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I normally connect my laptop via wifi. However, I would like to use synergy to share my workplace desktop machine with my laptop. But the problem is that my desktop machine doesn't have wireless support. So, I have no other options except using ethernet to connect them.

My first question is - Is it possible to use ethernet for synergy and keep using wifi for all other application. If the answer is yes, can somebody please guide me how to achieve this.

Thanks,

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If you configure the network such that the subnet for the wired is different from the wireless then connections to a wired machine should only ever go over wired. – Tyler Szabo May 22 '11 at 22:18
maybe sites like these will help you: linux-ip.net/html/adv-multi-internet.html lartc.org – Denwerko May 23 '11 at 7:25
1  
Configuring a routing table, one can choose on which interface to direct traffic, depending on destination. I do not think one can choose depending on process. A possibility could be a proxy used only for a particular application, in addition to a routing table. – enzotib Jun 25 '11 at 17:13
@enjotib, I'll definitely try to configure the routing table. Any idea how to set up proxy only for a particular application? – db42 Jun 25 '11 at 18:36
Hi! Was this problem solved? – dadexix86 Feb 25 '12 at 14:05

2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote

I've never heard of this being done before. I believe Ubuntu can only handle one connection at a time. Even if you could, the application would have to have it's own ability to connect to the internet, through ethernet or wifi, so I would doubt it would work. Good luck though!

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I believe Ubuntu can handle several interfaces at a time. For instance, when configured to act as a firewall, Ubuntu has two interfaces up at the same time. – Nicolas Raoul May 23 '11 at 7:03
Indeed, Ubuntu can definitely use 2 interfaces at once, that is where routes come in. – Sander Jan 10 '12 at 12:02
up vote 1 down vote

This method will create a wired network segment with only two hosts. Synergy will talk over the wire, while all the computers' other network traffic will use their default interfaces. It requires that your desktop have two ethernet interfaces.

Suppose you have a desktop, Ferris, with ethernet interfaces eth0 and eth1. It uses eth0 to connect to your workplace's wired network. Ferris will run Synergy Server.

You have laptop, Cameron, with ethernet interface eth0 and wireless interface wlan0. Cameron will run Synergy client.

Connect Ferris's eth1 to Cameron's eth0 with a network cable. Assign both interfaces static IP addresses in the same subnet. Don't specify DNS servers or default gateways.

For example, Ferris's eth1 gets IP address 192.168.100.1 and Cameron's eth0 gets 192.168.100.2. On both, the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0.

Configure Synergy according to your needs.

On Ferris, start Synergy Server with a command like this: synergys -c <path to your synergy config file> -a 192.168.100.1

On Cameron, start Synergy like this: synergyc 192.168.100.1

This ensures that Synergy only communicates on the little wired network that Ferris shares with Cameron.

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