Perhaps you’re already aware of something like this but believe it or not, I just got to know that it is possible to share ONE keyboard and mouse between multiple computers by just using software! Usually when we need to share keyboard, mouse and monitor, we can use a hardware call KVM switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse). KVM switch is often being used in server room where there are multiple servers but only one keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Nowadays most of advanced computer users, programmers or full time bloggers surely have more than 1 computer. Having more computer also means more cables, more keyboards and more mouses. If you do not want the mess and also don’t want to spend money on KVM switch, you can try using either one of these two free software that is able to help you share your keyboard and mouse between multiple computers.

1. Input Director

Input Director is a Windows application that lets you control multiple Windows systems using the keyboard/mouse attached to one computer. It is designed for folks who have two (or more) computers set up at home and find themselves regularly sliding from one system to the other (and wearing out the carpet in the process!). With Input Director, you can share a single keyboard/mouse across a set of systems. You switch which system receives the input either by hotkey or by moving the cursor so that it transitions from one screen to the other (in a very similar fashion to a multi-monitor setup). The idea being that you can position the monitors from two or more systems in a row and use a shared keyboard/mouse to control all of them.

Input Director also supports a “shared” clipboard, in which you can copy data onto the clipboard on one system, transition across to another and paste. Input Director requires Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista. The systems must be networked.

[ Download Input Director ]

2. 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. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all.

[ Download Synergy ]

The concept of how both Input Director and Synergy work is pretty simple. It is like remote accessing another computer minus the real time remote screen being displayed on your(master) computer. Both software uses the master/slave terminology. The master system is the computer that has the mouse/keyboard that you be using to control it and the other system(s). A slave system is one that can receive input (keyboard and mouse) from a master. So on a computer that has keyboard

I’ve tested both Input Director and Synergy but I couldn’t get Synergy to work. Here’s a simple comparison between Input Director and Synergy. Input Director is in constant development and the latest version of Input Director 1.0.9 BETA was released on the 23rd March 2008. I’ve tried playing Counter Strike Source on my laptop using the keyboard and mouse attached to my desktop and I didn’t notice any lag or difference! As for Synergy, it was last updated on 2006 which makes it a little outdated. Good thing about Synergy is the ability to support other operating system such as Mac OS and Unix.

There’s one problem you could encounter if you decide to completely remove the keyboard and mouse from one of the computer. When you boot up your computer, you’d get an error message “Keyboard error or no keyboard present” and it hangs there. The software only works in Windows. The solution to this problem is to go to CMOS Setup > Standard CMOS Features > Halt On and set it to No Errors or All, But Keyboard. This setting allows your computer to continue booting even if it didn’t find any keyboard.

[tags]share, keyboard, mouse, synergy, input director[/tags]