A while ago, I posted a question here on the forum about how to upgrade from Zorin OS 17 to the new version, and you gave me some great tips that helped a lot. Thank you for that!
This time, the issue I'm facing is the following: I have a laptop with dual boot (Windows 11 and Ubuntu Mate). Before formatting my main desktop PC and installing Zorin OS 17 Core, I was using Ubuntu Mate on the desktop and sharing the mouse and keyboard with the laptop using Barrier.
Later, I switched to Input Leap (which is essentially a fork of Barrier that receives updates, since the original was discontinued).
Now, on Zorin OS 17 Core, I'm not able to get Input Leap working properly. From what I've researched, it seems there's a compatibility issue with Wayland (which is the default in Zorin 17), and Input Leap's Wayland support is still limited/experimental in many setups.
But I've seen mentions that things might be better in version 18 (based on Ubuntu 24.04 with a newer GNOME).
Does anyone here use Input Leap (or something similar for sharing mouse/keyboard between machines) on Zorin OS 18 and can confirm if it's working well?
I'm really enjoying Zorin OS 17 Core – it's running smoothly and I'm happy with it – but this input sharing feature is important for my workflow. Since I'll have some free time in the coming weeks, I'm considering formatting the main PC and installing Zorin OS 18 directly if it's worth it for this.
Thanks in advance for any help or experiences you can share!
I have no personal experience with input leap.
When you have problems with wayland you can switch to Xorg in Zorin. Logout and at login click on your username then a cog wheal appears at the bottom right corner. There select "Zorin Desktop on XOrg"
I read that for the program wayland support was added, but not always works very well.
You could create a ZORIN 18 boot stick and boot from it and then in "Try Zorin" mode test if input leap works.
Note: In the live session XOrg is used by default, but you can edit
/etc/gdm3/custom.conf
file to set Wayland as default instead of XOrg.
Thank you so much for the quick reply and the helpful tips!
Following your suggestion, I logged out, clicked on my username at the login screen, selected the cog wheel in the bottom right, and chose "Zorin Desktop on XOrg". After logging back in, I tested Input Leap again — and it worked perfectly! Mouse, keyboard, and even clipboard sharing are all functioning smoothly now, just like before.
So, for anyone else running into this on Zorin OS 17, switching to the XOrg session is a simple and effective workaround while Wayland support in Input Leap matures.
That said, I've noticed that the system feels a bit smoother and more responsive overall on Wayland (animations, gestures, etc.), so I'll probably keep it as default and just switch to XOrg when I need Input Leap.
Thanks again — this solved my main issue without needing to upgrade or reinstall anything!