Keyboard, Video & Mouse" which also has it's handy uses, but when you've got two or more computers with screens on the same desk, Synergy kicks butt.

Oh, and did I mention that it is free and works on several operating systems?