For those of you who are not familiar with KVM switches, they allow you to use more than one computer with the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
You can only use one computer at a time; however, and then you toggle which computer is shown on the monitor usually with a key combo or a physical switch you press. They are great for their purpose, but what about the end user that uses both a PC and an Apple computer and needs to use them simultaneously or move between them quicker without waiting on the KVM delayed video output when switching computers. If this speaks to you, you might want to give Synergy a shot. Synergy is more or a less a software defined KVM that runs over the network using a client or server model.
It is slightly different than a KVM though, since it does require a monitor for each computer added to the Synergy configuration. For instance, you configure your PC as the server and your Apple computer as the client. Once configured, your PC is the master or server node, and additional computers are clients. Once configured, you can treat those two computers like a single computer, but with two monitors. Let us say that PC is on the left and Apple computer is on the right. When you are working off of the left monitor you are working on your PC, when you drag the mouse to the other monitor, the keyboard and mouse switches over to your Apple computer.
This is the ultimate power user’s tool. It is not for everyone, but people who are using multiple systems constantly everyday will absolutely love this software. Does this sound like something you might benefit from? Go ahead and give it a shot and watch your productivity soar. As always, if you have any questions regarding this subject or even would like a technician to come onsite and help set it up for you, do not hesitate to give us a call here at Frankenstein, we are always happy to help!
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