Dual-boxing newb, 1 Mac 1 PC

[elorc]

I don't know if this is possible or not, but I want to do a dual-boxing setup and ideally would like it to be across two machines. I have my WinXP desktop and a brand new MacBook Pro that I'd like to use. I'm not sure what software will work best for this. Multibox seems to be PC only so I'm not sure if there's another solution that works on OS X (I don't plan on sullying my MBP by installing Windows on it :P) and XP. Any recommendations or guides that address this particular setup?

Failing this, I guess I'll run two WoW clients on the same machine but I figured the two-machine setup is probably best.

Thanks :)

[user]

just do it man!

google clonekeys, download on you macbook and leave it in your download files.

run how ever many you want on the mac book and then run a main on windows xp.

[tzibo]

I do pretty much exactly this.

I have my MBP as my main, with my main char and a herbing alt on it
I have a G5 iMac with 2 chars on
I have an old AMD64 pc running with one char on it.

I use clonekeys on the macs, and synergy to broadcast to all of them.

Works very well for me, and didn't require any hw outlay, which is prolly what allowed me to make it happen :)

[elorc]

I downloaded QuickSynergy on my MBP and Synergy on my PC. The first thing I did after extracting the files on my PC was run synergy.exe.




I selected "Share this computer's keyboard and mouse (server)"
Clicked on "Configure", then "+" under Screens.
Typed in the name of my machine for "Screen Name" and clicked OK.
Clicked OK again to go back to the main screen.
Under "Advanced" I left the screen name field and port (24800) alone.
Then I clicked "Start" and it tells me that Synergy was successfully started.
So then I went over to my MBP and fired up QuickSynergy.




Clicked on the "Client" tab.
Entered the IP address of the server machine (192.168.1.58) under the server hostname field.
Clicked "Start"

After a minute or so, QuickSynergy crashes on the MBP. The message says: "The application synergyc quit unexpectedly." So I closed QuickSynergy completely and reopened it. This time, I entered the name of my machine ("quintusxp") in the hostname field instead of the IP. I clicked Start again. Again, it crashes with the same error. On the PC, the icon in the system tray shows Synergy as "Waiting for clients" and only shows quintusxp on the list.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Synergy on the PC is version 1.3.1, and QuickSynergy on the MBP is 0.8. I'm running OS X Leopard 10.5.2. Any ideas?



Edit -- It might be worth noting that when I quit out of the Synergy server on the PC, Synergy crashes as well.

[tzibo]

I've never tried QuickSynergy before - I just use the command line version from sourceforge.

From the sound of your setup you're running the PC as the server and the MBP as the client? That's the reverse of mine (I have my MBP as my main machine), so I've not tried it that way round either. However it should work no problem.

My suspicion would be that the PC is firewalling the Synergy server - so the MBP tries to connect and then just dies after a while through being rejected.

[elorc]

I tried it the other way around too and had the same problem. When XP's firewall came up asking about Synergy I told it to unblock it, but I didn't think to try disabling the thing outright. I'll give that a shot and let you know how it works out.

[Binaryzero]

I find that "Open Synergy" works well on the Mac, I had not issues getting it running as a clone to my PC (I do not MB on it as EQ2 does not run on native on the mac, and it is just a Mini, so no XP runs great, but the video is not that great.)

[elorc]

Okay I got further along but it's still not working. I am getting the two to connect now. The problem was that I didn't add a screen for the Mac on the PC's Synergy configuration. Now under Screens on the Screens & Links window, I have "quintusxp" (PC) and "mac" (Mac, obviously lol).

Should I have anything under the Links part? I don't understand what this is supposed to be.

Anyhow, I start the server and then I start the client. Both show as connected, but when I move the mouse around or press keys on the PC, nothing happens on the Mac. I'm not sure what's wrong here. I start the client with:

./synergyc -f -n mac 192.168.1.58:24800

It says:

INFO: Synergy client 1.3.1 on Darwin 9.2.2 Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.2: Tue Mar 4 21:17:34 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.4.31~1/RELEASE_I386 i386
NOTE: started client
NOTE: connected to server


The server says:
INFO: Synergy server 1.3.1 on Microsoft WIndows Server XP
DEBUG: opening configuration "F:\Documents and Settings\frank\My Documents\synergy.sgc"
DEBUG: configuration read successfully
DEBUG: screen shape: 0,0 1680x1050
DEBUG: window is 0x000c028c
DEBUG: opened display
DEBUG: active sides: 0
DEBUG: active sides: 0
DEBUG: desk Default window is 0x000c0288
DEBUG: switched to desk "Default"
DEBUG: desktop is now accessible
DEBUG: registered hotkey ScrollLock (id=ef14 mask=0000) as id=1
NOTE: started server
INFO: screen "quintusxp" shape changed
NOTE: accepted client connection
DEBUG: received client "mac" info shape=0,0 1440x900
DEBUG: active sides: 0
NOTE: client "mac" has connected


I move my mouse around the screen or type something in notepad, nothing happens on the Mac. Any ideas?

[Gadzooks]

I do pretty much exactly this.

I have my MBP as my main, with my main char and a herbing alt on it
I have a G5 iMac with 2 chars on
I have an old AMD64 pc running with one char on it.

I use clonekeys on the macs, and synergy to broadcast to all of them.

Works very well for me, and didn't require any hw outlay, which is prolly what allowed me to make it happen :)Could you do me a favor and explain how you broadcast CloneKeys over Synergy? I got synergy installed and running across my G5 and Mini, but I could not see any way to broadcast?

[tzibo]

Broadcast - yeah, that's always the tricky bit, esp when I don't mention it :whistling: .

Windows version (I've never used it, but I expect it works) - it's on the Wiki, see 'Synergy with broadcast' ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Software')

Mac/*nix version - I've added the like to the wiki just now too to the version I used - see Synergy with broadcast OSX - command line ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Software')

The key for the mac version to toggle broadcasting is: `
I'm guessing it's the same one on the PC.

[elorc]

I'm still having no luck. I don't understand what the problem is. On the server, the synergy.sgc configuration file looks like this:


section: screens
mac:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
quintusxp:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
end
section: links
mac:
quintusxp:
end
section: options
end


No one has any idea? :\

[DiMaestro]

I do this. However my main is my Windows box, and the alternate is on the MBP. Using Windows version of synergy broadcasting makes it far easier to setup, GUI vs .conf file.

If your windows box is powerful enough, use that as the main, and the mbp as the secondary/.

[Gadzooks]

Broadcast - yeah, that's always the tricky bit, esp when I don't mention it :whistling: .

Windows version (I've never used it, but I expect it works) - it's on the Wiki, see 'Synergy with broadcast' ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Software')

Mac/*nix version - I've added the like to the wiki just now too to the version I used - see Synergy with broadcast OSX - command line ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Software')

The key for the mac version to toggle broadcasting is: `
I'm guessing it's the same one on the PC.ZOMG, you are the BEST! I owe you one!

I've got it working with my G5 running two copies, and my Mini running a 3rd, it works perfectly. Not used to having to look at another monitor, but who cares?

I'm looking to buy an iMac 24", but can't afford it just yet, now I can start 3-boxing now! HOOORAH!

I'll post how I set it up later, there's a few "gotchas" in there.

THANK YOU!

[Gadzooks]

I'm still having no luck. I don't understand what the problem is. On the server, the synergy.sgc configuration file looks like this:


section: screens
mac:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
quintusxp:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
end
section: links
mac:
quintusxp:
end
section: options
end


No one has any idea? :\
According to the terminal messages you're getting, it's working. You're also using the right version, the documentation says that only the server needs to be 1.3.1. At this point, you should get INFO messages in the terminal on the mac when the cursor is focused on the Mac.


Note that it's not a mirror of the mouse on both monitors, you scroll your mouse to the edge of the screen on the server machine, and it will pop over to the other screen when you move it past the edge - it's like having two monitors on one machine. In other words, if you set it up that the right monitor is the mac, then if you scroll right, your cursor should show up on the mac when you go past the right edge of the Windows machine. Pardon if you know this. :)


In your system preferences on the Mac, if you click on "Universal Access", is "Enable access for assistive devices" checked? (It's at the bottom). Synergy needs this to work.


To get the keyboard broadcasting, you have to hit the "`" key on the server machine, it's the key right above your tab key, the one left of your "1" key. Make sure keycaps isn't on, too. Broadcasting is off by default, you have to turn it on. (I just wish you could choose another key, I use that key in my custom keybinds)

If none of that works, I'd say try setting the Mac up as the Server, and the Windows machine as a client, and see if it works.

[Gadzooks]

I downloaded QuickSynergy on my MBP and Synergy on my PC. The first thing I did after extracting the files on my PC was run synergy.exe.




I selected "Share this computer's keyboard and mouse (server)"
Clicked on "Configure", then "+" under Screens.
Typed in the name of my machine for "Screen Name" and clicked OK.
Clicked OK again to go back to the main screen.
Under "Advanced" I left the screen name field and port (24800) alone.
Then I clicked "Start" and it tells me that Synergy was successfully started.
So then I went over to my MBP and fired up QuickSynergy.




Clicked on the "Client" tab.
Entered the IP address of the server machine (192.168.1.58) under the server hostname field.
Clicked "Start"

After a minute or so, QuickSynergy crashes on the MBP. The message says: "The application synergyc quit unexpectedly." So I closed QuickSynergy completely and reopened it. This time, I entered the name of my machine ("quintusxp") in the hostname field instead of the IP. I clicked Start again. Again, it crashes with the same error. On the PC, the icon in the system tray shows Synergy as "Waiting for clients" and only shows quintusxp on the list.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Synergy on the PC is version 1.3.1, and QuickSynergy on the MBP is 0.8. I'm running OS X Leopard 10.5.2. Any ideas?



Edit -- It might be worth noting that when I quit out of the Synergy server on the PC, Synergy crashes as well.Don't use QuickSynergy, it crashes for me too in Leopard. I'm using Synergy 1.3.1 through the terminal and it works flawlessly.

[elorc]

I'm still having no luck. I don't understand what the problem is. On the server, the synergy.sgc configuration file looks like this:


section: screens
mac:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
quintusxp:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
end
section: links
mac:
quintusxp:
end
section: options
end


No one has any idea? :\
According to the terminal messages you're getting, it's working. You're also using the right version, the documentation says that only the server needs to be 1.3.1. At this point, you should get INFO messages in the terminal on the mac when the cursor is focused on the Mac.


Note that it's not a mirror of the mouse on both monitors, you scroll your mouse to the edge of the screen on the server machine, and it will pop over to the other screen when you move it past the edge - it's like having two monitors on one machine. In other words, if you set it up that the right monitor is the mac, then if you scroll right, your cursor should show up on the mac when you go past the right edge of the Windows machine. Pardon if you know this. :)


In your system preferences on the Mac, if you click on "Universal Access", is "Enable access for assistive devices" checked? (It's at the bottom). Synergy needs this to work.


To get the keyboard broadcasting, you have to hit the "`" key on the server machine, it's the key right above your tab key, the one left of your "1" key. Make sure keycaps isn't on, too. Broadcasting is off by default, you have to turn it on. (I just wish you could choose another key, I use that key in my custom keybinds)

If none of that works, I'd say try setting the Mac up as the Server, and the Windows machine as a client, and see if it works.

Victory is mine!

The problem was that I didn't have links set up. I tried creating two links... one that says mac is to the right of quintusxp, and another that says quintusxp is to the left of mac. Restarted the server, connected with the commandline client, and it works perfect.

So now the question... how do I get WoW on the Mac to work in sync with WoW on the PC? I picked up a license for Keyclone and have been playing around with multiboxing the two characters on the PC only. I also have played around with CloneKeys doing the same on the Mac. I decided I am going to do 3 chars instead of 2 though, so I'm not sure what setup will be best. Should I use the PC as the master and have the 2 clients on the mac? What software should I be using to make it all work? Keyclone is PC-only, isn't it? :(

Sorry if these are dumb questions... I'm still very new to this whole thing.

[Gadzooks]

I'm still having no luck. I don't understand what the problem is. On the server, the synergy.sgc configuration file looks like this:


section: screens
mac:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
quintusxp:
switchCorners = none
switchCornerSize = 0
end
section: links
mac:
quintusxp:
end
section: options
end


No one has any idea? :\
According to the terminal messages you're getting, it's working. You're also using the right version, the documentation says that only the server needs to be 1.3.1. At this point, you should get INFO messages in the terminal on the mac when the cursor is focused on the Mac.


Note that it's not a mirror of the mouse on both monitors, you scroll your mouse to the edge of the screen on the server machine, and it will pop over to the other screen when you move it past the edge - it's like having two monitors on one machine. In other words, if you set it up that the right monitor is the mac, then if you scroll right, your cursor should show up on the mac when you go past the right edge of the Windows machine. Pardon if you know this. :)


In your system preferences on the Mac, if you click on "Universal Access", is "Enable access for assistive devices" checked? (It's at the bottom). Synergy needs this to work.


To get the keyboard broadcasting, you have to hit the "`" key on the server machine, it's the key right above your tab key, the one left of your "1" key. Make sure keycaps isn't on, too. Broadcasting is off by default, you have to turn it on. (I just wish you could choose another key, I use that key in my custom keybinds)

If none of that works, I'd say try setting the Mac up as the Server, and the Windows machine as a client, and see if it works.

Victory is mine!

The problem was that I didn't have links set up. I tried creating two links... one that says mac is to the right of quintusxp, and another that says quintusxp is to the left of mac. Restarted the server, connected with the commandline client, and it works perfect.

So now the question... how do I get WoW on the Mac to work in sync with WoW on the PC? I picked up a license for Keyclone and have been playing around with multiboxing the two characters on the PC only. I also have played around with CloneKeys doing the same on the Mac. I decided I am going to do 3 chars instead of 2 though, so I'm not sure what setup will be best. Should I use the PC as the master and have the 2 clients on the mac? What software should I be using to make it all work? Keyclone is PC-only, isn't it? :(

Sorry if these are dumb questions... I'm still very new to this whole thing.Yeah, links are kinda important. :)

Grats on getting it work, tho - it's pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, to answer your next question: yes, KeyClone is Windows only, and it does not talk to CloneKeys - if the guys who write both could team up, it would be a very good thing (hint hint).


So...

If you run 2 copies of wow on your PC, use Keyclone to control them, and Synergy as a server on the PC to control the Mac
If you run 2 copies of wow on the Mac, use Clonekey to control them, and Synergy as a server on the Mac to control the PC

Which machine to use as the master, running 2 copies? Whichever one has more ram, a better video card, and a bigger monitor.

Or, if you have an Intel Mac, install Bootcamp, install Windows and a copy of Wow, and control them all with KeyClone/Synergy