[GH-ISSUE #551] Bad readme for a simple man. #431

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opened 2026-05-05 06:22:31 -06:00 by gitea-mirror · 3 comments

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 06:22:31 -06:00

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Originally created by @Xottab-DUTY on GitHub (Feb 4, 2020).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/debauchee/barrier/issues/551

I'm just a simple man and I just found your repository here, but... I don't know what barrier does and what is it for.

What is barrier? Okay, it's a fork of Synergy that is a KVM software.
What is Synergy then? What was Synergy for?? No answer.
What is KVM then? No answer.

The simple answer should be on the top of the readme instead of "Eliminate the barrier between your machines". What do you mean by that??? What barrier I have between my machines?!

Readme is not being helpful completely at this point.

Originally created by @Xottab-DUTY on GitHub (Feb 4, 2020). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/debauchee/barrier/issues/551 I'm just a simple man and I just found your repository here, but... I don't know what barrier does and what is it for. What is barrier? Okay, it's a fork of Synergy that is a KVM software. What is Synergy then? What was Synergy for?? No answer. What is KVM then? No answer. The simple answer should be on the top of the readme instead of "Eliminate the barrier between your machines". What do you mean by that??? What barrier I have between my machines?! Readme is not being helpful completely at this point.

gitea-mirror

2026-05-05 06:22:31 -06:00

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gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 06:22:40 -06:00

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@a13ph commented on GitHub (Feb 6, 2020):

While I somewhat agree on readability of the readme, in short, Barrier/Synergy makes it possible to control several machines using the same mouse and keyboard. A task, which could be done with hardware KVM switch - physical switch passing input signal to one or another machine.

To be fair, there is a description with Synergy mentioned on Wikipedia. Or one could look it up on alternativeto.net- very useful site in similar cases of confusion.

Notably, unlike KVM switches, Barrier/Synergy do not allow for screen sharing between machines. For that, you'd need something else. Some of products in screen sharing category are listed on the bottom of homepage of SpaceDesk, itself - one of such products

@a13ph commented on GitHub (Feb 6, 2020): While I somewhat agree on readability of the readme, in short, Barrier/Synergy makes it possible to control several machines using the same mouse and keyboard. A task, which could be done with hardware KVM switch - physical switch passing input signal to one or another machine. To be fair, there is a [description with Synergy mentioned on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVM_switch). Or one could [look it up on alternativeto.net](https://alternativeto.net/software/barrier/about/)- very useful site in similar cases of confusion. Notably, unlike KVM switches, Barrier/Synergy do not allow for screen sharing between machines. For that, you'd need something else. Some of products in screen sharing category are [listed on the bottom of homepage of SpaceDesk, itself - one of such products](https://spacedesk.net/#accordion-4r3jv-6)

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 06:22:42 -06:00

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@the-wes commented on GitHub (Mar 3, 2020):

Pull request https://github.com/debauchee/barrier/pull/580 to fix this

@the-wes commented on GitHub (Mar 3, 2020): Pull request https://github.com/debauchee/barrier/pull/580 to fix this

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 06:22:44 -06:00

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@Xottab-DUTY commented on GitHub (Mar 3, 2020):