Synergy Plus

[cmpm]

Anyone tried any of these?

http://code.google.com/p/synergy-plus/downloads/list

The claim is better with W7 and Vista, but the original works fine still.

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

Seems google is messing around with it.
But they are beta and rc's, and say unstable for all it looks like.

Wondering if anyone has any experience with them.

Or is there something better and still free to use?

[Cloq]

Very cool! Glad to see someone picking up the synergy project even if it is an offshoot.

I will update you on how it works. I have a few guinea pigs at work that are willing to try the rc's out.

[Cloq]

Update:

W7 32bit - synergy-plus-1.4.1-Windows-x86.exe


Synergy+ has improved a bit over the old(er) version but it still has a ways to go after you install it. It needs a quick setup wizard after installation guiding the user in asking if the current install is the master or client and to do the need be accordingly.

I spent a good 15 minutes (after watching my co-worker trying to figure it out to no avail) trying to figure out why the client wasn't seeing the master. Ended up having to tell the program to copy the log to the clipboard and then paste it to notepad.

Once I saw the log (full of tried to connect to master.. connected but refused because not in master map). Gee whiz.. very helpful.

Now on the master (computer) you can't do diddly once the server service is running. Had to stop the service, go into the settings, figure out the button that brought up the "Map". Basically it's a grid with the master computer in the center.

Then had to drag the icon of a computer to an empty grid area (figured that part out by accident, the dragging computer).  

The newly dragged computer is your "client" machine that you have to configure by double clicking it. Remember to name it differently from the alias name or the program freaks out and refuses to start the "master" service.

Once you get over the confusing setup procedure, it's quite good, smooth mouse panning from one screen to another. You can copy and paste text, but not files. There is a whole discussion about if they will implement that feature or not.

Bottom line:

Post install setup configuration is confusing (not nearly as bad as the original synergy), but once you master that part, everything else is a breeze.

[Deozaan]

The claim is better with W7 and Vista, but the original works fine still.

The original still works fine in Windows 7? Do you know if it works well in 64-bit Windows 7?

[Cloq]

Synergy+ seems to work well in XP sp3 and Vista64/W7 32/64. UAC may need to be turned off. We have it turned off by default at work.

As for the original Synergy, I have only personally tested it on XP SP2. Frustrating setup but works well.

[DocSavage]

I have used Synergy for several years. I am now running the latest Synergy Plus revision. Ordinarily I have 3 computers running, dual monitors on each, and sometimes one of my laptops. I can keep my development machine free of widgets and gadgets while running continuos weather monitor on different computer and eMail/messaging on a third. Just mousing past the screen edge of my primary machine puts me over on the eMail machine, type a quick response & mouse back to the work machine. Or set the big guy to render something & mouse over to another machine while primary is busy.
I am a fan of Synergy in all its versions & glad to see it discussed on DC, my other "gotta' have it" resource.

[kamahl]

I'd been using Synergy for about 5 years, and switched to Synergy plus back in march.  However a couple months ago I switched to a nice program called Input Director http://www.inputdirector.com/.  I have two major reasons to prefer it over Synergy.

1. Works better when I'm playing games.
How many people have opened a FPS only to find the mouse flying across the screen? Synergy has an aversion to certain DirectX APIs, which Input Director seems to work better with.

2. Switching between hosts. 
I have three machines I use with my synergy setup: Main Desktop, secondary desktop, netbook.  Given that the secondary desktop doesn't have any HID devices attached, changing the synergyc target is somewhat awkward. 
Input Director works Server -> Client, rather than the Client -> Server setup that synergy uses.  That means all I need to do to change hosts is click the "Enable as Master" button on my desktop, and "Enable as Slave" on the netbook. the Secondary doesn't care who the master is, as long as the master can ping it.

Has anyone else tried this alternative, and what are your opinions about it?

[Deozaan]

I gave Synergy+ a try and it was working for a while but broke when I selected the option to run when my account logged in.

It must have been starting a (hidden) service, but it would never connect, and when I tried to manually start the program on both PCs, they wouldn't ever connect.

So. . .

Synergy--;  // (Uninstalled)

[CmputrAce]

What Synergy2 and its derivatives have lacked is a two-layer approach to handling the mouse inputs like Multiplicity (Stardock). Because of this, if you install Synergy2/Synergy+ as a user, it will only accept input when you are running user-mode programs. When you switch to admin-mode programs, it will not accept input until you switch back to user-mode.

If you install Synergy2/Synergy+ in admin mode, it will only accept input when you are working on admin-mode programs. Whichever window has focus determines which "mode" you are in.

The proper solution for Synergy2/Synergy+ to run as desired in Windows Vista / 7 is to have two service apps, one for user-mode input and one for admin-mode input. This is fairly well documented in MS development documentation and various developer forums, but it's a pain to implement.

A potential road block to this development approach is that the Synergys are coded to work across OSes as well as computers, and OS X / Linux don't have the same execution model as Windows.

The whole reason I use Synergy instead of my licensed Multiplicity Pro is that I have Windows PCs and a MacBook Pro (running OS X sometimes and Win 7 sometimes) that I share my KB/Mouse with. Multiplicity does not come with an OS X client/server. When I run Win & on the Mac, I deal with the few times I run admin-mode programs by typing on the Mac keyboard. It's a pain, but it works.

[Deozaan]

If you install Synergy2/Synergy+ in admin mode, it will only accept input when you are working on admin-mode programs. Whichever window has focus determines which "mode" you are in.

That may be what broke it for me. To get it to run as a service when my computer turned on I had to run it as administrator.

I couldn't even get the mouse to go over to the other PC after that.

[Cloq]

I use Multiplicity Pro at home and work.

Synergy and Input director (to my knowledge) currently can not copy/paste files. Deal breaker in my case.

The ability of being able to transfer files (copy/paste) is so very convenient plus being able have everything working and running within minutes is a bonus.