How To Share A Single Keyboard And Mouse Between 2 Or More Computers Using QuickSynergy - Ubuntu

Now a days many of us work on more than one machine at a time . Say one machine for work and the other for music . Or one machine for Emails and the other for Programming etc etc . So the situations can be different but the problem is probably the same . Especially when you have two machines side by side , it definetly is irritating to have 2 mouse and 2 keyboards and taking your hands off one keyboard and moving to the other , its inconvenient and a waste of time . Remote controlling is also not a convenient solution . So the best way to go about this is to Share 1 keyboard and mouse with 2 or more machines .
This can be really convenient as all you need to do is move your mouse from one end of the screen to the other , and then the same mouse and keyboard would control the other machine . Its something like a Dual Monitor setup , except that in dual monitor the same machine is used , whereas here , it is between two or machines . So here's how you do it :

NOTE: You first need to ensure that both these machines are connected via LAN and have their own unique ip addresses.

In this example , i would show you how to Share one keyboard and mouse between 2 Ubuntu Machines. So you first need to decide which pc you want to make as server and which as client . The keyboard and mouse which is connected to the computer or the one which you want to use should be SERVER and the other machine should be CLIENT.

So here are the specifications of the two machines for this example :

Machine A - SERVER
Ubuntu 7.10
Host Name : prash-desktop
Ip address : 192.168.1.10

Machine B - CLIENT
Ubuntu 8.04
Host Name : prash-laptop
Ip address : 192.168.1.11

NOTE: 1) If you wish to know your ip address type ifconfig in the Terminal - typically of the form 192.168.1.x or 192.168.0.x where x is anything between 2 - 255
2) If you wish to know your hostname type hostname in the Terminal

Configuring The Server
Now my setup consists of a ubuntu desktop and a ubuntu laptop . I'm going to use the ubuntu desktop (prash-desktop) as SERVER so that i can use this desktop's keyboard and mouse to also control my laptop ( prash-laptop) . So here goes :

Step 1 : Go to the Terminal(Applications->Accessories->Terminal) and type sudo apt-get install quicksynergy
Step 2 : This would install quicksynergy on your pc .
Step 3 : Now go to Applications->Accessories->QuickSynergy


Step 4 : You will see a window similar to this

Step 5 : Now as you can see in the above screenshot i have added prash-laptop on the right of the diagram . This is because the laptop is situated towards the right of my desktop
Step 6 : So if i move my mouse cursor to the right of my screen , i would then be able to access the laptop (prash-laptop) using the same mouse and keyboard
Step 7 : And if i want to again control the desktop (prash-desktop) i would just need to move the mouse cursor towards the left of the laptop (prash-laptop) screen i.e. from where it came
Step 8 : In step 5 , i have added prash-laptop in the space provided as prash-laptop is the hostname of my ubuntu laptop . You need to add the hostname there .
Step 9 : Once done Click on Start
Step 10 : Now the configuration on the SERVER is done

Configuring The Client
Now its time to configure the client, in this case it is my ubuntu laptop whose hostname is prash-laptop

Step 1 : Go to the Terminal(Applications->Accessories->Terminal) and type sudo apt-get install quicksynergy
Step 2 : This would install quicksynergy on your pc .
Step 3 : Now go to Applications->Accessories->QuickSynergy

Step 4 : Now click on the USE tab
Step 5 : Now under Server Hostname/IP address enter the hostname or the ip address of the SERVER machine (i.e. the first machine)

Step 6 : In my case it is my ubuntu desktop's hostname or ip . I entered the ip address and the hostname didnt work for me . So i entered 192.168.1.10 as that is the ip address of my ubuntu desktop .
Step 7 : Then click on START

You now should be able to share your desktop's keyboard and mouse with your laptop . This is possible with a maximum of 4 machines as shown in the quicksynergy window . It is also possible to do this through Windows using Synergy software.

NOTE: One more Additional Optional Feature is to tell Synergy to Continue Running After QuickSynergy is closed . To do this open QuickSynergy (Applications->Accessories->QuickSynergy) and TICK "Keep Synergy Running After QuickSynergy is closed"