exotribe

I'm spoiled. When I work on a computer with only a single monitor, I get claustrophobic. There is simply not enough desktop space to stretch out and get comfortable.

My desk at work has 4 monitors (on two computers). When I work at home, I use 3 monitors (on two computers). My Magnatis development machine has 2 monitors.

Jeff Atwood's Programmer's Bill of Rights declares:

Every programmer shall have two monitors
With the crashing prices of LCDs and the ubiquity of dual-output video cards, you'd be crazy to limit your developers to a single screen. The productivity benefits of doubling your desktop are well documented by now. If you want to maximize developer productivity, make sure each developer has two monitors.

Setting up dual monitors is pretty easy with Windows XP, and almost easy with Linux (once you find and install the right drivers for your system). "But Tim", you ask, "how are you using 4 monitors?"

Synergy

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).

I use Synergy in my multi-machine setups to share a keyboard and mouse across both machines. Unlike a KVM switch I don't have to use special key strokes to change focus. Once your mouse gets to the edge of your screen, control automatically transfers to the next screen/machine. Synergy even supports clipboard sharing across machines.

In some ways, I think sharing 2 machines is better than 3 monitors on a single machine. You are not burdening your development machine with your email, IM and browser (which can easily consume over 100MB of memory and other resources).

My office configuration:

• Desktop computer running Windows Server 2003 and my development tools (2 monitors).
• Laptop computer running Windows XP, email, IM, browser and office software (integrated display + external monitor).

My "working from home" configuration:

• Laptop computer running Windows XP, development tools, vpn, and remote desktop (integrated display + external monitor).
• Mac mini running email, IM and browser (1 monitor).

If you find you like Synergy, please consider donating to the project.

Technorati Tags: Synergy KVM

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