Share keyboard and mouse between multiple Windows and Linux

I love my (Ubuntu) Linux box however time to time I have to switch to Windows box, this involves having two keyboards and mouses which can get very confusing. I know you can ssh into Linux box using putty from windows however I want to be able to switch from both using single keyboard and mouse. Enter Synergy, this app helps you to do just that. So here are the steps

1./ Install Synergy: On your Ubuntu machine type ‘apt-get install synergy’ and on windows, download synergy .exe file.
2./ On your Ubuntu create /etc/synergy.conf

section: screens
ubuntu-desktop:
windows-desktop:
end

section: aliases
windows-desktop:
192.168.0.12
end

section: links
ubuntu-desktop:
right = windows-desktop
windows-desktop:
left = ubuntu-desktop
end


ubuntu-desktop and windows-desktop are your hostname for your linux and windows box respectively.

option aliases, allows you to specify ip addresses incase you do not have dns name.

option links, specifies which computer to go to when the mouse is off screen. On this occasion, if the mouse goes far right of the ubuntu-desktop screen, it only then jumps on to windows-desktop. if the mouse goes far left of the windows-desktop screen, it only then jumps on to ubuntu-desktop screen.

Now, save your config file and execute using ‘synergys -f –config /etc/synergy.conf’. option -f tells synergy to run in the forground so that you can see what is happening.

3./ On Windows run synergy and type in your host name ip adress (in this case ip address of ubuntu-desktop).

…and then test if it is connecting to your Ubuntu machine. Once it connects, then click on start.