Installing Synergy 1.13.1 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Synergy is software that allows you to use multiple computers with only one mouse and one keyboard. For instance, it is possible to connect a main desktop Win10, a travel laptop, also Win10, a 2012 MacBook Pro, and an Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS (if it has a gui installed). The most recent release can also be used with a Raspberry Pi3 or 4.  

Prerequisites

There are a few prerequisites for installing Synergy 1 on Ubuntu 20.04.

• This guide assumes that you are using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with a Graphical User Interface(gui) installed. 
• Gnome was used in this instance. 
• Install a Desktop (GUI) on an Ubuntu server at phoneixNAP. 
• You should have a non-root user account with sudo privileges set up on your system (follow this guide: initial server setup tutorial for Ubuntu 20.04 from Digital Ocean).
• You will need your serial key from your Synergy account at Symless as well as the most recent version of Synergy version 1. (at least 1.13.1)

Now let’s install Synergy 1 on Ubuntu 20.04!

1. Make sure your system is updated with the latest versions, and patches with this terminal command:

-code-$ sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade-/code-

2. Download the version of Synergy you plan to install and take note of where on your system you save it.
3. Once you have the file downloaded and you have changed into the directory containing the synergy .deb file, it will need to be made executable using the following command:

-code-$ sudo chmod +x synergy_1.13.1-rc1.1aebf8f6_ubuntu20_amd64.deb-/code-

4. Now that the file is in an executable state, you can run the following command from the terminal to install synergy:

-code-$ sudo apt install ./synergy_1.13.1-rc1.1aebf8f6_ubuntu20_amd64.deb-/code-

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5. Once the installation is complete, click on the Applications icon at the bottom of the Activities menu to see the Synergy icon.
6. Click the Synergy Icon and open the Synergy configuration screen.
7. Configure it as you would on Windows or Mac.

To have the application run on login:

1. Open the Startup Applications menu and add Synergy to the list.

2. Click Add, and fill in the info to describe the application. 

For example:

Name: Synergy

Command: /usr/bin/synergy

Comment: Mouse and keyboard sharing software.

3. Click the add button. On your next boot the Synergy software will open as soon as X11 runs and will connect to the server you designated when you first opened Synergy.

Recap & Conclusion

To recap the steps taken to install Synergy 1 on Ubuntu 20.04:

• In a terminal, the ‘sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade’ commands Updated and/or Upgraded Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
• The download the latest Synergy version and make it executable with the ‘sudo chmod +x <filename>’ command.
• The software was then installed with ‘sudo apt install ./<filename>’.
• Synergy was then opened on the Gnome desktop and configured to connect to your server as a client computer.
• Once verified that it’s working, the Synergy software was added to the Gnome start Application widget.

Now there is a working version of Synergy on that Ubuntu installation.

This simple guide was written to help others who are looking for some guidance. Note that there are many types of Linux OS desktop managers and desktop environments, so if something seems different, you may be using a different desktop manager or environment. This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but just the steps taken to get Synergy working on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server with Gnome added after the server was already installed. Please refer to the list of resources hyperlinked in the guide above.

Note

Please pay attention that the application will auto run only after logging into the system.