TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Sorry. Monique. I mistyped your name on my phone. I also misread that you
didn't want a KVM switch.
However, if you don't want to have two computers open at the same time,
you're not left with a lot of options. You could keep remote desktop open
to your machine in the background, so you can track your email.
I prefer two independent machines and synergy. But then I'm a major geek.
-Tony
On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 10:52 AM, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:
> Moniqur,
>
> If I understand you correctly, you have a Win7 laptop and a MacBook that
> you would like to access continually though out the day. You only want
> one large monitor to share between the two systems. And you are comfortable
> with switching. You don't want to run Mac OSX and Win7 on the same laptop,
> because they are already discrete systems.
>
> If my evaluation is correct, then you should use a KVM switch to share a
> common keyboard, mouse, and monitor with both machines. Each machine would
> constantly be running, but you would control each machine separately.
>
> If your Win7 laptop is needed only for email and occasional work, then
> there are different options.
>
> For instance, you mentioned Synergy, an excellent program that connects
> multiple machines together over a network. A different instance needs to
> run on each machine so they can talk to each other. Windows is easier to
> set up than Mac or *Nix. I never used a GUI with my Mac.
>
> However, because Synergy addresses the issue of controlling multiple
> machines, each machine needs to be set up with a monitor (or you could
> share the monitor using the monitor's different inputs or a KVM switch. The
> benefit is of you need to copy text between machines, Synergy lets you do
> that.
>
> The third option of using Remote Desktop (There is a Microsoft client for
> Mac) means you would log into your Win7 machine when you wanted to see
> what's happening. However you control your Mac is what you would use to
> control your Win7 machine.
>
> Which method would you prefer to work?
>
> -Tony
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.
Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
