Barrier/Synergy installation on EL8

I have packaged barrier and synergy a while ago. A user stated that he cannot install it because it misses dependency: avahi-compat-libdns_sd

For RHEL 8, it is in channel codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms

To enable it, runs
subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms

For CentOS Stream 8, it is in repository powertools

To enable it, runs
sudo yum-config-manager --enablerepo powertools

Barrier (Synergy) with Wacom Intuos BT M

I am looking for a more ergonomic pointing device. Thus, I borrow my daughter’s Wacom Intuos BT M drawing tablet a try.

Fedora 33 Gnome seems to recognize it out of the box, and the gnome-control-center Wacom interface show it properly. With RHEL 8, it also works as a mouse, but for Gnome to see it, I needed to install the following:

yum -y install libwacom

I mainly use KDE, so I also install

yum -y install kcm_wacomtablet

Gnome did not have the UI to bind the tablet button to mouse button like Mouse button 4 (Scroll Up), nor does it handle key combo binding properly. For example, Ctrl-Win-Left is recognized as Primary-Super-Hyper-Left; KDE, however, does support Mouse button 4~7 so I bind inner left tablet button as button 5 and inner right tablet button as button 4.

I use barrier, a keyboard/mouse sharing utility intensively. So I would also like to see how barrier handles Wacom. Unfortunately, with absolute position mode (the default), the pointer insisted it needed to be in the left edge of the client, I need to use barrier switchInDirection keyboard short keyboard to get away.

I also tried related position mode which make the tablet work more like a giant touchpad. It kinda of work, as the pointer in client act normally. However, that mode is very unpleasant to use, as I need to fully away the distant between stylus and tablet. Basically:

State 1: Stylus touch tablet: Mouse Left button click
State 2: Stylus hover tablet: Mouse move
State 3: Stylus leave tablet: Mouse No action

Switching between State 2 and State 3 is required for related position to work, that is unpleasant.

I tried USB on server, and BT on client as well, but Intuos only support single connection, that is, you have to disconnect USB to use BT, so no single-button-toggle target computers. 😦

Verdict: I would not a recommended Wacom over Barrier/Synergy setup, unless You are OK with relative position mode.

synergy-2.0.0 is in Fedora updates-testing

synergy is a software that allow you to use your favorite mouse and keyboard on multiple machines. It supports MacOS, Windows, and Linux.

I have packed the latest stable version, 2.0.0, for Fedora 27, 26 and EPEL 7. No EPEL 6 update this time as it requires CXX14, which EL6 does not provide.

synergy-1.6.2-1 for RHEL/CentOS 7

If you want to install synergy-1.6.2 on RHEL 7,  it is in my EPEL Collection. Use following script to install it As root:

cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
wget https://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/dchen/epel-collection/epel-epel-collection.repo
yum -y install synergy

That’s it.

Hey, synergy can copy HTML table and paste to either Libreoffice Calc or Gnumeric

Even it is on other computer, with synergy, you can select the HTML table and copy, then paste into either Libreoffice Calc or Gnumeric as table. Very convenient.

Sync between Caps lock and LED

Caps Lock is used in chewing and other input method as mode switch key. Caps off for Chinese mode; and on for English mode, for example. However, it is not so simple to tame the Caps lock.

Paragan kindly gave me a link of keylockx, a program to detect and set the lock mode. Tagoh also told me that lock-keys-applet, a GNOME applet can also to the similar. While both programs do change and reflect the real Caps mode; unfortunately, the LED on USB keyboard does not reflect such changes.

Things get even wierder when synergy is involved. The lock stage switch happens in synergy client, which is all right and correct. Problem is, synergy server LED does not reflect this.

Ok, I know synergy server lock LEDs does not have to synchronize with client, and might cause more trobles if forced to do so. But it still confuses inexperienced end users, as client do not necessary have lock LED on them.

Mmm, may be that’s why lock-keys-applet has its own position, as it showed the real lock state on the client. But story does not end here, as input methods usualy just process the CapsLock event, do not care what’s current status and where the event from… arrrgaghhhh