[HN Gopher] How Universal Control on macOS Monterey Works
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How Universal Control on macOS Monterey Works
Author : gumby
Score : 84 points
Date : 2021-06-09 18:34 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
| aye01 wrote:
| Logitech MX product have had this feature for a while now and its
| even cross platform. its called Logitech Flow and works almost as
| seamlessly as that mac demo. Only difference would be installing
| the Logitech Options app vs it being native. Seems like a great
| feature if you're fully in the Apple ecosystem.
| kergonath wrote:
| > Only difference would be installing the Logitech Options app
|
| Is that the app that wants to use all 8 cores and turn my iMac
| into a noisy space heater every now and then? I love Logitech's
| hardware, but their software is consistently terrible.
| aye01 wrote:
| never had that happen before. as we speak, the app is running
| at 1% of a core and 100mb ram. id imagine that whatever apple
| implements uses some sort of protocol that wouldn't be free
| in terms of resources either.
| jreese wrote:
| That doesn't support the iPad though, right?
| AshamedCaptain wrote:
| And I'm going to guess that's because of Apple restrictions,
| anyway. Good luck getting past the App Store Review a program
| that tries to read and/or control the mouse pointer position.
|
| It's already hard enough to do a Synergy-like thing in
| Android, although technically still barely possible.
|
| I ponder if this is a new business model -- make a shitton
| types of applications outright impossible in the name of
| "security", then announce your own (proprietary)
| implementations of these types of applications that bind
| people to your brand of devices in order to encourage sales.
| toxik wrote:
| New? This is just market segmentation.
| roody15 wrote:
| The fact that all devices have to be signed in and connected to
| same icloud account ... makes this not quite as seemless IMO.
|
| For example work based or education based managed apple ID's
| cannot use the universal control functionality.
|
| https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-school-manager/service...
| louissm_it wrote:
| How else would you do it though? Surely you don't want a random
| Mac to push its cursor onto your iPad? Same with all the other
| handoff features. Maybe I'm missing something!
| slifin wrote:
| The same is true of sidecar makes this completely useless for
| me
|
| I have a personal iPad and MacBook Pro but I code on work's
| managed iMac
| seiferteric wrote:
| I want to be able to use my iPhone apps on my Mac, can I do that?
| I have some apps that only work on my phone like my TV remote app
| and my RSA 2fa app that I often would like to access from my Mac.
| thrwn_frthr_awy wrote:
| You can do that with a M1 Mac.
| seiferteric wrote:
| sorry can you explain how?
| dkdbejwi383 wrote:
| First result via a search engine
| https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/install-any-ios-
| app-m1-mac/
| seiferteric wrote:
| Ah I see, I have tried that, but the official roku remote
| app does not seem to show up for some reason and the RSA
| app I need can only be run in one place since it uses a
| unique key. I am thinking more about accessing the apps
| already on my phone like screen sharing or something.
| ulzeraj wrote:
| Developer needs to authorize his iOS app for it to be
| available on the MacOS App Store.
|
| There used to be a method to side load any iOS
| application (lots of people were using to play Genshin
| Impact) but Apple disabled that functionality in 11.3.
| djxfade wrote:
| Apple brought the sideloading back, it seems to have been
| removed by mistake.
|
| You can use a third party app like iMazing to backup the
| .ipa file from your iPhone/iPad, and install them on your
| Mac. It works for apps not whitelisted for Mac in the App
| Store.
| dkdbejwi383 wrote:
| Don't think that's possible without jailbreaking, sorry!
| pier25 wrote:
| Anyone remembers Teleport?
|
| It was an app for macOS that did the same thing 10 years ago.
|
| They released the source code a couple of years later:
|
| https://github.com/johndbritton/teleport
| sneak wrote:
| > _First, you need to get the iPad and Mac relatively close to
| each other. Universal Control is built off the same Continuity
| and Handoff features that have long been a part of iOS and
| macOS._
|
| Bummer. This means that this will be an iCloud-only feature, most
| likely. (Apple seems to have no reluctance to this, as HomePods
| also require iCloud to set them up.)
|
| More pushes toward Apple services. :( It would be nice if I could
| use the full features of the OS/hardware I bought without having
| to engage with the privacy nightmare that is Apple's approach to
| network services.
| chadlavi wrote:
| it's how they verify that you own it. You can't just go trying
| to nose your mouse into someone else's iPad at a coffee shop
| (universal control works at up to 30ft range)
| mmebane wrote:
| Of course they could always add something like PIN/QR
| code/plugging the iPad into the MacBook for local connections
| - but that will never happen with an Apple that prioritizes
| simplicity over functionality.
| bengale wrote:
| Yes it requires iCloud.
| [deleted]
| smoldesu wrote:
| Amen, I have no idea why you'd need iCloud to use... wireless
| KVM.
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| Authentication and authorization.
| shadowtree wrote:
| It allows for file transfers via drag and drop - pretty sure
| it uses iCloud as the data cache inbetween.
| smoldesu wrote:
| FTP is totally usable for this, using iCloud as a cache
| would add so much latency that it would be unusable.
| nly wrote:
| The problem is more subtle than just authorisation.. you need
| some way to 'group' machines on a network.
|
| If you just use LAN broadcast/discovery, and you want things to
| be automatic, then multiple users on the same network end up
| snuffling their way in to your mouse sharing configuration or
| you're bombarded with requests to connect.
|
| A pairing mode would solve this but then you have to train
| users to set it up, it's not "seamless", and Apple wouldn't
| have been able to do the cool demo.
|
| Synergy 2 used a cloud approach to pairing for the same reason
| ricokatayama wrote:
| that's a great feature. I really love my iPad, but changing the
| workflow to operate both systems is overwhelming. I can imagine
| myself using Universal Control everyday.
| handrous wrote:
| I've found the iPad to be a great place to isolate shitty,
| resource-hogging communication software (ahem, Slack) to a
| dedicated shitty-software-I-must-nonetheless-have-open-all-the-
| time console. This makes that practice even better, with the
| unified control and drag & drop and all that.
| kergonath wrote:
| Yeah, the iPad is a great container for terrible software. No
| worries about Zoom backdooring your computer and leaving
| stuff all over the place.
|
| I don't really need unified control for this, though. The
| iPad just sits nicely on the desk for however long the stupid
| meetings are, and these apps are not interactive enough for
| having to lift a hand to be much of a pain.
| cabalos wrote:
| Agreed. This is going to be my exact use case for Universal
| Control.
| danielyaa5 wrote:
| I wish they would just let me remotely login to my phone and
| tablet from my mac
| dkdbejwi383 wrote:
| Universal Control looks interesting, but it also saddens me
| because it makes me think that target display mode will never be
| coming back.
| silvestrov wrote:
| More and more gestures you don't know about as a normal user.
|
| Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from Apple?
| jws wrote:
| _Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from
| Apple?_
|
| They would be in the users' wastebaskets with all the other
| paper shipped with the product.
|
| There were interactive onboarding tutorials during install or
| upgrade, but pretty much everyone clicked spastically at them
| until they went away without reading them.
|
| No one reads manuals. I have shipped a (admittedly low volume)
| game where I have _never_ detected a user reading the help
| pages I slaved over. The prominent help icon never gets
| touched. I made an introductory tutorial which animatedly draws
| prettily curved highlighter arrows and circles on the screen to
| explain the important user interface elements... _click_
| _click_ _click_ ... the new users do everything they can to
| close it and get it off the screen without reading it.
|
| Search: "ipad gestures site:apple.com"
|
| Search: "macos gestures site:apple.com"
|
| The top hits for both of your questions, as translated into
| google-ese, are the documents you want, with the exception of
| iPad multitasking, but that's a deliberate decision by Apple.
| Should be resolved in iOS 15 when they finally expect regular
| people to maybe use multitasking.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _They would be in the users ' wastebaskets with all the other
| paper shipped with the product_
|
| Apple products ship with almost no paper these days, and
| haven't for a good number of years.
|
| Usually it's just regulatory certificates and a quick setup
| leaflet with a link printed on it for the full manual, which
| nobody ever reads, with predictable results.
| toxik wrote:
| I think that's exactly the point the GP was making.
| zepto wrote:
| > More and more gestures you don't know about as a normal user.
|
| I see this complaint quite a bit, but it doesn't make sense to
| me. Of course there are more and more features, and of course
| most people don't know about most of them because there are so
| many.
|
| > Where is the "all the gestures" instruction manual from
| Apple?
|
| If you want to know about the new gestures, Apple demonstrates
| them during keynotes whose sole purpose is to announce them.
| They are covered internationally by pretty much _all of the
| technology press_.
|
| As others have pointed out, there are in fact many places where
| Apple documents them too.
| FireBeyond wrote:
| > If you want to know about the new gestures, Apple
| demonstrates them during keynotes whose sole purpose is to
| announce them.
|
| I get your next point about documentation, but if you think
| saying I have to watch a 90 minute marketing presentation to
| learn about gestures is some kind of obvious or reasonable
| expectation? No thanks.
| nxc18 wrote:
| https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204895
|
| They're also good about giving a "what's new in Big Sur"
| notifications after upgrade and as part of the OOBE iirc. Can't
| be restarted from what I can find, unfortunately.
|
| Tips app is great for iOS.
| bengale wrote:
| Go to the trackpad page in settings and it will show you with
| little animations.
| whatch wrote:
| Demos in trackpad settings were quite informative for me.
|
| Also, aren't there notifications with change notes when you
| upgrade?
|
| Maybe something changed in Big Sur, I only used old MacBook Air
| up to Catalina.
| reaperducer wrote:
| There's the Tips app for iOS and iPadOS devices.
| danappelxx wrote:
| Now we just have to wait for Apple to add the reverse - control
| your Mac from your iPad :)
|
| This could be pretty useful bc of the touch screen + pencil
| combo. Back in 2016 I spent a weekend mocking up an "iPad as a
| graphics tablet" app, and it was surprisingly easy and effective
| [0][1]. I'm sure Apple could do a lot better.
|
| [0]: https://github.com/Danappelxx/iPadMouse
|
| [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTHTx4MMwg4
| kergonath wrote:
| There's already Sidecar. It's not quite what you want, but it's
| a step in that direction.
| dmart wrote:
| Yeah, Sidecar is pretty cool. I was surprised to learn that
| even pressure-sensitivity from the Apple Pencil worked (at
| least in Blender where I tried it out.)
|
| It'd be nice if you could initiate it from the iPad side,
| though. There used to be a remote access feature built into
| iCloud called Back to my Mac, not sure why it was killed.
| danappelxx wrote:
| Wow... I just assumed Sidecar was a second monitor, totally
| underestimated it. Bummer it only works on newer MacBooks!
| kergonath wrote:
| Yes, I think it relies on some features of a recent-ish
| Bluetooth version.
|
| To be fair, I never use it for something requiring complex
| input, but it's nice for something like a movie, a music
| app, or something that runs in the background but you might
| want to have a glance at every now and then.
| bengale wrote:
| This is so great. I have a keyboard that I switch Bluetooth to
| control my iPad a lot during the day so this will make things
| easier.
| least wrote:
| I've used the software Synergy [1] in the past as a software
| based KVM which has the advantage of being cross-platform with
| linux and Windows. It works fairly well but some of the features
| that Apple is promising with Universal Control are ones that
| Symless has struggled to deliver in their product, probably due
| to the fact that they don't control the entire stack like Apple
| does. They've promised drag and drop, copy and paste, and other
| features between systems but it seems that they've stopped
| advertising them as upcoming features.
|
| Universal Control stood out to me as one of the more interesting
| ones of the WWDC keynote and one that I could see myself using,
| but am a tad skeptical it'll deliver on its promise fully.
| Apple's other continuity features are remarkably useful and great
| when they work, but in the cases that they don't (which while not
| normal, isn't uncommon enough to say they're a non-issue) it can
| be a real pain. This sort of feature needs to be rock-solid if
| you intend to integrate it into your personal workflow.
|
| [1] https://symless.com/synergy
| AshamedCaptain wrote:
| synergy1 already has both drag and drop and copy and paste and
| I use those daily. However DnD doesn't seem to work between
| GNU/Linux and anything else.
| adrusi wrote:
| Apple technologies in general are great when they work, but
| entirely impervious to troubleshooting.
| developer2 wrote:
| Exactly this. Advanced tldr; I spent 2 years struggling with
| the inability to troubleshoot Apple's problems to help track
| down horrific bugs.
|
| AirDrop from my iPhone XS to my Early 2019 iMac had always
| been hit-or-miss. It would usually take 3-5 times of tapping
| the iMac icon in the Share -> AirDrop menu before it would
| actually work and deliver the payload between devices. For
| the longest time I gave up on trying to use AirDrop... and
| this is only between my own devices sharing the same Apple
| account.
|
| Another example was Universal Clipboard between the iMac and
| iPhone. It always worked in one direction (IIRC macOS ->
| iPhone), while the opposite direction (iPhone -> macOS)
| rarely worked. It made trying to copy/paste between devices
| such a chore that led to disappointment so often it wasn't
| worth trying anymore.
|
| Finally, unlocking my iMac using my Apple Watch (Auto
| Unlock). It so frequently fell flat on its face that it
| simply became another frustrating pain point. It would unlock
| properly once or twice, then it would stop working.
| Unchecking/rechecking the option in macOS preferences did
| nothing, and in fact caused the System Preferences pane to
| glitch/hang/timeout.
|
| I've always been on the same Wi-Fi network, with Bluetooth
| permanently enabled on both devices. Then... very recently-
| sometime in the last 1 or 2 months-I noticed that using
| AirDrop began to work the first time... every time; suddenly
| Auto Unlock stopped glitching and failing; and wouldn't you
| know it, Universal Clipboard also worked every time in either
| direction.
|
| Note that all of the above features share something in
| common: they certainly all use the same underlying
| framework/library to communicate between Apple devices.
| AirDrop, Continuity, Handoff, Auto Unlock, Universal
| Clipboard. These all deal with passing payloads between
| devices; worse, they depend on Bluetooth, which has got to be
| the most unreliable wireless protocol ever invented.
| Bluetooth stacks have always been a goddamn nightmare; far
| too many different hardware, firmware, and operating system
| software/driver vendors implement their own versions of the
| specs, and they don't play well together.
|
| I would put money down that Apple found and fixed a bug in
| either a) the framework/library that handles all of these
| features, or b) their Bluetooth firmware/software stack.
| Something was fixed quite recently that suddenly made all of
| these features go from being completely unreliable to working
| like Magic(tm). It took them a very long time to locate and
| fix this, likely because their users have absolutely no way
| to help troubleshoot these features. It either works, or it
| doesn't; and if it doesn't, you're out of luck.
|
| I'm still sticking with the Apple ecosystem. There are some
| horrific bumps here and there along the way, but if I compare
| what I have now to what I'd have on a Windows 10 machine...
| not a chance in hell I'm going back. Hot damn, everything
| that's dropping this fall is going to be incredible. Well, at
| least once they iron out all the new bugs that will surely
| come with the amount of features they're introducing.
| chipotle_coyote wrote:
| > It either works, or it doesn't; and if it doesn't, you're
| out of luck.
|
| In a lot of ways that's my biggest complaint with a lot of
| "Apple ecosystem magic". I just want them to design all
| these interesting features -- and even the more basic
| uninteresting ones -- with a recognition that no matter how
| seamless they try to be, sometimes they _will_ fail, and
| that they should fail in ways that are neither invisible
| nor inscrutable. While I think this problem has been
| getting worse over the years, in no small part as the
| systems get more complex, "pretend things never fail" has
| been a long-standing problem with Apple's engineering
| culture.
| mustacheemperor wrote:
| Comments like this make me feel like core software quality
| is rotting across the board. On my Windows 10 computer the
| start key on my keyboard does not reliably open the start
| menu for the first 30m or so after a cold boot and will
| sometimes fail at other times. Sometimes when the menu
| launches it's missing the search pane, or missing the files
| pane, or missing the left pane. This is the start menu
| failing, a key component of windows since 9x. I have a
| cluttered desktop, and sometime in the last month or so I
| hit some unknown limit where now loading the desktop as a
| folder from explorer takes forever and hangs explorer. To
| load a list of files and folders.
|
| But as of the update automatically installed today, there
| is a pointless weather widget added to my taskbar, and
| clicking on it opens the news? That's a core feature of the
| desktop OS?
|
| Computers and software are getting more and more broadly
| capable but it feels like a high level of quality is not
| being maintained across that broad scope, even on the
| essentials.
| developer2 wrote:
| > there is a pointless weather widget added to my
| taskbar, and clicking on it opens the news?
|
| I reached the question mark at the end of that
| sentence... and I felt that single question mark so deep
| within my soul. Clicking the weather widget opens the
| news......... "?".
| Folcon wrote:
| Some of the most useful fundamental functionality doesn't
| work either, running windows 10, you can't filter in task
| manager. It irks me to no end that this isn't possible.
| Try finding a misbehaving program on windows, you need
| third party tools to get anywhere.
| Someone wrote:
| > Try finding a misbehaving program on windows, you need
| third party tools to get anywhere.
|
| I don't think that's true since they bought SysInternals
| in 2006 (tools are still downloadable: https://docs.micro
| soft.com/sysinternals/downloads/sysinterna...)
| ed_balls wrote:
| I upgraded my 2017 macbook to Big Sur and the OS doesn't
| detect camera anymore. I tired 10 different things from
| checking permissions, reseting SMC and VRAM. No dice :/
| sanirank wrote:
| I had similar issues, and tried the same to no avail. The
| only thing that worked was a complete reinstall of the
| operating system. Am guessing you might need to do the
| same.
| spicybright wrote:
| I was paralyzed with panic when my mac randomly shutdown,
| and did a 1 hour update, thinking it was upgrading to big
| sur.
|
| Thankfully it was something else, and I was able to keep
| catalina.
|
| I refuse to be a QA engineer for apple for no pay.
| Running one OS version behind has worked really well so
| far.
| whatch wrote:
| (Not) unlocking iPhone with Apple Watch when wearing a mask
| was driving me crazy in iOS 14.5. It worked two or three
| times and then stopped working until I disable/enable this
| feature.
|
| Thanks god they fixed it in 14.6
| nly wrote:
| Symless have also struggled because the CEO shut the company
| down in 2018 and for 2 years thereafter collected revenue while
| having no active developers (check GitHub) so he could pay a
| huge self-inflicted personal tax bill.
|
| It is claimed Synergy 3 will arrive in 2022 or 2023, which I
| expect (no insider info) will likely be a lipstick-on-a-pig
| Electron UI around the same buggy core they've been prodding
| for 10 years without substantial enhancement.
|
| Disclosure: I worked at Symless on Synergy 2, and added support
| for macOS media keys. Very little has been done in the last 5-6
| years on core functionality.
| Dracophoenix wrote:
| Was that tax bill why it went completely commercial around
| 2018 and why the company became headquartered in the Isle of
| Man? If so, how big of a tax bill was it and for what
| tax(es)?
| nanidin wrote:
| Copy/paste works for me between Windows and Mac in Synergy.
| nmg wrote:
| Highly recommend Synergy for moving between Mac, Linux, and
| Windows seamlessly. It's a first day install for me on a new
| system
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Used synergy in the past, but recently read that Barrier is
| the one to use these days. I installed it and it works.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Barrier[0] is a free Synergy fork from before they went
| commercial. Though I'm tempted to try the commercial version
| just for something easier to use.
|
| [0] https://github.com/debauchee/barrier
| defaultname wrote:
| Immediately setup my iPadOS 15 iPad beside my macOS 12 M1
| machine....and it didn't work. At the time there were a couple of
| brief articles saying just move the mouse off the edge of your
| screen.
|
| They haven't released this technology yet, so we can't test it
| out. Just an FYI to anyone who looks to try it out.
|
| As an aside, I have a Mac Mini beside a MBP in my normal setup.
| My BT keyboard and mouse are connected to the mini. I wish I
| could do this as easily to jump between machines.
| smw wrote:
| You can! Synergy does exactly this! However, you almost
| certainly want the fork, Barrier, now, as Synergy has
| stagnated.
|
| https://github.com/debauchee/barrier
| twobitshifter wrote:
| This article says 3 devices are supported and uses an example
| of iPad MacBook and iMac - so I think it will cover you, unless
| it's m1 only. https://petapixel.com/2021/06/07/apples-
| universal-control-se...
| pohl wrote:
| For comparison, Sidecar didn't work for me until late in the
| beta cycle. I think it was the last public beta where I finally
| got it to work. Ultimately I could never get in the habit of
| using Sidecar because it turns out I have to VPN into work,
| thwarting Sidecar altogether. I expect VPN to prevent me from
| using Universal Control too.
| minhazm wrote:
| If your VPN client supports split tunneling and your
| organization has enabled it then Sidecar works fine.
| reaperducer wrote:
| I'm not sure I understand the difference between Sidecar and
| Universal Control. Is UC just Sidecar for more screens?
|
| (FWIW, I use Sidecar every day and it works really well.)
| adrusi wrote:
| Sidecar is VNC, universal control is synergy.
| pohl wrote:
| What makes them similar is that the two machines need to be
| able to communicate with each other. The difference is that
| one turns the iPad into a display for the computer, while
| the other turns the computer into a keyboard & mouse for
| the iPad. I imagine VPNs will interfere with both.
|
| Sidecar works great for me, too. I just have no occasion to
| use it where I'm not on VPN.
| yurishimo wrote:
| UC let's you use the iPad as an iPad and not as a screen.
| Think of it more as a KVM for your Mac and iPad.
|
| This is great if you want to use the iPad app version of
| something rather that just needing an extra screen
| (Sidecar).
| brundolf wrote:
| I don't think Universal Control uses the local network, I
| heard it uses 1) iCloud to link up and then 2) direct
| WiFi/Bluetooth for communication
| jackson1442 wrote:
| You can use USB for both Sidecar and Universal Control, by
| the way.
| handrous wrote:
| > As an aside, I have a Mac Mini beside a MBP in my normal
| setup. My BT keyboard and mouse are connected to the mini. I
| wish I could do this as easily to jump between machines.
|
| There are BT keyboards and mice that support multiple connected
| devices and let you switch between them. My keyboard and my
| mouse can support three each, and I use the functionality daily
| (on Mac, iOS, and Win10 devices).
|
| For the combo I've got, at least, it's rock solid. My keyboard
| can also plug in, so at the inconvenience of needing to fumble
| around on the side of it to toggle the "BT or wired" switch, I
| could support four devices with it (I don't, but I could). All
| without any external hardware (KVMs, say) or extra software.
|
| [EDIT] to give an idea of the ease, changing the input on my
| monitor is the most annoying part of switching devices (for the
| two that are connected to it) since I have to stretch forward
| to reach that button, and probably takes about 50% or more of
| the total time of switching. Mouse and keyboard each take maybe
| 2 seconds, total, including BT syncing to the other device.
| Since not all of that's hands-on time so you can be initiating
| a switch on the second one while the first is syncing, I bet I
| usually switch my inputs in about 3 seconds, total. Monitor's
| probably another 3-4 seconds on top of that.
| domano wrote:
| Can you point me to some mice and / or keyboards that can do
| that? I searched for something like this for ages and gave
| up.
| handrous wrote:
| My current keyboard: Keychron k8a3. It's not beautiful, but
| it's cheap (for a mechanical BT keyboard) and it's not
| given me any trouble [edit: any trouble with connectivity
| and device-switching being at all fiddly or unreliable, or
| with basic being-a-keyboard functionality--obviously the
| "complaints" paragraph below means it's given me _some_
| trouble]. fn + 1 /2/3 switches devices. Has a built-in
| battery that charges over USB-C. Lasts days on battery even
| if I accidentally leave the KB's light on a couple nights,
| and despite my tuning its power-saving features down to
| basically nothing.
|
| Complaints: it's easy to accidentally hit the light-
| pattern-cycle button on the top-right, or for a cat to do
| the same, and I _always_ want it on "steady light, no
| pattern" (I hate flashing lights on keyboards) but then
| have to hammer the button twenty times to get back to my
| preferred setting if it gets pressed. This happens maybe
| once a week, and is annoying. I also had problems with it
| dropping into sleep mode a lot when I didn't want it to,
| but IIRC there was some settings-modifying key-combo in the
| manual that mostly fixed that (at the cost of worse battery
| life), and keeping the backlight on its lowest light level
| (rather than off) during use made the problem 100% go away.
|
| https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-
| wir...
|
| $69
|
| My current mouse: Logitech M720 Triathlon. Basically a
| boring, normal, easy-to-find lowish-mid-range BT mouse. One
| of the thumb-buttons on the side handles device switching.
| Tap once, the light under the current device (1, 2, or 3)
| comes on on the mouse (those lights are off normally). More
| taps and it starts cycling through them. Four taps and
| you're back where you started. Simple, quick, and reliable.
| Works fine. Has a weighted free-spinning scrollwheel
| (though you can push in a switch to make it feel like a
| more traditional wheel) that took some getting used to
| (that is: I hated it at first) but I really like it now.
|
| https://www.logitech.com/en-
| us/products/mice/m720-triathlon....
|
| $40 on Amazon
|
| In the past, I've also used a Logitech K380 BT keyboard,
| which was (and looks like still is?) TheWireCutter's
| recommended BT keyboard. It's very much a travel-type
| keyboard, though, so I don't love using it at my desk. It
| does support three devices at a time, though, and that
| functionality worked just fine while I was using it. I keep
| it around just-in-case, since it's tiny anyway, but don't
| use it much anymore. Nothing wrong with it, though.
|
| https://www.logitech.com/en-
| us/products/keyboards/k380-multi...
|
| $30 on Amazon
|
| (no affiliation with, nor particular loyalty to, Keychron
| or Logitech)
| gogoincar wrote:
| Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you like/need an
| ergonomic layout Kinesis Bluetooth keyboards support
| multiple devices.
| 1986 wrote:
| I do the same thing across a Linux computer and 2 Macs
| (Logitech MX Anywhere 3 + Keychron K3; the Keychron is
| plugged into the Linux computer so it's constantly on a power
| source, and connects to the Macs via BT - meanwhile the mouse
| is connected via BT for all 3 devices), and mainly agree
| about the monitor being the most annoying part.
|
| _The one exception_ is when I also have BT headphones
| connected to the MBP and the keyboard idles into
| disconnecting - for some reason connecting the BT headphones
| when the keyboard and mouse are already connected is no
| problem, but connecting the keyboard when the mouse and
| headphones are already connected almost never works.
| handrous wrote:
| Haha, looks like we have similar equipment (I posted my
| gear, by request, elsewhere in the thread--also Keychron
| and Logitech, but different models).
|
| I've got a set of Jabra Bluetooth headphones, and I don't
| see the problem you do with disconnecting my Keychron,
| _but_ they do like to connect to _all_ my devices at once,
| but then are only capable of actually listening to one at a
| time and tend to get "stuck" on whatever the latest thing
| was to make a noise. Pair that with the fact that
| notifications exist and often make noise, and I not-
| infrequently have it switch away from music or YouTube or a
| video call or whatever to some other device that just made
| a notification sound, then get stuck on that device.
|
| If you haven't, you might look into power savings settings
| for your keyboard. You can change some of that stuff with
| key combos. I'm sure it's documented on the Keychron site,
| but a lot of it was printed on a card that came with it,
| too. I had some powersavings-related annoyances that I
| solved by basically shutting off sleep mode. Battery life's
| still acceptable, so no big deal (for me--some people might
| need weeks and weeks on a charge).
| 1986 wrote:
| I actually used to have the Triathlon as well, but
| preferred the feel of the MX Anywhere. Thanks for the
| note on the power settings - will definitely try to dig
| that up, I certainly don't need it to sleep as
| aggressively as it does given that it's always on power.
| whatch wrote:
| I am using Dell U3417W monitor [0] with windows desktop and
| linux laptop. Keyboard and mouse are connected to the monitor
| (via one Logitech unifying receiver). The monitor has built-in
| KVM switch and when I change video input using monitor hardware
| buttons keyboard and mouse switch automatically. And it's
| amazing! As far as I know the monitor has 2 or 3 USB A ports.
|
| I found an article that seems to explain how to set everything
| up [1]. Sorry for medium, should work in incognito.
|
| Interestingly, I almost bought standalone KVM switch when I
| discovered that my monitor already has one. Three years after I
| bought the monitor, I finally understood why there was that
| fancy blue USB 3 B cable in the box.
|
| Also Logitech MX keys keyboard and MX master 2S mouse support
| three bluetooth/logitech adapter devices. So I can use this
| setup occasionally with a tablet and with my old mac that has
| hardly functioning keyboard and trackpad.
|
| Logitech and Dell devices are worth the money.
|
| [0] https://www.dell.com/si/business/p/dell-u3417w-monitor/pd
|
| [1] https://medium.com/@ningzh/share-a-dell-u3417w-monitor-
| betwe...
| terhechte wrote:
| I'm using synergy for this. Works just as in the video (except
| for iPad support and drag and drop)
|
| https://symless.com/synergy
| sbierwagen wrote:
| I've been a user of Synergy for many years.
|
| Note that it doesn't like when any of the computers involved
| go to sleep. There's a reason you can bind a hotkey to
| restart the server.
| mrkstu wrote:
| The cost of a Magic Keyboard cover for an iPad Pro becomes much
| more tolerable if it can serve as the main input for multiple
| devices.
|
| Makes an iPad/Mac Mini combo pretty compelling.
| camillomiller wrote:
| Well, it's only the mac's mouse and keyboard that can control
| the iPad and not viceversa
| ianwalter wrote:
| Yes! I've tried out way too many keyboards in the last few
| years and the Magic Keyboard is by far my favorite. I'm not as
| big of a fan of the trackpad but before this announcement I
| spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I could use the
| Magic Keyboard with my Mac Mini.
| holman wrote:
| I'm a pretty big fan of it, too. Kind of like that bouncier
| rubberized feel. That said... it _really_ needs an escape
| key, hah.
| 1123581321 wrote:
| You can map caps lock to escape. Settings, Keyboard,
| Hardware Keyboard, Modifier Keys. Unfortunately the system
| and many apps still aren't expecting escape input in places
| they should be.
| hcarvalhoalves wrote:
| > Then, you start up Universal Control by dragging your mouse
| pointer all the way to the left or right edge of your Mac's
| screen, then a little bit beyond that edge. When you do, the Mac
| will assume that you're trying to drag the mouse over to another
| device, in this case the iPad.
|
| That's really clever! Users of multiple screens already know to
| do that, and that also makes users get used to treating other
| devices just like another screen.
| [deleted]
| wyuenho wrote:
| First with AirDrop, then Continuity and Handoff, and now
| Universal Control, Apple's ubiquitous use of Bluetooth LE and Wi-
| Fi direct connections to devices sharing the same iCloud account
| makes me wonder how exactly does Apple secure all these over the
| air connections. Once hacked, an attacker presumably nearby can
| intercept phone calls and text messages, look what's in the
| clipboard, what website you've been browsing, where you've been,
| and now even what you are typing, all done remotely without the
| victim even noticing. I know there's an Apple Platform Security
| document, but that thing reads like marketing material rather
| than actually explaining what actually goes on under the hood.
| Has there been any serious attempts at breaking these things I
| wonder?
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