In this guide, we will illustrate how to install Barrier on Ubuntu systems.
Barrier is software that mimics the functionality of a KVM switch, which historically would allow you to use a single keyboard and mouse to control multiple computers by physically turning a dial on the box to switch the machine you’re controlling at any given moment. Also, it does this in software, allowing you to tell it which machine to control by moving your mouse to the edge of the screen, or by using a keypress to switch focus to a different system.
Barrier was forked from Symless’s Synergy 1.9 codebase. Synergy was a commercialized reimplementation of the original CosmoSynergy written by Chris Schoeneman.
At the moment, barrier is not compatible with synergy. Barrier needs to be installed on all machines that will share keyboard and mouse.
Install Barrier on Ubuntu-APT method
Follow the steps below to get started with Barrier :
- Update your Ubuntu system packages with running the below command:
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y
- Barrier package is available on Ubuntu base repository. So You can install it directly as follows:
sudo apt install barrier -y
Install Barrier on Ubuntu- Snap method
Follow the steps below to get started with Barrier:
- Update your Ubuntu system packages with running the below command:
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y
- you can install Barrier with snapd manager:
Snap is a software packaging and deployment system developed by Canonical for operating systems that use the Linux kernel. The packages, called snaps, and the tool for using them, snapd, work across a range of Linux distributions and allow upstream software developers to distribute their applications directly to users. Snaps are self-contained applications running in a sandbox with mediated access to the host system.
So, Snaps are applications packaged with all their dependencies to run on all popular Linux distributions from a single build. They update automatically and roll back gracefully.
- Snaps are discoverable and installable from the Snap Store, an app store with an audience of millions, So install snap then install Barrier via snap manager as shown below
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt install snapd -y
sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap
sudo snap install core
sudo snap install barrier
Access Barrier
- You can search on the system search bar by typing Barrier as follows
- Also snap users can open it with
sudo snap run barrier
- Barrier will be launched as shown below
- Setup Barrier, first click on Next Button
- Then choose Server or client setup then click finish as follows:
- Finally click start as shown below:
How to Remove (Uninstall) Barrier
- Remove Barrier APT Method
sudo apt autoremove barrier --purge -y
- Remove Barrier with Snap Remove Method:
sudo snap remove --purge barrier
Install Barrier -Conclusion
That’s it
Thanks.