I first started using Synergy at a previous employer as a productivity enhancement. My primary work machine had three displays and often felt just a bit lacking. When I came across Synergy I started to use it to take advantage of a 4th screen which was also my Linux machine, that I offloaded nearly all the admin tasks onto. The intent for this was to be more productive in managing various tasks. At the time, the primary machine I was using was already significantly burdened and any sort of task offloading to another machine was highly beneficial to keeping the pipeline filled with computational tasks. Synergy made it possible for me to slide my mouse to the adjacent computer’s screen and continue to work.
Using the neighboring computer’s keyboard and mouse was always an option but to instead continue to work without lifting my hands from the keyboard and mouse was quite incredible. Sharing the contents of the clipboard was also fantastic and incredibly convenient.
Bottom Line Up Front: If you work with multiple computers this allows you to use a single keyboard, mouse, or trackpad (from one “server” computer) to seamlessly control multiple nearby computers over your local network, as if they were all part of one extended desktop environment. It doesn’t work as well under Wayland as it does X11 but it is super close. This has many names a virtual KVM or a software-based keyboard and mouse sharing tool. Maybe, you could call it a multi-computer input sharing application. Whatever it is, the concept is superb.
How it Works
The computers have to be on the same network, as in, they have to be able to directly talk to one another. A port need to be opened or firewall disabled (not recommended) for communication to take place.
One computer has to be designated the server and the other(s) are the client. The client will look at the server and wait for the input.
You move your mouse cursor off the edge of one screen → it “slides” onto the next computer’s screen → your keyboard input automatically follows to whichever screen the cursor is on.
It merges the clipboards across all connected machines, so you can copy text/images on one computer and paste on another.
It supports cross-platform use: Windows, macOS, Linux (including Wayland support in recent versions), and even some BSD variants.
No special hardware is required, no cables, no physical KVM switch box, no remote desktop windows and minimal fiddling. It operates purely over the network (usually LAN), with TLS encryption enabled by default for security. Which is where the “fiddling” may be required.
The experience feels like one giant virtual desktop split across physical monitors/computers and it is most certainly sensational. To me, this is A-tier nerd “hackery” which feels pretty good.
Installation
There are several paths you can take to install this. The first is to go to the Github page directly and download the version with the nearest match to your system.
Open Build Service
This is available for numerous platforms, most importantly openSUSE Tumbleweed as that is my main distribution of choice but also openSUSE Slowroll, Fedora Rawhide, Fedora 41 and Mageia Cauldron. These are community packages.
https://software.opensuse.org/package/deskflow
On openSUSE variations simply run:
sudo zypper install deskflowAlternatively, you can install Deskflow directly from the Github. Here you have a lot of options but openSUSE doesn’t look to be one with native packages.
Flatpak
Good news, you can skip all of that and install the Flatpak which should work on just about every distribution. Golly, modern Linux is pretty rad!
First Run and Configuration
You have two modes that Deskflow will operate in either server of client. As the server, Deskflow will allow you to use the specified computers mouse and keyboard among other machines. That means, the other machines will have to be in client mode, listening for keyboard and mouse input.
Firewall and Port
Therre isn’t much to do to successfully configure Deskflow to work properly. By default the port number for Deskflow / Synergy / Barrier is 24800. This can be found in the Preferences menu of Deskflow
When you connect from the client computer to the server computer, a notification will pop up tell you that you need to add it to your server screen layout.
Selecting OK will bring up the Server Configuration Window. Here you can place where you want that computer to be in relation to the the server computer or any other computers that you may have connected.
If you no longer wish to have the computer part of your Deskflow, just drag that computer over to the trash can icon and it will no longer be accessible. Super easy.
Once you select OK again, on a machine running Wayland, you will be presented with an Input Capture Requested dialog box for which you set to allow to permit the client computer to read your mouse and keyboard.
What I Like
Finally, a multi-computer input sharing application that I can use with Wayland! Overall, it is not quite as good as Synergy was under X11, but that’s okay. I have it, I am able to use it and I know that it is being actively improved upon.
My office in the manufacturing plant has two other computers there that I connect from my Framework Laptop 13. One is a Windows machine that I don’t use a lot but when I want to use it, I really do need it. The other is basically just a dashboard. I have the display on the wall where I can monitor various things. It’s another nice to have.
The ease of use, getting this set up and going is very straight forward. So long as open the port on the firewall of the server computer (the one you are sharing your mouse and keyboard) and you know the IP address of that computer, you are all set. The rest is automatic.
What I Don’t Like
Due to the layout of the screens with Deskflow as a grid with each computer being represented by a single display, more complex and weird layouts as I have does make for the challenge of moving to the neighboring computer but this is an edge case for which I am that edge.
Periodically, something will happen and I cannot input at all into the “server” system. I have to either remote in through ssh and kill Deskflow or force to reboot by using the power key. It’s an annoying thing that isn’t so common lately but it has kept me from using it when I do live streams now. Losing the ability to command your computer is kind of a stinky situation.
I am still not able to copy and paste text between machines. Maybe there is something that I don’t quite have configured with correctly with the shared clipboard but this is a downer. Not a completely terrible thing as that is not the most common function I use but there are times when that is the function I need. I’m told this works, so your mileage may vary.
Final Thoughts
When I first discovered Synergy about a decade ago, or so, I thought it was the coolest thing and that feature kept me from switching to Wayland from X11 for quite some time, Now that this works in Wayland, mostly, that clipboard thing still isn’t quite right but aside from that this is pretty great.
I am quite excited to see the progression of Deskflow and am anticipating it will continue to get even better as time goes on. I am very pleased with what I have and incredibly gratful.
References
https://github.com/deskflow/deskflow/releases
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