Control One Computer with Multiple Keyboards and Mice

Most of the time I’ve only heard of people wanting to control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse, something that is becoming more common if you have more than one desktop at home. You can control more than one computer either using free software, like Input Director, or you can use a hard device like a KVM switch.

So that’s great, but what if you want to do the opposite!? What if you want to control one computer with multiple keyboards and mice? So why would you ever want to do that? This could be useful for people who are training users on how to use a computer, kind of like cars that have two sets of controls for training new drivers.

It could also be useful for corporate presentations where you may want to have multiple participants being able to control the computer at different times. Instead of one person getting up and moving to the computer, the next presenter can just use their set of keyboard and mouse to control the computer.

Whatever your reason may be, being able to use more than one keyboard and mouse on a single computer could be useful for some!

TeamPlayer is a free program that allows multiple mice/keyboard/tablets to work together on one PC. Since it supports tablets, this is also great software for graphic artists who may want to simultaneously collaborate on one drawing or graphic.

So how does this work? How can you have more than one mouse control one computer? Well once you install the software and connect up more keyboard and mice via USB ports (you may need a USB hub), then multiple cursors will begin to appear on the screen, each a different color.

Normally if you were to connect multiple mice to one computer without this kind of software, there would only be one mouse pointer and it would be constantly flipping all over the screen if two people were trying to control it at the same time.

TeamPlayer is really meant for group environments and will work if two people are doing things at the same time, but it’s meant more for convenience. If you have only one monitor, if two people are trying to do something at the same time, it’ll be hard for either to work. However, this app can work with multiple monitors, so if you have a dual monitor setup, one person can work on one screen with their own program and another person on the other screen.

Possibly great for home users who have one computer, but are always fighting for who gets to use the computer. With dual monitors, dual keyboards and mice, and Team Player, two people can use one computer at the same time! Nice! Source: LifeHacker