Mouse rarely works?

I'm fairly new to dual-boxing, and so far the easiest to set up and get running program I've found is Octopus. I followed several of the guides and eventually got things working, and it was awesome.

However for some reason more often than not, the mouse locks up when I try to slide it over to my other PC. It just.. sticks to the 'shared side' of the other pc, so it actually makes it.. But then wont move, and I have to shut off octopus to get my mouse back. I've searched for posts regarding this particular issue and come up more or less empty-handed, and yes I realize Octopus is no longer being updated..

I was just wondering if anyone who's had any experience with this particular issue had any insight they'd be willing to share, or perhaps some advice as to an alternative (free) software solution.

Thanks guys.

I've never observed that in my time using Octopus. What version are you using? Are you using the mouse driver? (don't start using the mouse driver unless you know you need it :P ) How often does this happen? Does it only do it on one edge of the screen and not the other?

As a note: if you hit your "bypass" toggle key to turn octopus off and then back on, it will reset your cursor to your main screen. Works great when you need to reset your cursor to your main PC.

Final note: you might want to setup sounds for your Bypass on/off and Broadcast pause/resume options in Server-->Sounds. It'll help you realize when Octopus thinks it's supposed to be doing something normal. If you're hearing the off/disabled sounds when you think it should be working fine, it might indicate a problem with your setup. ;)

Hope that helps!

Well i haven't really tested if it happens to the other sides, cause my alt-PC is on my right.. And it does work sometimes, and when it works.. It doesn't stop working. It's only when I have to reconnect my pcs via octopus that I run the risk of having it not work. It's one of those things where right when I connect I can tell whether or not it will work..

But based on that could it be something not initializing properly?

I'm not using the mouse drivers, since it obviously has the capability of working. It has worked. Something is just making it stick to that spot.

also, the bypass thing is a nice touch, thanks. When I hit it again though, I lose my mouse again. Like it just vanishes off my main-PC without me touching it.

Edit: Not sure if this is relevant but when it gets stuck on the alt PC, It's still receiving clicks and everything, it just wont move. I can right click on the spot where it's stuck, I just can't move it anywhere.

Edit AGAIN: Is it possible that it could be something as simple as a latency issue? My alt-PC is connected via wireless, and occasionally when I do have full mouse functionality, the cursor will lag quite a bit temporarily.

Definitely strange. Go back into your KVM and make sure you setup the other side of your monitor so you can move the mouse continuously to the right and have it loop around to the main again. Here's my setup as an example. My machines are laid out like [far left=play2][left=work][main=play][right=johnpt2].

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/...364089.jpg?v=0

With this setup, I can just mouse all the way around to the right and end up back on the left of my main. That may resolve your problem, as I know I have a similar rare/intermittent problem if I'm in the middle of rebooting one of my machines. Also, on both machines, set your Client-->General-->Retry value to 5 and make sure your "Release modifier keys when leaving client" is checked. That may help it recover. Out of curiosity, are you using DHCP addresses for your machines or static IPs?

I don't really know that that will work as I can't actually get the mouse to that side of the screen. It sticks exactly where it enters.

In regards to the addresses, I'm not really sure. My KM Mapping stuff was auto populated. My main 'server' pc connects to 'localhost 127.0.0.1' and my alt-PC connects to the address my router gives my PC (10.10.10.100 in my case). Should I have it connect to my actual internet IP instead?

No, I just wondered if you were using static IPs versus dynamic ones. If you're not sure what that is, you're using Dynamic ones. :P Just ignore that comment.

if it positions correctly on a networked client then doesn't move, it is probably because of a break in UDP for whatevre reason. Every other event, click, keys, etc goes with TCP.

Back when I started modifying MultiBox source UDP was used for some packets so I have just gone with this, the logic wouild be you can gain better throughput, maybe latency too, with it (since TCP is verified and all that).

I realise it doesn't help, there is no option to change this, but I just decided to take a look, and its really not neccessray to use UDP at all. Whether that is helpful of not for wireless in general I just don't know so I'll probably make an option in future, for this and my new KM (the KM in this is probably being removed). When I tested wireless, the extra latency was awful. Using the mouse on an network client should basically feel like 0ms with wired.

well in that case would there be any router settings i could change to influence this, oddly enough it's worked on and off without me touching my router at all..

Edit: Well messing with router shit didn't really fix anything, but.. I can get it to work after about .. 10 or so exit/restart's of the program.. and when it is working it's pretty bad ass. :D

Actually now it's.. doing something really weird. For whatever reason the program itself is super sluggish and unresponsive on my alt-PC now. It takes 30 seconds to just switch to say.. the options tab from the status tab.. if not longer.. Stuff like that. Restarting my PC and the program don't help.

I've seen that, but only when my PCs are switching IP addresses mid-stream. Something you can try is setting your router to "static-ip" mode instead of DHCP and then setting your units up with static addresses, if you're comfortable with that. You could also try putting the IP address directly into Octopus instead of the hostname, though I've not tried that here.

Well I've found a way to get it working pretty consistently. Just, waiting. lol.

If I use the key broadcast bit, without trying to get my mouse to my alt-pc for a good chunk of time, by the time I forget I'm not supposed to, it works when I finally do end up sliding it over there. Maybe it just takes a while for everything to get synced the way it needs to, but.. At least this way I don't have to find and set up another program. No want! :D

Changing your LAN to static IPs should be pretty easy. :P

but it is not intermitent, every time I move the mouse over to one of clients the cursor stops moving. Clicking still works and if I use the client pc's mouse it still works. Using the bypass toggle temporarily returns control of the cursor to the main machine but if I stop the bypass the cursor is stuck on the client screen again. Also of note I do have a second alt pc which does not have any issues when passing the cursor. Systems being used: Mac mini running windows 7 on bootcamp, sony vaio (japanese) and a dell laptop both running xp.

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Originally Posted by GotPyroblastedbyZINS

but it is not intermitent, every time I move the mouse over to one of clients the cursor stops moving. Clicking still works and if I use the client pc's mouse it still works. Using the bypass toggle temporarily returns control of the cursor to the main machine but if I stop the bypass the cursor is stuck on the client screen again. Also of note I do have a second alt pc which does not have any issues when passing the cursor. Systems being used: Mac mini running windows 7 on bootcamp, sony vaio (japanese) and a dell laptop both running xp.

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This is a very old thread, might have better to start a new one.
What broadcast software are you using to send commands to all the computers?