Looking for Software Recommendations: Sharing a mouse/keyboard between PC/Mac
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For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Don't know about software ones, not too sure how that would work. But ... check FleaBay / Amazon for "KM Switch PC MAC" and you'll find there are quite a few - relatively cheap - hardware solutions. They work: I used to have a KVM (Keyboard, Video, and Mouse) switch many moons ago to share four computers with one display and set on inputs: great for file / print servers!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt -
Don't know about software ones, not too sure how that would work. But ... check FleaBay / Amazon for "KM Switch PC MAC" and you'll find there are quite a few - relatively cheap - hardware solutions. They work: I used to have a KVM (Keyboard, Video, and Mouse) switch many moons ago to share four computers with one display and set on inputs: great for file / print servers!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
I'm specifically trying to avoid buying hardware, among other things because I don't want to be hammering the next computer button all day long. A decade ago I had a PC only program that shared my input between multiple windows computers. I just moused from one to the next the same as if they were 2 monitors, the only difference was that I couldn't drag windows across. It just worked, but that was long enough ago that I don't recall the applications name; and would want something known to be good now.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
There's a remote desktop available for the mac (to RD into the PC) from microsoft. Get started with Remote Desktop on Mac | Microsoft Docs[^] I've not tried it but the price is agreeable (free). I'd start there. It'll probably also let you copy files between the systems. That way also saves on the screen too - the PC would be a [minimisable/sizeable] window on the mac. If you run the mac multi-monitor you could dedicate one to the PC when doing tasks on both.
Signature ready for installation. Please Reboot now.
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For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Three letters: KVM (switch)
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Three letters: KVM (switch)
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
Three words: "Software not hardware" See my comment above for why a KVM isn't what I want.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Don't know about software ones, not too sure how that would work. But ... check FleaBay / Amazon for "KM Switch PC MAC" and you'll find there are quite a few - relatively cheap - hardware solutions. They work: I used to have a KVM (Keyboard, Video, and Mouse) switch many moons ago to share four computers with one display and set on inputs: great for file / print servers!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
OriginalGriff wrote:
not too sure how that would work
It works as a master-slave service-ring... However in contrasts to the hardware solution you have to have separate monitors for each computer...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Never used them, but ShareMouse and InputDirector come on top places for each search I did...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Three words: "Software not hardware" See my comment above for why a KVM isn't what I want.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Six words: "How is that supposed to work?" By what means are the keystrokes and mouse events to be sent to the other computer(s)? And how do they figure out which one the messages are currently for? Both at once could be somewhat awkward. You still would need some kind of control or switch to select that.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Six words: "How is that supposed to work?" By what means are the keystrokes and mouse events to be sent to the other computer(s)? And how do they figure out which one the messages are currently for? Both at once could be somewhat awkward. You still would need some kind of control or switch to select that.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
CodeWraith wrote:
How is that supposed to work?
On each computer there is a service (the same one), where the service on the computer have the mouse/keyboard connected acts like a master... You can switch computers by moving the mouse out of the screen (left-right and according to the order you have, just like in multi-monitor environment) or using keyboard shortcuts like ALT+1/2/3... The master will delegate the mouse/keyboard events to the 'current' services...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Six words: "How is that supposed to work?" By what means are the keystrokes and mouse events to be sent to the other computer(s)? And how do they figure out which one the messages are currently for? Both at once could be somewhat awkward. You still would need some kind of control or switch to select that.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
The same way mousing from one monitor to the next works. 0) Install the software on both computers. 1) Set your config so that Computer 1 is to the left of computer 2. 2) Then when your mouse cursor reaches the rightmost edge of computer 1's screen the software on comp1 starts intercepting and sending mouse and keyboard data to computer 2 which sends keyboard/mouse input commands to that systems OS. 3) Then when you attempt to mouse past the leftmost edge of computer 2's screen it stops sending the input too computer 2 and allows computer 1 to handle it again. The one I used years ago also shared the clipboard contents the same way. Under the hood I suspect in windows it just used global input hooks to capture the user input, that's what I did when I wrote an app to send them to another system over RS232 (yay for proprietary input standards on custom hardware). I'm not sure if you can inject the input the same way or would need to write a driver to do so. I never looked into the technical details though; it just worked.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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CodeWraith wrote:
How is that supposed to work?
On each computer there is a service (the same one), where the service on the computer have the mouse/keyboard connected acts like a master... You can switch computers by moving the mouse out of the screen (left-right and according to the order you have, just like in multi-monitor environment) or using keyboard shortcuts like ALT+1/2/3... The master will delegate the mouse/keyboard events to the 'current' services...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
Between the lines I thought I read 'WIN laptop and mac'. He would need these services on both.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
-
For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Stardock synergy?
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The same way mousing from one monitor to the next works. 0) Install the software on both computers. 1) Set your config so that Computer 1 is to the left of computer 2. 2) Then when your mouse cursor reaches the rightmost edge of computer 1's screen the software on comp1 starts intercepting and sending mouse and keyboard data to computer 2 which sends keyboard/mouse input commands to that systems OS. 3) Then when you attempt to mouse past the leftmost edge of computer 2's screen it stops sending the input too computer 2 and allows computer 1 to handle it again. The one I used years ago also shared the clipboard contents the same way. Under the hood I suspect in windows it just used global input hooks to capture the user input, that's what I did when I wrote an app to send them to another system over RS232 (yay for proprietary input standards on custom hardware). I'm not sure if you can inject the input the same way or would need to write a driver to do so. I never looked into the technical details though; it just worked.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Did he not write something like one computer being a PC and the other being a Mac?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Between the lines I thought I read 'WIN laptop and mac'. He would need these services on both.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
Just right... There are solutions for that...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Between the lines I thought I read 'WIN laptop and mac'. He would need these services on both.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Did he not write something like one computer being a PC and the other being a Mac?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
Yes I did.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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OriginalGriff wrote:
not too sure how that would work
It works as a master-slave service-ring... However in contrasts to the hardware solution you have to have separate monitors for each computer...
Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
You can get KM switches which are a lot cheaper than the KVM versions, if you want separate monitors (which can help, and can be confusing, all at the same time!). I'd certainly prefer it to the software solution, if only because it'll work even if the master computer isn't switched on, or even working.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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For my sins I'm currently splitting my working time between two computers but don't have room on my desk for 2 keyboards (and would rather just use one anyway); is there something - preferably free - I can install to share them between the two systems? It doesn't matter (much) if the keyboard and mouse are plugged into my windows laptop or the mac.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Use a virtual machine. :~
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
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Yes I did.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Oooops. :-) Sorry, I was distracted by the boss. He rambled about something he calls work.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
