If you've got the right setup (multiple monitors, multiple computers) and want to give each a separate monitor but share a keyboard and mouse, then you need Synergy.
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).
Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems.
Pretty amazing - I've got a Windows XP box and a Mac mini hooked up to their own monitors, and with Synergy running. I just need a single keybaord and mouse. Moving between screens is as simple as they say, and shared clipboards round it all off and makes it all feel like a single unified system that can run Windows and OS X software.
So - why not just use Remote Desktop or some flavour of VNC ?
- Remote Desktop is *much* better than VNC. VNC is pretty much the only way of doing remote control of a Mac, so I would be forced to use the Mac mini as the primary computer. I don't particularly want to do this (Mac mini doesn't do dual monitors, slower, etc).
- It's fast ! No screen images to send across the wire (or ether) - just mouse and keyboard data.
Just waiting for my third monitor, and then I'll have a full-on technogeek setup !
[tags]synergy, software, utilities, OSX, remote control[/tags]
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