I've used the software Synergy [1] in the past as a software based KVM which has the advantage of being cross-platform with linux and Windows. It works fairly well but some of the features that Apple is promising with Universal Control are ones that Symless has struggled to deliver in their product, probably due to the fact that they don't control the entire stack like Apple does. They've promised drag and drop, copy and paste, and other features between systems but it seems that they've stopped advertising them as upcoming features.
Universal Control stood out to me as one of the more interesting ones of the WWDC keynote and one that I could see myself using, but am a tad skeptical it'll deliver on its promise fully. Apple's other continuity features are remarkably useful and great when they work, but in the cases that they don't (which while not normal, isn't uncommon enough to say they're a non-issue) it can be a real pain. This sort of feature needs to be rock-solid if you intend to integrate it into your personal workflow.
Symless have also struggled because the CEO shut the company down in 2018 and for 2 years thereafter collected revenue while having no active developers (check GitHub) so he could pay a huge self-inflicted personal tax bill.
It is claimed Synergy 3 will arrive in 2022 or 2023, which I expect (no insider info) will likely be a lipstick-on-a-pig Electron UI around the same buggy core they've been prodding for 10 years without substantial enhancement.
Disclosure: I worked at Symless on Synergy 2, and added support for macOS media keys. Very little has been done in the last 5-6 years on core functionality.
As others have said, Synergy's problems are not technical but management. The guy who runs Symless isn't terribly good at business, no offense to him. the product is chronically mismanaged. Multiplicity from StarDock is Windows only but manages everything Apple's product does, too. There are open source VNC apps that handle copy/paste and DnD, it shouldn't be hard to at least look at that code as a guide, but without a good developer, Symless is rudderless.
I've used Synergy on both Windows->Windows and Windows->Mac. With a Macbook Pro 2015. It's really unpleasent due to constant stuttering, unless you connect to Ethernet. This is a known issue, it's appently due to airdrop. The OS switches the modem to a different channel to check for new devices or something, and then switches back. Although it does it fast enough to maintain network connections but anything real-time just looses control for a moment. Other wifi laptops seem fine. (Using same Wifi version)
synergy1 already has both drag and drop and copy and paste and I use those daily. However DnD doesn't seem to work between GNU/Linux and anything else.
How else would you do it though? Surely you don’t want a random Mac to push its cursor onto your iPad? Same with all the other handoff features. Maybe I’m missing something!
Yes! I've tried out way too many keyboards in the last few years and the Magic Keyboard is by far my favorite. I'm not as big of a fan of the trackpad but before this announcement I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I could use the Magic Keyboard with my Mac Mini.
> Then, you start up Universal Control by dragging your mouse pointer all the way to the left or right edge of your Mac’s screen, then a little bit beyond that edge. When you do, the Mac will assume that you’re trying to drag the mouse over to another device, in this case the iPad.
That's really clever! Users of multiple screens already know to do that, and that also makes users get used to treating other devices just like another screen.
Now we just have to wait for Apple to add the reverse - control your Mac from your iPad :)
This could be pretty useful bc of the touch screen + pencil combo. Back in 2016 I spent a weekend mocking up an "iPad as a graphics tablet" app, and it was surprisingly easy and effective [0][1]. I'm sure Apple could do a lot better.
Logitech MX product have had this feature for a while now and its even cross platform. its called Logitech Flow and works almost as seamlessly as that mac demo. Only difference would be installing the Logitech Options app vs it being native. Seems like a great feature if you're fully in the Apple ecosystem.
> Only difference would be installing the Logitech Options app
Is that the app that wants to use all 8 cores and turn my iMac into a noisy space heater every now and then? I love Logitech’s hardware, but their software is consistently terrible.
> First, you need to get the iPad and Mac relatively close to each other. Universal Control is built off the same Continuity and Handoff features that have long been a part of iOS and macOS.
Bummer. This means that this will be an iCloud-only feature, most likely. (Apple seems to have no reluctance to this, as HomePods also require iCloud to set them up.)
More pushes toward Apple services. :( It would be nice if I could use the full features of the OS/hardware I bought without having to engage with the privacy nightmare that is Apple's approach to network services.
it's how they verify that you own it. You can't just go trying to nose your mouse into someone else's iPad at a coffee shop (universal control works at up to 30ft range)
Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from Apple?
They would be in the users' wastebaskets with all the other paper shipped with the product.
There were interactive onboarding tutorials during install or upgrade, but pretty much everyone clicked spastically at them until they went away without reading them.
No one reads manuals. I have shipped a (admittedly low volume) game where I have never detected a user reading the help pages I slaved over. The prominent help icon never gets touched. I made an introductory tutorial which animatedly draws prettily curved highlighter arrows and circles on the screen to explain the important user interface elements… clickclickclick… the new users do everything they can to close it and get it off the screen without reading it.
Search: "ipad gestures site:apple.com"
Search: "macos gestures site:apple.com"
The top hits for both of your questions, as translated into google-ese, are the documents you want, with the exception of iPad multitasking, but that's a deliberate decision by Apple. Should be resolved in iOS 15 when they finally expect regular people to maybe use multitasking.
> More and more gestures you don't know about as a normal user.
I see this complaint quite a bit, but it doesn’t make sense to me. Of course there are more and more features, and of course most people don’t know about most of them because there are so many.
> Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from Apple?
If you want to know about the new gestures, Apple demonstrates them during keynotes whose sole purpose is to announce them. They are covered internationally by pretty much all of the technology press.
As others have pointed out, there are in fact many places where Apple documents them too.
They’re also good about giving a “what’s new in Big Sur” notifications after upgrade and as part of the OOBE iirc. Can’t be restarted from what I can find, unfortunately.
First with AirDrop, then Continuity and Handoff, and now Universal Control, Apple's ubiquitous use of Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi direct connections to devices sharing the same iCloud account makes me wonder how exactly does Apple secure all these over the air connections. Once hacked, an attacker presumably nearby can intercept phone calls and text messages, look what's in the clipboard, what website you've been browsing, where you've been, and now even what you are typing, all done remotely without the victim even noticing. I know there's an Apple Platform Security document, but that thing reads like marketing material rather than actually explaining what actually goes on under the hood. Has there been any serious attempts at breaking these things I wonder?
that's a great feature.
I really love my iPad, but changing the workflow to operate both systems is overwhelming. I can imagine myself using Universal Control everyday.
I've found the iPad to be a great place to isolate shitty, resource-hogging communication software (ahem, Slack) to a dedicated shitty-software-I-must-nonetheless-have-open-all-the-time console. This makes that practice even better, with the unified control and drag & drop and all that.
I want to be able to use my iPhone apps on my Mac, can I do that? I have some apps that only work on my phone like my TV remote app and my RSA 2fa app that I often would like to access from my Mac.
You can run SOME iPhone/iPad apps on an M1 Mac, but the publisher needs to allowed it and some software publishers seem to block it for no obvious reason.
>In the 21st century the technology revolution will move into the everyday, the small and the invisible.
Mark Weiser coined the phrase "ubiquitous computing" around 1988, during his tenure as Chief Technologist of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Both alone and with PARC Director and Chief Scientist John Seely Brown.
Weiser wrote "The Computer for the 21st Century" back in 1991.
>Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets and terminals in everyday objects such as a fridge or a pair of glasses. The underlying technologies to support ubiquitous computing include Internet, advanced middleware, operating system, mobile code, sensors, microprocessors, new I/O and user interfaces, networks, mobile protocols, location and positioning and new materials.
>This paradigm is also described as pervasive computing,[1] ambient intelligence,[2] or "everyware".[3] Each term emphasizes slightly different aspects. When primarily concerning the objects involved, it is also known as physical computing, the Internet of Things, haptic computing,[4] and "things that think". Rather than propose a single definition for ubiquitous computing and for these related terms, a taxonomy of properties for ubiquitous computing has been proposed, from which different kinds or flavors of ubiquitous systems and applications can be described.[5]
>Ubiquitous computing touches on a wide range of research topics, including distributed computing, mobile computing, location computing, mobile networking, context-aware computing, sensor networks, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.
An Overview of the ParcTab Ubiquitous Computing Experiment.
Roy Want, Bill N. Schilit, Norman I. Adams, Rich Gold,
Karin Petersen, David Goldberg, John R. Ellis and Mark Weiser.
>A PARCTAB used as a pointing device operates much like a mouse. However, a PARCTAB
does not have a cable and can use proximity in combination with its wireless link to connect
to the nearest computer.
Many PARCTABs can also connect to the same computer. Consider, for example, the
case in which a lecture is presented using a large electronic display such as a Liveboard (see
2.2). Each tab in the audience can control a different pointer on the display. We have built a
remote display pointer using the PARCTAB screen as both a relative and absolute positioning
tool: the user controls the location and motion of the pointer by moving a finger over the
PARCTAB’s touch surface2.
>An extension of this idea is Tabdraw, a multi-tab application that allows the tab screen to
be used as if it were a piece of scrap paper. One mode of use allows each PARCTAB participating in the application to access and draw on a shared piece of virtual paper. The shared
drawing is generally defined by the room that people are in. A group in one room will automatically obtain a separate drawing surface from that in another room. Alternatively, a
group might arrange to share a drawing regardless of location. [...]
>6.4 Remote Control
>Television and stereo system remote-controls have popularized the notion of control at a distance. In fact so many pieces of consumer electronics have such controllers that one can now
buy universal remote controls that control many devices at the same time. A PARCTAB can
also act as a universal controller. Furthermore, it can command applications that traditionally take their input from a keyboard or a mouse.
>Since a tab can display arbitrary data, the controls available to a user can be changed
depending on context. (Commercial universal remote controllers, in contrast, tend to need a
large array of buttons.) Using the remote control application in an office may trigger a tab to
provide a control panel that adjusts lighting and temperature, whereas in a conference room
the interface might be biased toward presentation tools.
>We have experimented with two types of remote control. First, program controllers providing a more powerful set of commands than was available in the original program. If a
program is already intended for remote use and has a network interface, controlling it and extending it with a PARCTAB application is very easy. Second, another UbiquitousComputing
project at Xerox PARC, the Responsive Environment Project [7], has been exploring how
environmental control can save energy during the day-to-day operation of a building. The
project had created servers that control power outlets through a commercial system called
X10. The PARCTAB has been used to interface with these servers and thus control power
appliances in the test area.
Ubiquitous Computing: Tabs, Pads, Books, and Clouds
>The iPad launch got me thinking about an old paper I'd once read about "Tabs, Pads, and Boards" and how small portable computers with different form factors were the direction technology was taking. Upon further review, it's amazing how well this model has held up over time. The paper was written - where else - at the famous Xerox PARC research facility, birthplace of the GUI, the mouse, and much of modern computing.
Immediately setup my iPadOS 15 iPad beside my macOS 12 M1 machine....and it didn't work. At the time there were a couple of brief articles saying just move the mouse off the edge of your screen.
They haven't released this technology yet, so we can't test it out. Just an FYI to anyone who looks to try it out.
As an aside, I have a Mac Mini beside a MBP in my normal setup. My BT keyboard and mouse are connected to the mini. I wish I could do this as easily to jump between machines.
I am using Dell U3417W monitor [0] with windows desktop and linux laptop. Keyboard and mouse are connected to the monitor (via one Logitech unifying receiver). The monitor has built-in KVM switch and when I change video input using monitor hardware buttons keyboard and mouse switch automatically. And it's amazing! As far as I know the monitor has 2 or 3 USB A ports.
I found an article that seems to explain how to set everything up [1]. Sorry for medium, should work in incognito.
Interestingly, I almost bought standalone KVM switch when I discovered that my monitor already has one. Three years after I bought the monitor, I finally understood why there was that fancy blue USB 3 B cable in the box.
Also Logitech MX keys keyboard and MX master 2S mouse support three bluetooth/logitech adapter devices. So I can use this setup occasionally with a tablet and with my old mac that has hardly functioning keyboard and trackpad.
> As an aside, I have a Mac Mini beside a MBP in my normal setup. My BT keyboard and mouse are connected to the mini. I wish I could do this as easily to jump between machines.
There are BT keyboards and mice that support multiple connected devices and let you switch between them. My keyboard and my mouse can support three each, and I use the functionality daily (on Mac, iOS, and Win10 devices).
For the combo I've got, at least, it's rock solid. My keyboard can also plug in, so at the inconvenience of needing to fumble around on the side of it to toggle the "BT or wired" switch, I could support four devices with it (I don't, but I could). All without any external hardware (KVMs, say) or extra software.
[EDIT] to give an idea of the ease, changing the input on my monitor is the most annoying part of switching devices (for the two that are connected to it) since I have to stretch forward to reach that button, and probably takes about 50% or more of the total time of switching. Mouse and keyboard each take maybe 2 seconds, total, including BT syncing to the other device. Since not all of that's hands-on time so you can be initiating a switch on the second one while the first is syncing, I bet I usually switch my inputs in about 3 seconds, total. Monitor's probably another 3-4 seconds on top of that.
For comparison, Sidecar didn’t work for me until late in the beta cycle. I think it was the last public beta where I finally got it to work. Ultimately I could never get in the habit of using Sidecar because it turns out I have to VPN into work, thwarting Sidecar altogether. I expect VPN to prevent me from using Universal Control too.
[+] [-] least|4 years ago|reply
Universal Control stood out to me as one of the more interesting ones of the WWDC keynote and one that I could see myself using, but am a tad skeptical it'll deliver on its promise fully. Apple's other continuity features are remarkably useful and great when they work, but in the cases that they don't (which while not normal, isn't uncommon enough to say they're a non-issue) it can be a real pain. This sort of feature needs to be rock-solid if you intend to integrate it into your personal workflow.
[1] https://symless.com/synergy
[+] [-] nly|4 years ago|reply
It is claimed Synergy 3 will arrive in 2022 or 2023, which I expect (no insider info) will likely be a lipstick-on-a-pig Electron UI around the same buggy core they've been prodding for 10 years without substantial enhancement.
Disclosure: I worked at Symless on Synergy 2, and added support for macOS media keys. Very little has been done in the last 5-6 years on core functionality.
[+] [-] paulryanrogers|4 years ago|reply
[0] https://github.com/debauchee/barrier
[+] [-] adrusi|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] burnte|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nmg|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trissylegs|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nanidin|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AshamedCaptain|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pier25|4 years ago|reply
It was an app for macOS that did the same thing 10 years ago.
They released the source code a couple of years later:
https://github.com/johndbritton/teleport
[+] [-] nreilly|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] roody15|4 years ago|reply
For example work based or education based managed apple ID’s cannot use the universal control functionality.
https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-school-manager/service...
[+] [-] louissm_it|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] slifin|4 years ago|reply
I have a personal iPad and MacBook Pro but I code on work's managed iMac
[+] [-] mrkstu|4 years ago|reply
Makes an iPad/Mac Mini combo pretty compelling.
[+] [-] ianwalter|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] camillomiller|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hcarvalhoalves|4 years ago|reply
That's really clever! Users of multiple screens already know to do that, and that also makes users get used to treating other devices just like another screen.
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] danappelxx|4 years ago|reply
This could be pretty useful bc of the touch screen + pencil combo. Back in 2016 I spent a weekend mocking up an "iPad as a graphics tablet" app, and it was surprisingly easy and effective [0][1]. I'm sure Apple could do a lot better.
[0]: https://github.com/Danappelxx/iPadMouse
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTHTx4MMwg4
[+] [-] kergonath|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aye01|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kergonath|4 years ago|reply
Is that the app that wants to use all 8 cores and turn my iMac into a noisy space heater every now and then? I love Logitech’s hardware, but their software is consistently terrible.
[+] [-] jreese|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sneak|4 years ago|reply
Bummer. This means that this will be an iCloud-only feature, most likely. (Apple seems to have no reluctance to this, as HomePods also require iCloud to set them up.)
More pushes toward Apple services. :( It would be nice if I could use the full features of the OS/hardware I bought without having to engage with the privacy nightmare that is Apple's approach to network services.
[+] [-] chadlavi|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] silvestrov|4 years ago|reply
Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from Apple?
[+] [-] jws|4 years ago|reply
They would be in the users' wastebaskets with all the other paper shipped with the product.
There were interactive onboarding tutorials during install or upgrade, but pretty much everyone clicked spastically at them until they went away without reading them.
No one reads manuals. I have shipped a (admittedly low volume) game where I have never detected a user reading the help pages I slaved over. The prominent help icon never gets touched. I made an introductory tutorial which animatedly draws prettily curved highlighter arrows and circles on the screen to explain the important user interface elements… click click click… the new users do everything they can to close it and get it off the screen without reading it.
Search: "ipad gestures site:apple.com"
Search: "macos gestures site:apple.com"
The top hits for both of your questions, as translated into google-ese, are the documents you want, with the exception of iPad multitasking, but that's a deliberate decision by Apple. Should be resolved in iOS 15 when they finally expect regular people to maybe use multitasking.
[+] [-] zepto|4 years ago|reply
I see this complaint quite a bit, but it doesn’t make sense to me. Of course there are more and more features, and of course most people don’t know about most of them because there are so many.
> Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from Apple?
If you want to know about the new gestures, Apple demonstrates them during keynotes whose sole purpose is to announce them. They are covered internationally by pretty much all of the technology press.
As others have pointed out, there are in fact many places where Apple documents them too.
[+] [-] whatch|4 years ago|reply
Also, aren't there notifications with change notes when you upgrade?
Maybe something changed in Big Sur, I only used old MacBook Air up to Catalina.
[+] [-] nxc18|4 years ago|reply
They’re also good about giving a “what’s new in Big Sur” notifications after upgrade and as part of the OOBE iirc. Can’t be restarted from what I can find, unfortunately.
Tips app is great for iOS.
[+] [-] bengale|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wyuenho|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gumby|4 years ago|reply
I don’t believe airdrop is encrypted as you can airdrop to a stranger
[+] [-] ricokatayama|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] handrous|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dkdbejwi383|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bengale|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seiferteric|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thrwn_frthr_awy|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tagbert|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DonHopkins|4 years ago|reply
Ubiquitous Computing Demonstration using Tabs, Pads and Boards from 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4_CcNLd2iE&ab_channel=Linus...
>In the 21st century the technology revolution will move into the everyday, the small and the invisible. Mark Weiser coined the phrase "ubiquitous computing" around 1988, during his tenure as Chief Technologist of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Both alone and with PARC Director and Chief Scientist John Seely Brown. Weiser wrote "The Computer for the 21st Century" back in 1991.
Ubicomp Tabs - Ubiquitous computing Xerox PARC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ofehNpoSrY&ab_channel=Leona...
>Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets and terminals in everyday objects such as a fridge or a pair of glasses. The underlying technologies to support ubiquitous computing include Internet, advanced middleware, operating system, mobile code, sensors, microprocessors, new I/O and user interfaces, networks, mobile protocols, location and positioning and new materials.
>This paradigm is also described as pervasive computing,[1] ambient intelligence,[2] or "everyware".[3] Each term emphasizes slightly different aspects. When primarily concerning the objects involved, it is also known as physical computing, the Internet of Things, haptic computing,[4] and "things that think". Rather than propose a single definition for ubiquitous computing and for these related terms, a taxonomy of properties for ubiquitous computing has been proposed, from which different kinds or flavors of ubiquitous systems and applications can be described.[5]
>Ubiquitous computing touches on a wide range of research topics, including distributed computing, mobile computing, location computing, mobile networking, context-aware computing, sensor networks, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.
An Overview of the ParcTab Ubiquitous Computing Experiment. Roy Want, Bill N. Schilit, Norman I. Adams, Rich Gold, Karin Petersen, David Goldberg, John R. Ellis and Mark Weiser.
http://www.roywant.com/cv/papers/pubs/1995-12%20(IEEE%20PCom...
>6.3.1 Group Pointing and Annotation
>A PARCTAB used as a pointing device operates much like a mouse. However, a PARCTAB does not have a cable and can use proximity in combination with its wireless link to connect to the nearest computer. Many PARCTABs can also connect to the same computer. Consider, for example, the case in which a lecture is presented using a large electronic display such as a Liveboard (see 2.2). Each tab in the audience can control a different pointer on the display. We have built a remote display pointer using the PARCTAB screen as both a relative and absolute positioning tool: the user controls the location and motion of the pointer by moving a finger over the PARCTAB’s touch surface2.
>An extension of this idea is Tabdraw, a multi-tab application that allows the tab screen to be used as if it were a piece of scrap paper. One mode of use allows each PARCTAB participating in the application to access and draw on a shared piece of virtual paper. The shared drawing is generally defined by the room that people are in. A group in one room will automatically obtain a separate drawing surface from that in another room. Alternatively, a group might arrange to share a drawing regardless of location. [...]
>6.4 Remote Control
>Television and stereo system remote-controls have popularized the notion of control at a distance. In fact so many pieces of consumer electronics have such controllers that one can now buy universal remote controls that control many devices at the same time. A PARCTAB can also act as a universal controller. Furthermore, it can command applications that traditionally take their input from a keyboard or a mouse.
>Since a tab can display arbitrary data, the controls available to a user can be changed depending on context. (Commercial universal remote controllers, in contrast, tend to need a large array of buttons.) Using the remote control application in an office may trigger a tab to provide a control panel that adjusts lighting and temperature, whereas in a conference room the interface might be biased toward presentation tools.
>We have experimented with two types of remote control. First, program controllers providing a more powerful set of commands than was available in the original program. If a program is already intended for remote use and has a network interface, controlling it and extending it with a PARCTAB application is very easy. Second, another UbiquitousComputing project at Xerox PARC, the Responsive Environment Project [7], has been exploring how environmental control can save energy during the day-to-day operation of a building. The project had created servers that control power outlets through a commercial system called X10. The PARCTAB has been used to interface with these servers and thus control power appliances in the test area.
Ubiquitous Computing: Tabs, Pads, Books, and Clouds
https://lowendmac.com/ed/rosen/10ar/ubiquitous-computing.htm...
>The iPad launch got me thinking about an old paper I'd once read about "Tabs, Pads, and Boards" and how small portable computers with different form factors were the direction technology was taking. Upon further review, it's amazing how well this model has held up over time. The paper was written - where else - at the famous Xerox PARC research facility, birthplace of the GUI, the mouse, and much of modern computing.
[+] [-] danielyaa5|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] defaultname|4 years ago|reply
They haven't released this technology yet, so we can't test it out. Just an FYI to anyone who looks to try it out.
As an aside, I have a Mac Mini beside a MBP in my normal setup. My BT keyboard and mouse are connected to the mini. I wish I could do this as easily to jump between machines.
[+] [-] whatch|4 years ago|reply
I found an article that seems to explain how to set everything up [1]. Sorry for medium, should work in incognito.
Interestingly, I almost bought standalone KVM switch when I discovered that my monitor already has one. Three years after I bought the monitor, I finally understood why there was that fancy blue USB 3 B cable in the box.
Also Logitech MX keys keyboard and MX master 2S mouse support three bluetooth/logitech adapter devices. So I can use this setup occasionally with a tablet and with my old mac that has hardly functioning keyboard and trackpad.
Logitech and Dell devices are worth the money.
[0] https://www.dell.com/si/business/p/dell-u3417w-monitor/pd
[1] https://medium.com/@ningzh/share-a-dell-u3417w-monitor-betwe...
[+] [-] handrous|4 years ago|reply
There are BT keyboards and mice that support multiple connected devices and let you switch between them. My keyboard and my mouse can support three each, and I use the functionality daily (on Mac, iOS, and Win10 devices).
For the combo I've got, at least, it's rock solid. My keyboard can also plug in, so at the inconvenience of needing to fumble around on the side of it to toggle the "BT or wired" switch, I could support four devices with it (I don't, but I could). All without any external hardware (KVMs, say) or extra software.
[EDIT] to give an idea of the ease, changing the input on my monitor is the most annoying part of switching devices (for the two that are connected to it) since I have to stretch forward to reach that button, and probably takes about 50% or more of the total time of switching. Mouse and keyboard each take maybe 2 seconds, total, including BT syncing to the other device. Since not all of that's hands-on time so you can be initiating a switch on the second one while the first is syncing, I bet I usually switch my inputs in about 3 seconds, total. Monitor's probably another 3-4 seconds on top of that.
[+] [-] twobitshifter|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pohl|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smw|4 years ago|reply
https://github.com/debauchee/barrier
[+] [-] terhechte|4 years ago|reply
https://symless.com/synergy