Sharing Mouse/Keyboard among 3 Nodes

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I have 3 computers which runs ArchLinux/Ubuntu15.04 Mate, they both connected to the same ethernet, I’d like to use only one mouse/keyboard for controlling them, following are the steps for how-to.

Network Configuration

The 3 computer are listed as following:

• 192.168.1.11/dashArch/ArchLinux
• 192.168.1.13/dash32G/Ubuntu15.04
• 192.168.1.10/dashMate/Ubuntu15.04

Edit the /etc/hosts in 192.168.1.11:

$ sudo vim /etc/hosts
192.168.1.13    dash32G
192.168.1.14    dashMate

In 192.168.1.13, Edit /etc/hosts:

$ sudo vim /etc/hosts
192.168.1.11    dashArch

Synergy Server

I use ArchLinux for Synergy Server, install it simply via:

$ sudo pacman -S synergy

Run synergy via synergy, now configure it:

By drag a new machine in the configuration window, named dash32G:

Also drag a new machine in the configuraitn window, named dashMate:

Save the conf file as ~/SynergyArch.conf, then configure the systemctl.

Start the Synergy Server at the startup:

$ cat /usr/lib/systemd/synergys@.service 
[Unit]
Description=Synergy Server Daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
User=%i
ExecStart=/usr/bin/synergys --no-daemon --config /home/dash/SynergyArch.conf --enable-crypto
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
$ sudo systemctl start synergys@dash
$ sudo systemctl enable synergys@dash
Created symlink from
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/synergys@dash.service to
/usr/lib/systemd/system/synergys@.service.

Synergy Client

Install synergy client on Ubuntu via:

$ sudo apt-get install -y synergy

Configure the synergy as the client mode, like following:

Save the configuration file under your home directory, named it as synergyconfig.conf.

Since the Ubuntu15.04 Mate use lightdm for login, we add following line into lightdm’s configuration file:

$ sudo vim /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu-mate.conf
+ greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/synergyc 192.168.1.11

The same configuration should be applied to dashMate.

Auto-login Synergyc Configuration

Start synergy after login:

To start Synergy once you have logged into your X-session.

Main Menu - System - Preferences - Personnel - Startup Applications   
[ Add ]  
  Name:     synergys
  Command:  synergys --config ~/.synergy.conf
  Comment:  synergys  

Also you should configure the mate configuration file:

$ cat /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu-mate.conf
[SeatDefaults]
user-session=mate
greeter-setup-script=/usr/bin/synergyc 192.168.1.11
autologin-user=xxxxxx

Now you will have the synergy runs after you login to the mate desktop.

Conclusion

Now restart the computer, and everytime you could switch from different machines.