Using ONE keyboard and mouse with TWO Macs

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Level 1

65 points

Using ONE keyboard and mouse with TWO Macs

I have a Powermac G5 amd a Macbook Pro in my room. I have a siplay for the g5 and I use the MBP display for the MBP to have two separate machiens running on my desk. I do audio work on the monster g5 and surf the web and do word processing on the MBP.

If possible I would like to use my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (which I currently use with the g5) for both machines. But heres the catch: I want to use them at separate times. It seems highly unlikely but is there a way to with both machines on, use the keyboard to control the g5 when I use the g5 and then switch to using the keyboard with the MBP when I use the MBP?

If I have this nice full keyboard in front of me on my desk I'd like to be able to use it also with my MBP so I dont have to move it out of the way everytime. Maybe I can set some keypress to make this switch. Probably not. If not, is there any other way to link the machines to accomplish this task??? Thanks!

MacBook Pro 2.0, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 3, 2006 9:08 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 4, 2006 6:40 AM in response to Mike Said No

Hi Mike,

The easiest way to do this is to run a VNC server on the G5, and run OSX2X ( http://www.opendarwin.org/projects/osx2x/) on the MacBook Pro.. this will do effectively what you want.

Otherwise, you might want to look at getting a Keyboard-Video-Mouse (KVM)switcher, and not plugging the Video through it.

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Answer 2

Oct 4, 2006 11:10 AM in response to Mike Said No

Try using Synergy. You can get it at http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

I know you said that you want to use the mouse and keyboard at separate times, but this may also solve your problem.

Basically, if you have both machines on, you can just drag the mouse across from one screen to the other and the keyboard will automatically focus on the screen that the mouse is on.

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Answer 3

Mike Said No Author

Level 1

65 points

Oct 4, 2006 2:37 PM in response to Alex Dawson

Those look like they would work, and that is what im trying to do, but do both of those programs require the computers to be connected via an ethernet cable? Because this wouldn't be possible for me because I have my internet ethernet cable plugged into the one ethernet port on the powermac. The Powermac doesn't have airport so wirelessly networking isn't an option either. Looks like I might just have to move the keyboard out of the way to use the laptop...

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Answer 4

Oct 4, 2006 3:34 PM in response to Mike Said No

I'm curious; if you pair your keyboard/mouse with one computer, does it lose the pairing to the previous computer?

To answer your question: yes; the both computer would need to be able to talk to each other via a network connection. If you can connect your Macbook Pro to the Internet wirelessly via the built-in Airport, then you can use the wired ethernet port, via a cross-connect ethernet cable (normal ones are straight-thru), to connect to your Power Mac (or connect them via a hub).

However, if you're not comfortable with networking, you may not want to take this approach.

Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.7) core duo (early 2006)

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