If it's multiple Windows machines, Microsoft also has the Mouse without Borders "PowerToy"

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=354...

It works very well too.

For Windows to Windows, InputDirector works flawlessly and is free (but not OSS) for home usage. Barrier works OK, works between MacOS and Windows (where it's the only free choice), but not so stable, has issues with non-English, and latest binary is not signed and no checksum is given on GH. The PowerToy thing just didn't work for me, it's not a finished product but a toy.

Have been using InputDirector to combine a desktop and a laptop everyday for the last 6+ months and am very happy with it.

> where it's the only free choice

Doesn't Synergy do the same thing, is open source and works on basically all platforms? (I'm talking about Synergy 1, Synergy 2 is a shitshow and I don't know how it's licensed)

Isn't Barrier a free OSS Synergy? The Synergy I know is paid, 49 for the option with encryption. I even wanted to buy, but rebooted my MacBookAir back in Windows (which I use 99% of time). For the 1% of time Barrier is fine.

Barrier is a fork of Synergy 1. It works better than synergy 1 anecdotally.

For only windows, InputDirector is a lot better when I used it 5+ years ago against barrier or synergy 1.

Just make sure you are on an ethernet cable. On wifi it lags a little.

One is open source and updated, and includes encryption.

The other one is a viable alternative.

If you don't care about privacy

The proposed software is written by the OS manufacturer. If you’re using their OS, you’ve already made your peace with their position, or have taken the necessary steps to mitigate it.

But it’s Microsoft making it for Microsoft’s OS. You already trust Microsoft enough to use them. Privacy isn’t an issue here.

This has been my primary solution for months. The mouse and keyboard are connected to desktop, and laptop monitors are "above" the desktop in the settings. But really I have to physically switch the monitor inputs. Now what I need to do is combine the two tools, so when I go off the screen it switches inputs. Only issue I have with it, it seems to prevent the screen saver from kicking in, but haven't cared enough to figure out why.

clickmonitorddc - you can change the monitor input with a keyboard shortcut.

Nice, unfortunately can't get it to change anything other than my brightness and rotation. Will keep tinkering.

I think it was some internet guide, but in short: To change the monitor input source I added new hot keys like Ctrl + Shift + 1 -> "s HMDI2" CTRL + Shift + 2 -> "s DisplayPort1"

I only have X11, so I use x2x which keeps it simple: Grab the cursor at the edge of the screen and proxy the X11 protocol to the other machine(s).

It would be great if both projects could be combined (move your mouse to the edge of your monitor and switch to a different input source).

You still need some kind of a hub to connect the keyboard and mouse to both machines, right?

It says it's a fork of Synergy[0].

So the idea is you have PC A + Monitor A, and PC B + Monitor B.

You install the software on both machines (they talk over a local network), and configure PC A to be left of PC B, and PC B to be right of PC A. Attach a keyboard+mouse to one machine.

When your mouse goes 'off screen right' on PC A, it knows that PC B is over there, so it redirects keyboard/mouse input to PC B.

I used Synergy for a while, and it was pretty great. The only issue is when you need to do control keys that the OS takes over (like CTRL-ALT-DEL on Windows), that wouldn't transfer over, and you'd be looking at Monitor B wondering why keyboard/mouse wasn't working... then look over at Monitor A and see it's at the lock screen.

[0] https://symless.com/synergy

I guess it's a mouse/keyboard emulator over TCP.

There's a server machine where you connect the keyboard and mouse and client machines that just have a monitor connection.

You arrange the geometry in the software to make the mouse move between machines in an intuitive manner. Whichever machine has the mouse has the keyboard input as well.

So you do need a dedicated monitor per machine from my experience.

I use barrier to switch between a windows and a linux machine using the same monitor. A lifesaver was finding ClickMonitorDDC - with a keyboard shortcut I can switch the monitor source as well.

ClickMonitorDDC doesn't seem to have a Linux version. How did you solve that?

It is enough to run ClickMonitorDDC on windows and add a keyboard shortcut. When Linux has the monitor I just move the mouse to the Windows PC and press the keys to switch the monitor input to the Windows PC.

You can use ddccontrol on Linux. gddccontrol for GUI.