nemorathwald (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nemorathwald) wrote2005-12-02 01:17 am
nemorathwald) wrote2005-12-02 01:17 am
QuickSynergy
I usually just use Windows because it's too inconvenient and uncomfortable to reach across the desk to the keyboards and mice for Mac and Linux. Since I'm the perfect customer for a keyboard/mouse/monitor switch, I've wanted to run Synergy for a long time. This is a piece of software that hooks up multiple computers on the same desk so that you can roll your mouse off the edge of one screen and onto the one next to it. The keyboard operates whatever computer the mouse is on; and it lets you cut and paste from one computer to another. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, which happen to be the platforms connected to the three monitors on my desk. Up until now I haven't been able to get the Mac or Linux versions of the client software to work. Windows, as usual, had an auto-setup GUI version that Just Worked. But now there's QuickSynergy, a set of graphical user interfaces for Synergy in Mac and Linux! Joy!
Only one problem remains. I don't know enough about Linux to install it. Heck, I can't even upgrade to FireFox 1.5-- the most essential piece of software on any system-- on Linux because it doesn't show up on the list in Synaptic Package Manager. Sure, there's a big friendly button on the webpage that says "Download FireFox 1.5 for Linux" but there's no installer program to click in that wad of data. I extracted the archive but I don't know what to do with it.
Similarly, on the QuickSynergy page, I read the following:
Just follow the usual procedure:
./configure
make
make install
The "usual procedure." Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. If you don't already know the secret password you're not allowed in the treehouse. The obstacle to Linux adoption is, for the most part, not in the operating system itself. Many developers of software for Linux don't expect any adopters. So they think what few people would be interested in a program they've made for Linux will already know what these instructions mean. Nevertheless, I am pleased as punch that as soon as one of my cool friends helps me install it, the QuickSynergy developers will have removed one more obstacle in my months-long quest to harness the power of three processors and massive screen real estate from one keyboard and mouse!
Only one problem remains. I don't know enough about Linux to install it. Heck, I can't even upgrade to FireFox 1.5-- the most essential piece of software on any system-- on Linux because it doesn't show up on the list in Synaptic Package Manager. Sure, there's a big friendly button on the webpage that says "Download FireFox 1.5 for Linux" but there's no installer program to click in that wad of data. I extracted the archive but I don't know what to do with it.
Similarly, on the QuickSynergy page, I read the following:
Just follow the usual procedure:
./configure
make
make install
The "usual procedure." Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. If you don't already know the secret password you're not allowed in the treehouse. The obstacle to Linux adoption is, for the most part, not in the operating system itself. Many developers of software for Linux don't expect any adopters. So they think what few people would be interested in a program they've made for Linux will already know what these instructions mean. Nevertheless, I am pleased as punch that as soon as one of my cool friends helps me install it, the QuickSynergy developers will have removed one more obstacle in my months-long quest to harness the power of three processors and massive screen real estate from one keyboard and mouse!