Synergy (Geek Alert)

I stumbled upon a little program called Synergy a couple months back. Didn't really think much about it except that the idea was cool. The idea is that you can share 1 keyboard and mouse across multiple computers over the network. Geek Speak- KVM over IP (minus the video). Didn't think much about it until I talked with the IT guy at work. He uses Synergy at home with alot of computers. I asked how many computers he has at home and he said he doesn't count. That really got my brain going. So I did some searching and found that CNet did a video about it and EnGadget did a whole "How To" guide on it. This warranted a second look on my part.
Last week I started my new assignment at Family Ministries and decided that I had to leave the Mac OS X as my main operating system. I came to this conclusion after fighting with Apple Mail (Tiger) and Mozilla Thunderbird. Neither allowed me to send emails with my work email but I could view them, go figure. So I sucked it up and made the PC my main computer. This allowed me to talk nicely with the server, print over the network, use Outlook for my mail, and use the lovely, lovely Publisher *sarcasm*. Side note- there is a group named the Enterprise Desktop Alliance that is working on getting business IT people educated about using Macs out there in the Enterprise and general Business world. So I now run Windows as my main OS and it makes me sad to leave OSX behind. In comes Synergy!!
It took a bit of finagling and under-the-breath muttering to get Synergy set up but now I take my PowerBook with me to work and am able to use the PC keyboard and mouse on the Mac. Synergy really only works when you have computers with their own screens. If you have two towers that you want to use, a KVM switch would be a better bet. The great thing about Synergy is that both computers are active at the same time. Once Synergy is up and working the mouse seamlessly moves from the side of one screen to the other, the keyboard works great and you can have the best of both (or multiple works with Linux, Ubuntu, etc..) worlds.
Today I am at home and wanted to see how well Synergy works with two Macs since setting up the Mac for Synergy is all Text-Based and Terminal heavy. I am please to tell you though that I got it working after about an hour total work. It would have been less if I would have followed all the directions 100% and if the how-to guides would have been more clear. It is a weird thing to be using one laptop's keyboard and mouse (either track-pad or external) to control another laptop sitting right next to it. It is great fix for lack of an external monitor and it also splits up the load of running: Safari, iTunes, Adium and Firefox 2 all at the same time. Another great thing about Synergy is that I can Copy and Paste text back and forth between computers.
So now that I have gotten my geekiness out I am going to post this. Oh... on a last note if you set Synergy up with two macs- make sure both Mac screen names has .local at the end.

Neglected (In a perfect world)

It has been a while since I wrote on this blog. Mainly because I have a new place to blog and a website to keep up and partly because I am not a consistent blogger. I know I should be, especially since I live far away from 98%+ all those whom I know and love. (Angela and Seth are close but still 4ish hours away) True to form though, I am not much of a writer. Ideas come into my head and I think "I should blog about that" and then by the time I sit down at my computer at home the moment has passed and another blog has turned to vapor in my head. I make excuses that I can't blog from anywhere because I have to have iWeb and not only that I have to have MY iWeb on MY laptop. That is a little annoying but when you don't know how to code you are either stuck with a website locked into a program or you blog from Blogger or Word Press and link to and from your website. Sadly I have not figured out a nice way to combine my Blogger blog and my iWeb website. Oh well, such is life- compromises and imperfection.

In a perfect world I would know HTML and Objective-C as well as Java, Cocoa Touch and maybe Ruby on Rails that would all work on my 13" Aluminum Macbook (not the Air though that would be superb) or a nice 15" Macbook Pro. I would have a nice iPod Touch that would have apps that I programmed just for me and my friends. It might even have a Bluetooth keyboard, no mouse though- whats the point. Also in this perfect world I would have a full time job that I could commute nicely to either by the Max or by bicycle or even work from home. I would miss commuting with Krissy though. It has been very nice to commute with someone rather than just by yourself.

That would all be in a perfect world but as we all know the world isn't perfect. Sometimes I'm glad that this world isn't perfect because I think everything being perfect would be quite boring sometimes. We wouldn't have to worry about a lot of things yes but I fear we would lose some of the joy that comes with the unexpected. So here's to an imperfect world where I work 20 hours a week doing sometimes menial boring task on the PowerMac G4. Where I have a 2nd Generation 1GB iPod shuffle and a 12" Aluminum Powerbook G4. I don't know any programming language and I will have to go back to school to do so.

Oh well, life's not perfect but it sure is interesting.

Moved

Attention!! Attention!!! The Adventures and Mishaps of Krissy and Jeremy has a new home! jeremyandkrissy.barberbanter is still there but new content will only be added to WWW.STRANGELIKEUS.COM yep thats right. Strangelikeus.com Sometime soon you might even be able to email us @strangelikeus.com, that will be later though. So for the newest content make sure your links point to www.strangelikeus.com from now on. Thank-you for paying attention to this public service announcement, you may now return to your regularly scheduled blog reading and web surfing.

New... a work in progress

Come see a what is being worked on. Click Here

Note on iWeb page

As of reading recent comments on previous blog I realized I should probably explain the "Recent Mishap" on the picture. So here goes:

About a month ago now, Krissy and I were enjoying our Friday evening of putting away groceries eating a light supper and reading blogs, magazines, checking peoples Myspaces, etc. We were right in the middle of this when we hear this very loud and really weird buzzing/alarm going off. At first we thought it was a carbon monoxide detector in our apartment. We had lit some of our lanterns so we thought it was that but upon getting out on our balcony we realized that it wasn't just our apartment. So we quickly grabbed the computers, wallets, keys, and cell phones and got out of the apartment. Long story short, someone in the building next to us pulled the fire alarm. It seemed like a domestic dispute with someone drunk and shouting and a mess in general. All in all just an annoyance and nothing serious we think. No one was taken away in the fire truck, 4 cop cars, and 1 cop SUV canine unit. Most of us tenants were really confused because they didn't tell us upon signing the lease what the fire alarms sound like. I mentioned to one of the other tenants that I haven't had a fire drill for like 3 years. So for those of you confused about that little blurb on the screen shot- there is your answer.

About the my absence

Last entry was so 2 months ago. Since then things have slowed down a little. Most of my off work time has been occupied by reading MacWorld or playing with iWeb. iWeb is a lovely software that come with Mac OS X on new computers but Krissy and I bought iLife '08 earlier so I have it now. It is lovely. Sadly you have to have a .Mac account to publish it. Stealing the source code and placing it in Blogger doesn't work. So until we have a .Mac account you'll have to settle with this screen shot. Propose link is www.....com not taken so far. Like I'd tell you so you can go steal it. Ha.

Oh and for those that didn't get the memo- I am getting paid now and will be until July supposedly. No word on the assistant director/writer for the department however. Oh well.

Knight Industries Three Thousand AKA Knight Rider

So NBC seems to like bringing back old shows. (see Gladitors post) This week NBC aired a the newest installment of Knight Rider. Years ago they had Team Knight Rider- a pickup, two motorcycles, a car and another vehicle I think. One episode actually had a reincarnation of the original KITT only bad. But since the year they ended Knight Rider I feel this is the best one. So yes I am a little partial to Ford Mustangs, especially ones that look as mean as the new KITT. Sadly, right now it is only a 2 hour movie. Hopefully it will turn into a TV series, but we'll have to wait and see. I know it seems that new ideas for shows and movies seem to fewer and far between but right now I can't complain. Knight Rider and Gladiators are two of my favorite shows. So till they brick back Chuck and Pushing Daisies I'll be content with watching reruns of American Gladiators since they just finished season 1 and trying to catch up online with what episodes of House and Chuck I missed. Yea for days off.