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Anyone use any cross platform software, like Synergy?  I just upgraded my office system to a newer machine, and since the old one is perfectly good, and has a nice 19" monitor, I thought it would be nice to work cross platform and have two monitors, two cpu's and the ability to work both from the same keyboard and trackball.  Open to any suggestions.

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Waddy

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It comes down to what are you trying to accomplish?... At its essence is just a mouse and keyboard sharing application which in general does not accomplish much as a hardware switcher is more effective and doesnt have to be expensive (Belkin has one for 2 machines that is less than $20).

Yes, Synergy allows cut and paste between two dissimilar machines but that isnt all that difficult.

You have more functionality if you terminal into each from the other...in that way you can execute things on either system.

Cross Platform does not mention what operating systems you are running or want to run on each. Sharing between MACs and PCs is easy. If you want to run Windows on one and another OS such as Linux or Unix on the other then the easiest way for them to interop (if you are a Linux or Unix person) is to load a free download version of a unix based subsystem for Windows called Services for Unix. This USL licensed subsystem for Windows gives you the same utilities, shells and compilers on Windows as you would use of a Linux or Unix system. This gives the ability to rexec, rshell and other functions so interop is easy...

We use Synergy at my place of work constantly. In fact, our IT guy has 4 computers ranging from Windows PCs to SUN SPARCS with 1 mouse/keyboard and 4 monitors. Pretty neat, and as Shawn said, copy/paste between them all. Although, I am unsure if it is available for OS X.

If all you want to accomplish is using your keyboard/mouse on both machines. Synergy is free and easy to setup.

If you want something more, then Shawn is right and we'll need some more info.

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nay

My blogs
Hand Made Gutar
Woodworker++

Thanks for your input.  I really was only interested in using the old computer to sort of gain a monitor, and give me a little control without having to use two pointing devices and keyboards.  Don't know if it really gains anything, but it would allow me to have open windows on both screens, so the additional visibility would be nice.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

For what it is worth, I got Synergy working.  It is pretty seamless.  It does allow exactly what I expected.  If I want broader interface, I'll go another route.  It does not allow drag from one and drop to the other though.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy, as Shawn said, it has copy/paste, but it will only copy/paste simple text. If you want to drag & drop files, windows, etc. that's a bit more difficult. Sorry, I tend to look at things from a software engineers perspective. Off hand I don't know of a piece of software that would allow that. But if you find one let us know!

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nay

My blogs
Hand Made Gutar
Woodworker++

EDIT BUTTON

I'm going to assume your OS's are Windows/Windows or Linux/Windows. If that's the case, you could share a folder on each. Then all you would have to do is open a folder, which would point to the other machine and drag what you want into there.

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nay

My blogs
Hand Made Gutar
Woodworker++

Yeah, they are both WinXP machines.  But it allows me to do browsing on one while using the other for database and other processing.  Hey I can keep a close eye on OLF all day, and still do my work.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I the words of our favorite cave man "Ah what????"

[QUOTE=BOBP]I the words of our favorite cave man "Ah what????"[/QUOTE]

I keep my web browser open on my old machine, while I use my new machine for work related stuff, but the cursor moves from one machine's monitor to the other, seamlessly, as though it were one screen.  In addition, whichever screen holds the cursor is the one the single keyboard works on too.  I am typing this message on my old WinXP machine, using the keyboard attached to my new winXP machine.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

How did you know?    

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars