Share The Keyboard As Well As Mouse On 2 Ten Terminals - Purpose 1/2

I accept a desktop as well as a laptop on my workstation, side past times side. No KVM switch. Each has its ain display, mouse, as well as keyboard. I sentiment I could e'er slide over to purpose the other computer. Wishful thinking at its finest.

I started investigating KVM options. I similar the sentiment of having both displays visible simultaneously. Therefore, the terminal solution solely needs to part the mouse as well as the keyboard. Part 1 of this 2-part serial focuses on x2x, a software KVM solution for 2 computers. Part 2 is on Synergy, a software KVM solution that supports to a greater extent than than 2 computers.

My psyche car is the desktop which runs Debian 7.5 (aka Wheezy). With x2x, I purpose the desktop's keyboard as well as mouse to command my secondary machine, the laptop which runs Ubuntu 12.04 (aka Precise Pangolin).

Installation

You solely postulate to install x2x on the secondary machine, the ane whose keyboard as well as mouse y'all are NOT using.

Before the install, verify that the X Server on your secondary car supports the XTEST extension.

 $ xdpyinfo -ext XTEST |grep XTEST     XTEST XTEST version 2.2 opcode: 141 

If the secondary car runs on a recent Debian or Ubuntu release, the install is every bit slow as:

 $ sudo apt-get install x2x 

Unfortunately, recent Fedora as well as other Red Hat-based distributions produce non pre-package x2x inwards their official repositories. This is non totally surprising because x2x is currently non existence actively developed. Its almost recent unloosen was dorsum inwards 2003. Part 2 of this serial introduces an alternative tool named Synergy that plant for Fedora.

If y'all are successful inwards installing x2x on a recent Fedora release, delight part your sense past times leaving a comment.

Setup

Before y'all run x2x, verify that X forwarding over SSH is enabled on the secondary machine. Specifically, the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file on that car must comprise the next line:

 X11Forwarding yeah 

Restart the ssh daemon if y'all had to edit the sshd_config file.

 $ sudo service ssh restart 

For details on SSH X forwarding, delight refer to my earlier post.

Running x2x

Execute a customized version of the next command on your psyche machine, the ane alongside the mouse as well as keyboard that y'all desire to use.

 $ ssh -X 192.168.1.111 x2x -west -to :0 peter@192.168.1.111's password:  

The parameters to modify are:

1. IP address

   This is the IP address of the secondary machine.

2. Location of the secondary car relative to the primary.

   My secondary car is placed to the left of my primary, thus -west. When the mouse crosses the left border of the psyche display, the mouse pointer slides over to the secondary display. From there, when the mouse crosses the correct border of the secondary display, the mouse pointer slides dorsum to the primary. Depending on the relative car location, y'all tin dismiss specify instead -north, -south, or -east.

Now, the 2 X displays are virtually integrated. Move the mouse of your psyche display to the left, crossing the left edge. Notice that the mouse pointer lands inwards the secondary display. Any keystrokes y'all live inwards alongside the keyboard of the psyche display seem within a window on the secondary.

x2x is non currently nether active development. But if your trace of piece of job is to part the keyboard as well as mouse betwixt 2 Debian-based systems, x2x is a uncomplicated as well as effective solution. If y'all accept to a greater extent than than 2 computers to share, or the computers are non-Debian, or fifty-fifty non-Linux (Mac OS X, Windows), consider using Synergy which is explained inwards the next post.

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