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Because I am traveling I can't buy a second monitor, but I have two laptops. One laptop is installed with OpenSUSE 13.3, I use KDE as GUI.
I have another MacBook with OS X. It has X server running on it. They are on the same network and I can access/ssh each other. Can I use MacBook as a second monitor for KDE? Does copy/paste with mouse etc. work?
paglos
Posted 2013-12-20T09:57:17.883
Reputation: 21
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Unfortunately I think the direct answer to the question as stated is 'no'. Hopefully someone will be able to disprove me, because that would be an excellent trick if it's possible.
Depending on what you're actually trying to achieve, though, there are a number of possible options:
- Control the MacBook from the keyboard and mouse of the OpenSUSE laptop:
Synergy (http://synergy-foss.org/) would let you use one set of mouse and keyboard across both computers, rather than needing to move from one computer to the other all the time. This also shares clipboards, and with its new interface (in case you've tried to use it before, and found it difficult) it's extremely easy to configure. However, it does not currently have support for OSX Mavericks so if you've already upgraded you will need to wait a bit before you can try it out.
- Run software on the OpenSUSE laptop, displayed and controlled by the MacBook:
If you ssh from the MacBook with X-forwarding enabled (-X on the command-line ssh client), you will be able to run programmes, including a window manager (eg. startkde), and the windows will be displayed on the MacBook. I'm using full-screen XQuartz as an X server on OSX Mavericks, and this works fine with the OpenSUSE 13.1 live KDE disk (couldn't find 13.3), although the window styling is still done by OSX.
You could combine the two options above, which would give you most of what you're looking for, except you can't drag windows between monitors - you'd have to choose which monitor you wanted to have the window on before starting it up.
- Actually have two monitors connected to the OpenSUSE laptop:
Probably not really the answer you're looking for, but I'll include it for completeness. There's a reasonable selection of small USB monitors available which would fit into laptop bags.
Best of luck, hope this helps!
tenorkev
Posted 2013-12-20T09:57:17.883
Reputation: 417
Thanks Tenorkev, I will give it a try to synergy , it looks what I need, I hope I can copy/paste from browser to editor. – paglos – 2013-12-26T21:16:10.750
possible duplicate of remote desktop from mac to ubuntu?
– BetaRide – 2013-12-20T10:40:42.570@BetaRide, I disagree - this question doesn't seem to be about remote desktop. – dotVezz – 2013-12-20T16:35:54.563
possible duplicate of Can I use my laptop as a second monitor for my desk computer?
– gronostaj – 2013-12-21T15:50:42.793@gronostaj That question does not mention MacOS or Linux, like this question. – Kevin Panko – 2013-12-28T03:54:14.327