For the geeks.
 

The rest of you can scroll on by.

So I generally have at least 2 computers on my desk at all times.

Pain in the neck as I often find myself typing away on the keyboard for PC1 while I think I'm typing on PC2. Same with the mice, continually picking up the wrong one. Yeah I know, KVM switch boxes and stuff like that but I've used them in the past and find them not so user friendly when you are switching PC's several times a minute.

I'm pretty picky about my peripherals like mice and keyboards.

I use Apple keyboards exclusively because I prefer the feel, it's a personal thing and different for everyone . I also have a preference for Logitech Mice.

As you know the daughter is off to college this fall and the last bit o kit I needed for her dorm computer was a new mouse.

Came across a good deal for the MX Master 2S. I have an MX Master 1 on my desk in the office and it's been flaking a bit so figured let me grab two of them. Worst thing that happens is my daughter does not like it and I have an extra mouse.

I notice the MX 2S had this Cross Flow feature which when paired with a Cross Flow capable keyboard can be used on two PC's at the same time.

One of the 5 keyboards they offer is the CRAFT which I'd actually seen a month or so back while, coincidently, out with my son picking out a new mouse for him.

Had a very Applesque feel, I liked it a lot but not at $199.00 when I have a ton of Apple keyboards already.

So in a bit of spontaneity I said screw it and ordered a CRAFT as well.

Set it all up tonight and damn, it was all worth every penny.

Once it's all set up on both PC's it works like a dual monitor setup, the mouse just glides off one screen onto the other and the keyboard follows along.

It's utterly seamless and you can even copy paste between machines.

My setup was a bit pricey but hey, it's what I do for a living so the tools are worth the price to keep me productive but they do have a 5 Cross Flow capable mice and keyboard offerings to fit every budget so if you have a similar situation well worth a look.

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/options/page/flow-multi-device-control

What’s a MX2S?

Sorry did you say you can cut and paste between PC’s? I think I peed a little

MX2S is the mouse.

Check the link.

Yeah, you can copy paste anything between PC's. Even OSX to Windows and back.

If I sat you down in front of this you'd think you were on a single workstation with multiple monitors.

It's seriously that seamless.

Unless I told you you would not know it was two different PC's.

And here I just start a Xnest session, ssh in and launch a desktop....

Nice. I could have used that a year ago.......

Not always robust and uses up real estate on the primary display.

I need size full displays.

This is faster and uses less resources.

I must be missing something - I just plug a couple of displays into the Mac.
Gives me three screens with the laptop screen.
Terminal, debugger and ui or Outlook/Skype are most commonly up there in various combinations.

Ok, I’m on this, reminds me of co-sharing cpu’s Over wire, grid computing, etc.

There is always a caveat, but i’ll be open minded. At the least it’s a security vulnerability.

To the bat cave...

That sounds very cool. I have my personal iMac on the left, and my work Dell laptop in the center with a 19" second monitor ( portrait mode ) on the right.

I'm usually in the field with the laptop, but when I get home, that 's my setup.

I may be shifting roles in the next year or so and will be home all the time. When that happens I'll prob want to make things more seamless.

For now, things work ok.

It's so you can switch seamlessly between using multiple computers, not just multiple displays.

The effect is you feel like you are working on one PC with multiple displays, not two PC's.

Some of us use tools that suck up tremendous resources which make a box not useable for multitasking.

A friend of mine posted this.

No personal experience with it but the price seems right to risk a flyer on it.

https://symless.com/synergy

The pro version has SSL.

https://symless.com/synergy

Not sure Cross Flow is too much of a security issue on your private network.

There is a USB dongle that is required for the whole thing to work and you need physical access to the hardware to set it up.

I had a personal KVM years ago that would switch monitor, keyboard and mouse with a hotkey, and it was pretty nice.
Absolutely, that stuff's important if you spend any amount of time on a computer!
Also my favorite, more specifically, there trackballs, but all of their stuff is top notch in my book.
That's pretty cool. The future is here!
GTFO! No way, you're yankin' our chains! How the hell does it do that? Memory in the keyboard? The keyboard grabs the clipboard, then sends it down the wire to the other device? I guess it's probably USB (whether directly or via a dongle) so transferring stuff is no problem compared to the old days of an actual keyboard port. I guess, why not. Sheit, makes me wish I used 2 workstations!

Absolutely! Forgetaboutit, I've probably still got you beat. I've got 2 of these, I think I got them refurbished, one had the extra memory (for macros and remapping keys) and was over $300. The other also refurbished with the standard memory, and was just under $200. They both have standard and Dvorak key layouts built into the keyboard, and can be swapped from Windows to Apple to neither, built in (so you have the Windows key or the Apple clover and option keys or whatever). When I travel for work, and I'm going to be someplace working on a workstation (vs a laptop) I take one with me. Trackballs have nearly gone the way of the dodo, but I still like them.



No kidding, that's crazy. It sounds like something out of Minority Report.

Psshhhtt, security! Who needs it? ;)

^^^
My God!!! A world I may never know. Amazing, this thread. My watch must be stuck on 1947.

And that’s what I use ssh for.

Both boxes need to be on the same network and have a copy of the software installed so I assume it's creating a private tunnel on the LAN between the two.

Nearly all the Logitech mice / keyboards can be paired to up to 3 devices simultaneously so no USB needed except to charge.

There is a Bluetooth unifying dongle that I presume handles the handoff or toggles the control state of cursor and keyboard between PC's

The whole package is pretty slick.

But you still don't have separate full displays.

I've been doing this a long time and also use SSH, when appropriate.

But it's not a one size fits all solution.

There are times where it's the absolute worst option.

Have 4 mac minis and a laptop. 3 of the mini are servers. the other boots into Win10. Use a KVM for the 4 minis, but monitor is off unless doing reboot tasks that kill remote desktop.

Laptop has 2 27in monitors. Use remote desktop for all the minis so just mouse over to the other machines. Also remote desktop to several machines in the office. Usually just double tap my mouse with two finger to show all my open windows and remote desktops. Then click on which ever. Remote desktop supports copy/paste between all the machines. Usually have 4 computers I am working between.

Just wish I could do remote sessions on my AppleTV as well.

SSH and remote desktop are fine for tasks they are suited for.

But they are not suited for all tasks.

Some of us use apps that are simply unusable unless full screen and simply do not tolerate the latency, no matter how low, inherent in a remote session.

Are you a sysadmin by any chance. I worked with a few over the years that would have 2 or 3 laptops going at once on their desktop and they always had a nice large label at the top of their screen so they would be able to tell which is which.

As for me I was a lowly Oracle DBA and only had/have one 40 inch monitor and only worked on ONE database at a time. We had a new DBA at one place I worked who took over the shipbuilding blueprint servers and he always had two laptops humming right along until he truncated the production system tables when he thought he was working on rebuilding the test system! Boy oh boy did the big wheels get really mad, but I was too paranoid to do stuff like that, slow is better I figured?

All my remote sessions are full screen. Don't run anything remotely that latency has been a problem.