Synergy for OS X, with keystroke broadcasting.

by WyldKard on September 4, 2007

Synergy is an open-source, cross-platform application which allows one to control multiple computers with a single mouse and keyboard. It is among a handful of applications commonly used by multiboxers for online computer games, as mentioned in my own foray into multiboxing. One key feature that the basic Synergy distribution does not include, however, is keystroke broadcasting, which allows keystrokes on one’s main keyboard to be sent to all Synergy-connected computers. This is achieved without changing the mouse focus from one machine to another.

Innovative individuals have released a broadcasing-capable version of Synergy for Windows, available at the Dual-Boxing forums, but Linux and OS X users have been without this feature. Thanks to Robert Jenkins, an OS X version is finally available, which we are now hosting here at mendax.org.

Note that the included server executable is “synergys”; client machines can run the default Synergy client distribution, and only the server requires the broadcastng-enabled version of Synergy for broadcasting to work.

Once the server is up, broadcasting is off by default, and is enabled by hitting the tilde (~) key. This distribution requires OS 10.4, and “Enable Assistive Devices” must be checked under “Universal Access” in System Preferences.

Big thanks to Rob for making this available to the multiboxing community!

Download now!

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{ 10 comments }

Gussman July 1, 2008 at 5:01 am

hey how do I use this prograM? I wanna use it in world of warcraft, how do I use it ? :S

WyldKard July 3, 2008 at 4:40 pm

When you decompress the download, there is a directory called “doc”, which contains an index.html file with full instructions linked. In short, you need to edit the “synergy.conf” file to reflect your particular setup, then run the server and client on separate machines.

Gussman July 5, 2008 at 5:57 am

nvm, using octopus, rly nice

Gussman July 5, 2008 at 8:32 am

Any tip of some macros I can use? I saw some comment somewhere here like “/Accept group quest
/Accept quest”
and that kind of stuffs, i´d love that.

WyldKard July 6, 2008 at 12:04 pm

While we did write a number of macros to use in our dual-boxing configuration, we also steadfastly supported TwoBox Toolkit, an addon that helps automate accepting of quests, follow commands, etc. You can find a link to it at our mendax.wow addon compilation.

Johnny Foo September 1, 2008 at 5:43 pm

This is just what i need for the game im playing but sadly i cant figure out how to use it I dont see an exe file to run can some walk me thru how to set it up? im using 2 pc’s running xp and one using vista. the game im going to use it with if i can figure it out is DAOC.

Johnny Foo September 2, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Got synergy for windows working !! but still no clue on how to use this mod

Sonny October 25, 2008 at 7:34 am

@Johnny Foo
Why are you trying to use this software? Did you even read the post. Your setup is made entirely of Windows machines and this is OS X specific software.

Kumakei November 5, 2008 at 7:54 pm

Thanks for hosting this on your website! The only problem I had is that the keypad press would emulate a top row press on the client.

I ended up getting editing the original source code (COSXKeyState.cpp) and added the following after function keys:

{ kKeyKP_0,            82},
{ kKeyKP_1,            83},
{ kKeyKP_2,            84},
{ kKeyKP_3,            85},
{ kKeyKP_4,            86},
{ kKeyKP_5,            87},
{ kKeyKP_6,            88},
{ kKeyKP_7,            89},
{ kKeyKP_8,            91},
{ kKeyKP_9,            92},
{ kKeyKP_Subtract,     78},
{ kKeyKP_Divide,       75},
{ kKeyKP_Add,          69},
{ kKeyKP_Multiply,     67},
{ kKeyKP_Enter,        76},
{ kKeyKP_Equal,        81},
{ kKeyKP_Decimal,      65},
{ kKeyClear,           71},

I recompiled it on my i386 OS X 10.5 iMac and Macbook and it works like a charm.

Boopathy July 5, 2010 at 4:57 am

I want to replicate a same action on all the ports like windows, sun4v, RHEL & IBM OS. I will be launching a tool individual on all the machines and then I need to enable the broadcast . in broadcast mode all the 4 machine need to get a windows keyboard & mouse actions simultaneously.
pls let me whether synergy will work?

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