[Trick] Use Keyboard + Mouse from Xorg to control another Xorg session

Question

So you have two computers sitting together,  you don't have a kvm switch, and using two keyboards and mice is just plan annoying!
X2X is the solution. This program allows you to use your mouse and keyboard from Computer A on Computer B.
From the man page
x2x  allows the keyboard and mouse on one ("from") X display to be used to control another ("to") X display.
How to make it work?
Allow TCP from xorg on both systems
Edit /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc and change
exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp
to
exec /usr/bin/X
Computer A = computer that has the keyboard and mouse you want to use
Computer B = computer that does not have the keyboard and mouse you want to use hooked up to it
On Computer B run the command
xhost +ComputerA
Where ComputerA is the hostname/ip address of ComputerA
This allows ComputerA to connect to ComputerB's xorg server
On Computer A run the command
x2x -to ComputerB:0.0 -west
Where ComputerB is the hostname/ip address of ComputerB
Now on ComputerA you should be able to move the mouse left, off the screen, and be able to control ComputerB!
I use this to control my laptop using my desktop's mouse and keyboard. It's a lot easier than switching between my desktop keyboard/mouse and laptop keyboard/mouse!

Answer 1

diederick76 wrote:
I have used x2x for some time before I started using Arch, but recently I decided to start using it again to control my laptop from my desktop box. I have installed x2x on the laptop. However, when I do
# ssh -X laptop 'x2x -west -to :0'
I get:
X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 25 (X_SendEvent)
Resource id in failed request: 0x400001b
Serial number of failed request: 21
Current serial number in output stream: 21
I have tried following your howto, but I seem unable to start X with tcp support. I have changed /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc as you instructed, but when I start X and issue
ps ax | grep X
from a console, I still get:
1670 tty7 Ss+ 0:15 /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp vt07 -auth /var/run/slim.auth
Can you tell me what I'm missing? Are these at all related?
Thanks!
Today I was looking into this and got working very fast using this thread. Are you sure you restarted your X server after changing xserverrc? Are you sure your display is at :0?
Use
echo $DISPLAY
on the terminal to find out. Also you need x2x installed on both machines.
Last edited by quiquex (2011-11-08 18:59:08)