50: Steve's Synergy Submission
2009-03-22
Download MP3 For Geekons Episode 50
Pop-Up: Synergy
- Synergy: Far from being a buzz-word, this open source project is one of the most useful "invisible" apps you'll ever find.
- What makes an application earn such a statement from a jaded old geek who cut his teeth on DOS 3.0?
- Synergy exists for the sole purpose of making your (yes, you, out there reading/listening right now) life easier if you work with multiple computers simultaneously.
- "How so?", you ask. And why is it "invisible"? Well, I'll tell you.. "He's going to tell, he's going to tell.." "Awright, awright, cut that out, we'll 'ave no Monte Python bits 'ere - move along now"...
- Synergy consists of a server app and a client app that work together, running in the background on individual machines, to share one keyboard, mouse & clipboard across all of them.
- A typical use would be using your desktop machine's keyboard & mouse to control your it and your laptop when they are sitting side-by-side on your desk.
- What's that? Not so impressive, you say? How about this one...
- Your desktop is a Windows PC, your laptop is a MacBook, and for good measure, we throw in a second desktop running Ubuntu connected to a projector.
- Ahh, not so bad eh?
- One program that will work on three oh-so-different operating systems and even allow you to copy & paste from one to another.
- Screencast image: http://www.screencast.com/users/SLW/folders/Jing/media/04ab3dbf-3d07-47f2-b623-85b3b8c00442
- Yes, I know the laptop in the pic isn't a MacBook, my Mac was replaced when it got to a certain age.. :-(
- What makes this setup even more interesting, and a feature I only began to make use of this week, is that Synergy can be configured to only cross display boundaries in specific places.
- This means, for instance, on the server PC (A) with dual monitors, it can be set to leave the top of the displays, but only in the center 60% of the left screen. Therefore, the mouse won't accidently jump to the projector when you're aiming for the menu bar.
- On the projector (B), 100% of the bottom is active to send the mouse to the left flat-panel (A) and 100% of it's right side is a portal for the mouse to jump to the laptop (C).
- This is where it gets interesting, when the mouse hits the top 20% of the left side of the laptop screen (C), it crosses over to the projector (B) but when it encounters the bottom 80% of that same screen, it will go back to the right screen of the server (A).
- I use the term server here, in the sense that "A" is the machine running the Synergy Server program, not that the machine is running a server operating system.
- Any of the machines could be configured to be the server - again, there is a version for virtually any operating system you can find.
- If desired, you could just as easily use the laptop keyboard and touchpad to run all the computers.
- The interface, as used to carve out the percentages of the screens is not the most user-friendly, but an alternative exists for Windows in the form of Xhirl Synergy Wizard
- Xhirl: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/07/24/easily-configure-synergy-with-xhirl-synergy-wizard/
- Xhirl seems to be no longer in development, but a quick search of the interwebs should provide a download link.
- For OS X and Linux users, there is QuickSynergy at http://quicksynergy.sourceforge.net which, as with all Mac programs, provides a nice, easy graphical interface for arranging your screens.
- I've used and recommended Synergy for a few years now and have grown so accustomed to it, that I now carry a copy on my USB drive so I can share a clipboard across machines and operating systems whenever and wherever
- the need presents itself.
Geek-Tweak: How to create a public Google Calendar
- First, sign in to your Gmail account.
- Click on the "Calendar" link at the top of each Google Apps page.
- Click the "Create" link that is at the bottom-right of the "My Calendars" block. (usually on the left of your screen)
- Give your Calendar a name. I'm giving mine the name "The Geekons Podcast"
- Give your Calendar a description.
- Make sure to choose the country and time zone you'd like your calendar to be displayed in.
- Check the box next to "Make this Calendar Public"
- Click the "Create Calendar" button when you are done.
- Click "OK" when it warns you that public calendars are visible to the public. (glad they clarified!)
- Now start adding events!
- Click and drag on the calendar to add an event on a specific date at a specific time. (I'm clicking in the 8PM on March 22nd 2009 box, and dragging down to the box below it, so I reserve one hour.)
- Now type in a name for the event. (I'm typing "Live Video: Geekons Episode 50")
- Very important: choose the calendar you want this to appear on. (I'm choosing "The Geekons Podcast")
- Now click "Create Event" or "Edit Event Details" to add more details. (I clicked Edit Event Details to add a link to the video stream and a bit of info about the episode.)
- Now after the calendar is indexed by Google, everyone else with a Gmail account should be able to search for public calendars and easily find the Geekons Podcast calendar.
- You can also vie the calendar by going to http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=9mou1jhli2pb1g379thuqf66ag%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Denver
View-Source: Being a Transformed Geek
- I'm a geek.
- Odds are, you are a geek too.
- Society doesn't always accept us, and we don't always accept society.
- If geeks were in control, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and daytime TV would probably never have been created.
- Competitive scripting would be on ESPN, and the Food network would review the "Regular Expressions Cookbook"
- But we aren't in control, and the world isn't the way we wished it would be.
- Along the same lines, we as Christians should have a better way to run society, yet we still aren't in control.
- Let's look at the why and how we are different as Christians.
- 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 tells us that we are a new creation in Christ. We are an entirely different product line not just refurbished or refreshed!
- Earlier in that chapter, we also learn that it is actually good to be out of our minds, by being like-minded with God.
- Because Christ died for us, and we are in Christ, the old self has died off and we should begin living the way God desires.
- in 1 John 3:1-10 we are reminded how great a love God has for us by calling us His children.
- By being His children, we are set aside and holy, and should behave that way.
- We also receive a warning that if we continue in a life of repeated, accepted, and unconfessed sin, then we aren't in Him, we haven't changed, and we haven't given ourselves over to be a new creation.
- Verse 7 warns us not to be led astray, because the world will present us with tons of opportunity to wander off God's path.
- We are encouraged by the fact that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, appeared so the work of the Devil could be done away with. So it is possible for us to resist the Devil and overcome sin through Christ!
- A final warning in this passage reminds us that if we continue to sin, and if we do not love our brother, we are not a child of God.
- Finally, Romans 12:1-2 reminds us that we should be living sacrifices, no longer being conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our spirit.
- As I mentioned earlier, us geeks are used to being the outcasts, the different ones, the socially unacceptable.
- For some reason, we're happy to wear our "it must be user error" shirts and fill our desks with binary clocks and USB-controlled rocket launchers, but we still get uneasy when it comes to acting out the love and obedience God calls us to.
- Instead of geek pride, we should have God pride. Pride in the sacrifice Christ made, and pride in the creator of all the universe.
- From now on, it shouldn't be just our LED indicators that set us apart, but also our love for God and our love for each other!