FrameBuff

Docs / Data & machines

Shared mouse and keyboard

One machine's mouse and keyboard can control another of your machines. Slide the pointer off a screen edge, or press a hotkey, and it moves to the screen next to it.

How to use it

  1. On the machine you want to control, open Devices → Sharing → Mouse & keyboard and turn on accepting control from your fleet.
  2. If that machine should also accept typing, tick Fleet machines may type here.
  3. Arrange your screens on the Displays & arrangement tab, so FrameBuff knows which screen sits next to which.
  4. Slide the pointer off the edge toward the other screen.

Ctrl+Alt+Home always brings the mouse and keyboard back.

Rules that always hold

A remote keyboard can do anything you can do at that machine. So these rules always hold:

  • Off by default. A machine takes no control until you turn it on at that machine.
  • Your own machines only, unless you say yes every time. Another person is asked on your approval bar every session, and silence counts as no.
  • Typing is separate. A machine can move your pointer without being allowed to type.
  • You always see it. While anyone controls a machine, a line says who, with a Stop button, on the desktop and in FrameBuff's top bar. A machine that cannot show that line refuses control.
  • Two kill switches. Ctrl+Alt+Home on the controlling machine takes control back. Ctrl+Alt+Esc pressed twice on the controlled machine ends every incoming session and refuses control for 10 minutes.
  • Nothing stays held down. When a session ends, every key and button it held is released.
  • Locks are never crossed. A locked machine takes no remote mouse or keyboard.
  • A remote mouse cannot approve anything. While a machine is controlled, an approval or a permission change there needs a physical mouse or a confirm from another of your machines.
  • Keys are never logged. Notifications say who and when. They never record a key, a character or clipboard text.

Which desktops it works on

It works on Linux desktops running X11, and on Wayland desktops that support the InputCapture portal: GNOME 45 or later, and KDE Plasma 6.1 or later. Windows and macOS are not supported yet.

On Wayland, control leaves only at a screen edge, the desktop asks you once to allow it, and the "who controls this machine" line is a desktop notification.