Synergy 1.6 beta released

The Synergy Project announced the release of Synergy 1.6 beta, which among other things offers an autoconfiguration mechanism. Synergy allows you to use one mouse and keyboard for multiple computers – almost like a software KVM (although chances are they’d say it was exactly like a software KVM.)

I’d tried it before on Fedora and Windows; it was “problematic” for me (as in: it didn’t work.) It was a little frustrating, because one of my friends uses it constantly and he says it works perfectly for him. I’d even contributed to the project, because it seemed so valuable as a concept… but not for me, alas.

The new version, however, works like a champ on my iMac and Windows computers; I haven’t tried it on Fedora yet. (I’m not likely to, for various reasons, mostly related to laziness.) It’s actually really handy; now I can start reducing the explosions of keyboards and mice on my desk.

Considering I presently have three of each lying around, plus various MIDI controllers, anything that reduces the clutter is worth investment and praise.

Good job, Synergy. People: help support the project.

Compose Key for Windows

One of the things that drives me crazy about Windows (among many) is the missing “compose key,” a key sequence that allows me to enter unicode sequences easily. For example, if I want to use the word “clichés” properly, I want an easy sequence to enter, like I have on my Linux installation.

Enter WinCompose. This blog post has been written entirely on Windows 8.1, with no HTML entities and no manual unicode entry. I remapped the signal key to the menu key (as I have in Fedora), but otherwise everything’s unchanged from the default installation.

I’m still in “trial mode” — I just installed it this morning, because typing the word “cliché” was annoying — but so far it’s rocking.