[GRLUG] A strategy for Windows, Linux and thin client.

[Michael Mol]

On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Adam Tauno
Williams<awilliam at whitemice.org> wrote:
> On Tue, 2009-08-11 at 09:15 -0400, topher at wcsg.org wrote:
>> On Tue, 11 Aug 2009, peyeps at iserv.net wrote:
>> > I have to admit that I don't know what open source software is available
>> > that will allow you to run a remote windows desktop from Linux.  I do know
>> > it is possible to use Webex to do it.
>> If nothing else there's rdesktop.  Isn't that the way windows machines
>> connect to remote windows machines?  And as much as I hate it, rdesktop is
>> a zillion times faster than vnc.
>
> RDP also supports a variety of things VNC doesn't from sound, to file
> transfer, to dynamic resolution changes.

TightVNC and UltraVNC support host filesystem browsing and file
transfer, and TightVNC, at least, has done so for the past two years.

VMWare Workstation also has a built-in VNC server.  Interestingly
enough, VMWare Workstation's "record session video" feature appears to
merely act as a VNC client and record the stream into an AVI
container, and they provide a DirectShow filter that plays back these
AVI files.  I mention this primarily because VMWare supports resizing
guest OS display sizes, and those resizes are reflected in the
protocol stream; In short, the VNC protocol is, at least, *capable* of
supporting desktop resizings.  TightVNC clients abort with an
"Unsupported packet type" error when the resize occurs, though.

>
> The state of VNC is just sad;  there has basically been zero progress
> since AT&T ash canned the project.

The protocol appears to be extensible, and folks like TightVNC and
UltraVNC have moved it forward.  It's nowhere near as fast as RDP,
though, and I doubt audio streaming has been added as yet.

-- 
:wq