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Hymyly
wrote on the 5 Jan 09 at 22:14
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The problem is that VNC (or rather the underlying RFB protocol) only transmits pixel data, i.e. the entire frame buffer of the display. (RFB stands for Remote Frame Buffer.) A VNC client (e.g. Vinagre) has absolutely no idea what it is in fact showing, it just draws the pixels as it is told. This has the advantage that VNC works across any two systems, but the disadvantage that the received image cannot be easily integrated into an existing desktop.
On the other hand, for any remote system that runs an X Window System, remote extension of the desktop is already possible since X is completely network agnostic. You can tell a remote program to use your local display as its interface.
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Feba
wrote on the 5 Jan 09 at 22:42
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Well, VirtualBox has the same sort of issue; support for many features need to be added by installing them on the guest machine. I'd assume that similar features would be needed here. For example, transmitting what pixels are desktop space, and don't need to be shown. Actually, I assume virtual box works much the same way, given a bug I have where it shows a couple extra pixels of desktop on the left of windows, and cuts off the right edge.
And yes, I'm aware of the ability to forward applications over X, and that's nice, but there are three clear advantages to building this into building this into vinagre:
1- Vino and Vinagre are built into ubuntu, and have easy to use GUIs. This makes it useful not just for people who don't want to fuss with setting things up, but for new users who need remote support.
2- Using X on a remote machine causes the application to ONLY appear on that machine. Which isn't good if, going back to (1), I'm trying to show grandma how to check her email. For an example I've actually run into, it doesn't work for playing videos on the remote machine (in my case, hooked up to a TV).
3- Such a "Guest additions" (or in this case 'host additions') package, similar to how it's used in VirtualBox, could also be used for platforms that don't use X-Windows; mainly Windows. In fact, I could even see this being used to play games on Windows while using an Ubuntu machine over a sufficiently speedy LAN.
3b- This would be useful for people who have multiple low-end/old computers. For example, if you have under 512MB of RAM, chances are you can't run Windows XP in VirtualBox very well. Dualbooting would be annoying, and using your second computer would require a KVM, which would also be annoying. A remote desktop app works, but it would be great if you were able to seamlessly integrate your desktops like people with more powerful hardware can.
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What about the fullscreen output of a vnc session is added to the virtual screen system, so that you can have a vnc session connected and in full screen and just switch virtual screens to move between your system and the vnc session.
That way the vnc session could be opened and maintained withing a virtual screen and you can continue working as normal until the vnc session needs attention, without it clogging up window lists etc.
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andruk
(Idea reviewer)
wrote on the 6 Jan 09 at 07:53
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+1 if this is possible without a completely dirty and terrible hack to get working or changing any protocols.
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+1
Because it is such a cool idea, even if maybe Vinagre/VNC is not the right place to implement it.
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Hymyly
wrote on the 6 Jan 09 at 18:53
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@ushimitsudoki
@zooounds
I agree. I'd rather like to see a user-friendly GUI for remote access using X.org. This is probably easier to implement as well. Unfortunately this means that the remote computer also has to use X, which rules out Windows and Mac.
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Feba
wrote on the 6 Jan 09 at 20:58
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Doesn't OSX use X as a base for Aqua/Cocoa or whatever else they're calling it now?
While I agree that remote X is great for other UNIX/like systems, the fact that it makes Windows impossible defeats quite possibly the most useful application of it; to combine two systems into one.
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