My open source tip of the day: a virtual KVM

My 3 computer screens, originally uploaded by rsepulveda.

A while ago, when I published a picture of my former desk at home (and all the mess), Yann Lechelle was kind enough to point me to an open source software that allows you to share mouse and keyboard between several computers, RUNNING DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS.

Until now, I really didn't get the point of it. Now look at the picture above: I've plugged the large keyboard and a laser mouse to the computer on the right (running linux). I can now use it to access the computer on the left that has an extra LCD screen attached to it.

The result ? I move my mouse as if on a single screen, but it moves between the 3 screens switly ! And it handles cut & paste between the machines as well. It runs on linux, a variety of Unices, Windows, Mac...
The setup is a bit cumbersome if you don't read the README file. You should, because all in all it takes about 5-10 minutes to have this running from downloading it to using it. Isn't it great ?

You can find the tool on http://synergy2.sourceforge.net.

CommandN was also talking about it last week, but it appeared first on this blog in the comments, right ;)  ?