Synergy on boot in Ubuntu

Synergy is a great tool that lets you control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse. If you use Ubuntu, or another linux distro, it may not be entirely obvious how to get synergy to run on boot. Below are the steps I took:

Update July 3, 2010 – I added client installation instructions and headings that hopefully will clarify a few points.

For an Ubuntu Server:

1. Install Synergy if you haven’t already
   • Frontend applications like QuickSynergy will install Synergy for you
   • Otherwise, you can go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager, and search for “synergy”
2. Create your synergy config file
   • If you are using QuickSynergy, you can copy an existing config from ~/.quicksynergy/synergy.conf
   • If you are using a different frontend, look around for their synergy.conf
   • Or, you can build the synergy configuration file from scratch
3. Store the synergy config in /etc/synergy.conf
   • From a terminal type sudo gedit /etc/synergy.conf
4. Set synergy to run on boot
   • Go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications
   • Add Synergy, entering /usr/bin/synergys (note the s on the end) for the command
   • Reboot to test it out

For an Ubuntu client

1. Install Synergy if you haven’t already (as in step 1 above)
2. Make sure the Synergy server is up and running. You can ping it’s hostname or ip address
3. Set synergy to run on boot
   • Go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications
   • Add Synergy, entering /usr/bin/synergyc <server>
     • note the c on the end of the command
     • <server> is the hostname or IP address you were able to ping in step 2
   • Reboot to test it out

I’m sure there are many other ways to accomplish this. If you are interested in learning more about Synergy, the Synergy-plus project maintains an excellent list of Synergy Related Projects.