Remote screen control

Question

At my house we have a 42" LCD connected to a media PC running Vista and use it for things like streaming video & music, playing games, etc. We control the media PC with a wireless mouse & keyboard which is pretty sweet.

But it would be even sweeter if we could control the media PC from one of our laptops (the laptops, media PC & other computers are all running on the same LAN) instead of using the wireless keyboard/mouse. So, for instance, if I find a particularly funny YouTube video I could bring it up on the big screen instead of having everyone crowd around my laptop. Or when I'm trying to write & explain a piece of code, having it show up on the big screen instead of friends/cohorts peering over my shoulder.

Ideally the remote screen control would not require any kind of authentication or login for computers inside the LAN. The process of throwing something to the big screen should be simple, quick and easy to use.

Is anything like this possible? Or am I dreaming?

Answer 1

Take a look at Synergy.

Synergy is Free and Open Source Software that lets you easily share your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers, where each computer has its own display. No special hardware is required, all you need is a local area network. Synergy is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen.

Answer 2

Synergy might be exactly what you're looking for.

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware.

not only can you share mouse and keyboard but also the clipboard (i.e. to copy/paste a youtube URL).

or you can use ZoneScreen to extend your desktop workspace using displays of network connected computers.

both programs are freeware.

Answer 3

MaxiVista can do this easily, simply using the network connection:

MaxiVista Mirror Pro can mirror the screen of one PC and send it to another computer across a standard Ethernet or Wireless network connection

MaxiVista is shareware so you can try the demo before considering a purchase. The mirror feature itself is not included in the demo, but you can try out extended screen which will give you a good idea of how mirror mode will preform.