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Synergy 2.0 over BT PAN?


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carbonatd

I originally purchased a copy of Synergy 2.0, only to discover that my Win 10 computers needed to be on the same LAN.  This isn't an option for me, one is a domain computer, the other is a personal laptop on guest wifi.  Guest WIFI is isolated from our business network.  I tried several different methods, but I was unsuccessful to get Synergy 2.0 to work.  I have a support ticket open, but my tech support rep hasn't responded in over a week.  Eventually I discovered that some folks were able to establish a bluetooth personal area network, and utilize Synergy that way.  I tried doing this with Synergy 2.0, but there just aren't any options to specify an IP address of the server, and it seems to default to my primary network connection without checking other network connections.

So I downgraded to Synergy 1.8.8, and this basically works.  I can manually connect my machines via BT PAN (sort of cumbersome, but less so than unplugging USB cables).  Synergy 1.8.8 will work great on my two Windows 10 machines for about an hour, after which point everything starts to lag.  The lag worsens over time, and the only way I've been able to fix it is by restarting my client Win10 laptop.

Has anyone else seen lag in 1.8.8?  It seems like my issue is not isolated to the fact that I am using bluetooth.  Does anyone else use Bluetooth with v.1.8.8 or v.2?  Any insight anyone can share would be much appreciated.

I'm running Synergy 1.8.8 on a Windows 10 desktop and a Windows 10 laptop.  The latest updates are installed for both machines. If there is a better way of doing this for two machines on separate networks, please let me know!

 

Thanks!

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Nick Bolton
12 hours ago, carbonatd said:

I have a support ticket open, but my tech support rep hasn't responded in over a week.

I'm really sorry about that. I have prioritized your ticket for you. @Sarah Hebert will reply to your ticket shortly.

12 hours ago, carbonatd said:

I tried doing this with Synergy 2.0, but there just aren't any options to specify an IP address of the server, and it seems to default to my primary network connection without checking other network connections.

This is a bug that we're urgently working on solving. It should auto-detect new IPs while it's running and use the new IP, but sadly this doesn't work reliably. We should have a fix for this soon, but I can't say exactly when, sorry. As a workaround, you can restart the background service after connecting your BT PAN which will pick up the new IP. Or, as you rightly said, you can use Synergy 1 to manually set an IP is the only solution.

12 hours ago, carbonatd said:

Synergy 1.8.8 will work great on my two Windows 10 machines for about an hour, after which point everything starts to lag.  The lag worsens over time, and the only way I've been able to fix it is by restarting my client Win10 laptop.

 

I tried using Synergy over a BT PAN, and found the BT device to be really unreliable (on Surface Pro). Have you tried an ethernet USB adapter with crossover cable to see if this solves the lag issue? Also, do your colleagues notice the same behavior?

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Guest Andrew Nelless
16 hours ago, carbonatd said:

I tried doing this with Synergy 2.0, but there just aren't any options to specify an IP address of the server, and it seems to default to my primary network connection without checking other network connections.

This shouldn't be the case. Provided you're using the latest patch release, v2.0.9 as of writing, then Synergy running on machine A will try to establish connections to *all* the IPs known to be available on machine B, and visa-versa.

Please give it a go and get back to us.

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carbonatd

Thanks so much for the updates!  I kind of flooded @Sarah Hebert with several responses in one day, and ultimately told her I was moving to v.1.8.8, so that's probably why I haven't heard back. 

Yes, BT PAN does suck, since basically every time the machines go to sleep, I need to reestablish the PAN.  Even if I disable sleep, the connection disconnects after so many hours but it does work for some time, and smoothly.  I could try USB via ethernet, but I only have one USB port on my laptop (Dell Venue Pro 11) but i would need two adapters to make it work and I lack those adapters... plus, that's more wires on the desk, something I long to avoid.  I've considered doing a direct wifi connection instead, but I thought I would give BT a try since it should be sufficient for a pan..

I will give 2.0.9 another shot and update this post.  Thanks again

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Nick Bolton
20 minutes ago, carbonatd said:

I could try USB via ethernet, but I only have one USB port on my laptop (Dell Venue Pro 11) but i would need two adapters to make it work and I lack those adapters... plus, that's more wires on the desk, something I long to avoid. 

How about a USB hub? http://a.co/9hlftfD

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carbonatd

So, I've installed 2.0.9.  As you stated, it does work with BT PAN, but the lag is really bad.  I've restarted both machines, moved the bluetooth receive on the desktop to different ports; I can't seem to get a good response out of it.  Version 1.8.8 would have decent response initially, and then lag over time.  I wonder what could be causing it?  Seriously, with 1.8.8, response was nearly 1:1, almost no lag initially.

 

I'm wondering if there is a service or something I can restart, or what can be done to tweak 2.0.9's performance?

 

Thanks again for all of your help!

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Nick Bolton

Would you mind testing with USB over ethernet to see if that eliminates the lag? The issue is most likely your Bluetooth device. Let me know if you need an Amazon gift card for the ethernet cable and USB adapter.

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carbonatd

Ok, I should also note the following devices I'm using:

Elecom Large Track ball (2.4ghz wireless)

Apple Magic Trackpad 2 (BT)

HP Wired Slim KB (USB)

 

So, I should note that keyboard lag is tolerable.  Elecom trackball is laggy, and Apple Trackpad 2 is the least laggy.  I'm going to try a *shudder* wired USB mouse to see if there is any less lag, as I realize using a multitude of wireless devices is a nice recipe for disaster.  That said, the host machine is lag free, with the Elecom Trackball being the most responsive.

 

UPDATE:  USB mouse is even more laggy than my wireless devices.

Edited by carbonatd
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carbonatd

Is USB to ethernet preferable to adding two new WIFI adapters?  WIFI AdHOC would be preferred, but I'm willing to test whatever you need, especially if you're providing the gift card.

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carbonatd

Note: the Apple Magic Touchpad 2 is actually quite usable over BT PAN as long as I don't use continuing gestures.  So, if I do incremental swipes, it's not that laggy at all.  If I try to drag something, or move the cursor slowly across the screen in a solid gesture, it's just as slow as my trackball.

I will say that 2.0.9 seems more consistent than 1.8.8.  I have less connection issues, and, other than lag, it seems to be more accurate in representing my mouse movements.

I am wondering if there is any way to restrict screen departure to one of my three server monitors?  I would love to be able to restrict the exiting of my server computer to the laptop to just one of the 3 monitors I have set up.  Right now, I can move the cursor out of any of my 3 server screens, which can be a bit confusing at times.  Perhaps this should be a separate ticket and/or feature request?

 

Thanks again

Edited by carbonatd
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Nick Bolton
2 hours ago, carbonatd said:

An Amazon gift card would be great!  $25 would cover it.

Sent! :)

2 hours ago, carbonatd said:

Is USB to ethernet preferable to adding two new WIFI adapters? 

Ethernet will always be less laggy than WiFi, due to the way that WiFi works.

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carbonatd

But will wifi be less laggy than BT?  Less wires is still the name of the game.  If i have to plug in a USB Ethernet adapter and string an ethernet cable between both machines, I might as well get a physical KVM, if you know what I mean.. (not that I would!)

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Nick Bolton
9 hours ago, carbonatd said:

USB PAN using a USB Data Transfer cable

I'm not sure. It would need to create a network, and after reading the Amazon page, I couldn't see if this was the case. You could try it, but I would definitely opt for the USB ethernet approach since it's a temporary workaround.

11 hours ago, carbonatd said:

Less wires is still the name of the game. 

Would you mind trying the USB ethernet solution as a temporary workaround? It's certainly not a permanent fix, but it will tell us if Bluetooth PAN is the cause of your issue. If you experience the same lag over ethernet, then this tells us where else to look.

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Nick Bolton
15 hours ago, carbonatd said:

Ordering USB to Ethernet today.  Thanks for all of your help

Looking forward to seeing if the lag goes away. If so, maybe you can order a USB Bluetooth adapter? That way you can see if your built-in Bluetooth device is the issue. Or, you could order a USB WiFi adapter and create an ad-hoc WiFi network.

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carbonatd
8 hours ago, Nick Bolton said:

Looking forward to seeing if the lag goes away. If so, maybe you can order a USB Bluetooth adapter? That way you can see if your built-in Bluetooth device is the issue. Or, you could order a USB WiFi adapter and create an ad-hoc WiFi network.

Yes, I ordered a new BT adapter, and two wifi adapters as well, so I can test out the different connections.  I have an older Monoprice BT adapter I've tried on the laptop, but that has not provided any improvements.  It's hard finding a BT adapter with decent drivers; looking at the device manager, most BT PAN drivers haven't been updated since 2006... OUCH

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carbonatd

FWIW, v.1.8.8 was usable with a BT PAN, at least for a an hour or two initially.  The lag would build over time tho, but it didn't seem as bad as what I am experiencing in v2.0.9

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carbonatd

Update:  I can't seem to get the second bluetooth adapter working (it's a piece of garbage, I suspect).

 

However, I disabled my Apple Magic Trackpad 2 during testing, and the lag is DRASTICALLY reduced.  It's pretty usable now, to be honest.  Could it be that I have maxed my BT bandwidth out by connecting two devices?  Why would it have not been as much of an issue with v1.8.8?

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carbonatd

Update: the lag seems to increase over time, even with my other bt devices disabled.  I've rebooted both machines, and the lag persists, which I find very odd...

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Nick Bolton

Do you experience the same issue with ad-hoc WiFi using a separate USB adapter? It could be that BT PAN is so unpopular because Bluetooth can't handle the resource requirements very well.

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carbonatd

Update: I have tested both the USB to ethernet connections and USB wifi adapters on both devices.  No lag, whatsoever, with either a direct ethernet connection or a USB Wifi hosted network.  I have installed new bloothtooth adapters on both devices; lag appears to be even worse.  I see v2.0.10 was released recently, so I will upgrade and test with that.

Edited by carbonatd
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carbonatd

So it looks like I can achieve similar results by installing a USB Wifi adapter on my desktop and joining it to our public network.  Lag is quite tolerable, although I had to mess around extensively with Windows 10 networking metrics to make sure my domain connection retained priority over the new networking connection... This probably isn't the most secure method, but it is cheapest with the least amount of wires.

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Nick Bolton
8 hours ago, carbonatd said:

So it looks like I can achieve similar results by installing a USB Wifi adapter on my desktop and joining it to our public network.  Lag is quite tolerable, although I had to mess around extensively with Windows 10 networking metrics to make sure my domain connection retained priority over the new networking connection... This probably isn't the most secure method, but it is cheapest with the least amount of wires.

How about an ad-hoc WiFi network? This might eliminate the lag.

https://www.lifewire.com/set-up-an-ad-hoc-peer-wifi-network-818272

Also, have you seen this article? 

https://symless.com/synergy/help/mac-wifi-lag

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