Magic Mouse controlling 2 macs?

[Morisato]

I used to work at a place that had several Macs in close quarters. Sometimes when I was working on the Mac Pro, someone else would work on the Mac Mini and every once in a while, the mouse on the mac mini would start moving the cursor on my Mac Pro. The mouse that they were using was a Magic Mouse, while I was using a WIRED Logitech mouse. At that particular time, this was a nuisance obviously since I didnt want my mouse to be moving... however, I'm trying to replicate that function at home but I can't seem to get it to work. Now, I'm not exactly using the same hardware, but the concept is the same. I want to be able to move the cursor of two computers simultaneously with a single mouse. In an attempt to get this to work, I purchased a few Bluetooth usb receiver and a bluetooth mouse, but I can't get it to pair with multiple receivers. Does anyone have any information as to how I can achieve this? Is it hardware specific? The Mac Pro had a built in bluetooth card obviously, and I know for a fact that it was not done over the network... it had to happen over bluetooth. Was it a matter of duplicate bluetooth receivers in both machines and the mouse broadcasted to both?

I'm so frustrated right now because I can't theorize how it worked to replicate it.

 

[HazyCloud]

Yeah, I think the mouse was being broadcasted to both machines. It must have been paired to both at one point or another.

 

[waw74]

not sure why it worked in your office, any chance there was vibration or something moving the mouse, or something was puling on the cord?

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but to make it work...

http://abyssoft.com/software/teleport/

pair the mouse with one mac, and have that mac "share" the mouse with the other mac. (it'll take the keyboard along for the ride too, whichever screen the cursor is on)

or if you're not in a mac only world, the following works on win, mac, and linux
http://synergy-foss.org/

 

[Morisato]

Nope... it was definitely not vibration or a pulled cord. The macs were in different rooms but about 10-15 feet apart (through walls). In addition, it was an obvious movement and acted as if someone was using the mouse and not random movements or very slight movements at that.

This is very different from synergy and teleport. Both don't mirror mouse movements like what I was experiencing. I'm looking for mirror mouse control, NOT a toggle system.

 

[waw74]

you want one mouse to move the cursor on both computers at the same time?

mice are a relative positioning device, meaning if you don't start them in the same place, they won't wind up in the same place, and if your windows aren't in the same place on both computers it won't really do much good.

it's not a setup that really makes any practical sense, maybe if you let us know what it is you're actually trying to accomplish, we can sort something out.

both programs i mentioned use "hot edges" so you can set up the position of the screen, then as your mouse moves off the right edge of your 1st screen, it automatically and seamlessly moves onto the left edge of your second screen. so it behaves like 2 monitors on the same computer. the only difference from "1 computer - 2 monitors" is the keyboard will switch back and forth to where the mouse moves from screen to screen, since you really wouldn't want the same keystrokes being sent to 2 (possibly different) programs at the same time.

 

[Morisato]

Testing stuff on 2 very similar computers, minor differences in software versions. Need them side by side running the same thing at the same time and having clicks clicked at the same time.

I know what a mouse is and how it works. You may not see a reason for this set up but I wasn't asking for alternatives to why I need the mouse to control two computers at the same time simultaneously in a mirrored fashion.

Did it really help you any more to know that I need to test software on two systems simultaneously in real time? Or was the previous information good enough to explain exactly what I need... that being a mouse that can control two computers at the same time. And yes, I do want the keystrokes to be sent to both computers. I need all variables, which include human input, to be exactly the same, occurring at exactly the same time.

I believe you understand exactly what I'm looking for but just because you can't wrap your head around WHY I would be asking for such a thing, you assume I'm asking for something different. I am NOT looking for a switch type solution to control two computers... I NEED THEM TO BE CONTROLLED SIMULTANEOUSLY USING THE SAME KEYSTROKES AND MOUSE INPUT.

 

[waw74]

Testing stuff on 2 very similar computers, minor differences in software versions. Need them side by side running the same thing at the same time and having clicks clicked at the same time.

that was all i really needed and not to be yelled at, you're doing something that at least 99.9% of users would never have the need to do.

Did it really help you any more to know that I need to test software on two systems simultaneously in real time?

yes


while you know what you want to accomplish, others don't, and outside of your very specific situation what you wanted to do would not turn out well at all.

Please forgive me for taking my time and trying to help.

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my suggestions
buy a second mouse.
or write your own software to do it.