Will Remote Desktop do this?

[micky]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)



**I've just been sick for 2 weeks, and for 6 of the days, I spent an
hour in the backyard, in too much pain to do gardening, just sitting,
and for the first time in 28 years, really appreciated my pretty back
yard. I think I should spend more time there.

Thanks a lot.

 

[David H. Lipman]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)



**I've just been sick for 2 weeks, and for 6 of the days, I spent an
hour in the backyard, in too much pain to do gardening, just sitting,
and for the first time in 28 years, really appreciated my pretty back
yard. I think I should spend more time there.

Thanks a lot.

Yes.

 

[Ken Springer]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)



**I've just been sick for 2 weeks, and for 6 of the days, I spent an
hour in the backyard, in too much pain to do gardening, just sitting,
and for the first time in 28 years, really appreciated my pretty back
yard. I think I should spend more time there.

Thanks a lot.

I've never used Remote Desktop, simply never took the time to try it
out, but if you find the setup to be more complicated than you'd like,
look into Teamviewer.

MS Tech Support used that program to remotely operate an XP computer for
me in a failed attempt on their part to solve a problem.

And I use it to help friends and family solve their computer issues. I
run the Mac version, they run the Windows version.

There is a version of Remote Desktop for the Mac, but I've never tried
that out either. Too many other toys, both computer and noncomputer, to
play with! LOL

My preference here is to just have full file and printer sharing turned
on, and the same software installed on most of the computers. So I just
run the software on computer A (your proposed netbook in this case) and
access the files on computer B (your basement computer).

I run mostly open source software, which incurs zero cost to have any
copy running.

I have a netbook, but get extremely frustrated by the small screen.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 12.0
Thunderbird 12.0
LibreOffice 3.5.2.2

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):

I am a great fan of TeamViewer.

+1

 

[Ken Springer]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

[]
I've never used Remote Desktop, simply never took the time to try it
Ditto.

out, but if you find the setup to be more complicated than you'd like,
look into Teamviewer.

MS Tech Support used that program to remotely operate an XP computer
for me in a failed attempt on their part to solve a problem.

And I use it to help friends and family solve their computer issues. I
run the Mac version, they run the Windows version.

So do I, in particular with a couple of blind friends, who obviously
can't describe what's on their screen to me! (And "see" the "screen" -
through their access software - considerably differently to how a
sighted person does anyway.)

I took an introductory course to web design a few years ago, and we
briefly touched on the requirements of site design for visually impaired
viewers. It was something most of us hadn't considered, especially when
one assignment was to use Lynx, a text based browser for other physical
issues.

I am a great fan of TeamViewer.

However, the way it works - and why it works through firewalls and so on
- is that both of you connect to a server at TeamViewer; at least that's
my understanding (even though it isn't obvious that that's what you're
doing). [I'm pretty sure Skype works similarly.]

I'd never taken the time to wonder how it works, but a server seems
obvious. Yahoo, AOL, Live Messenger programs all work that way.

As such, using it to access a machine on the same network does seem a
bit of overkill - quite apart from any security considerations you may
have about doing everything via a third party.

The "cloud" security issue doesn't seem to bother the vast majority of
people. Depending on what the OP's uses are, it might not be a
consideration at the OP's end.

I was looking at Teamviewer simply as an ease of use issue.

Also, the OP asked if it works full screen - I don't _think_ it does; I
always get a slightly reduced image of the remote desktop (and with
black wallpaper, which makes it more readable). Well, the OP was asking
about Remote Desktop - which I suspect _would_ be the better solution
here.

That depends on what fullscreen is. What if the OP has a widescreen
monitor with 1920 X 1080 resolution, and he's trying to scrunch that
down to 1024 X 600? Or, if the OP's basement computer is an older 4:3
aspect ratio. I think it will have to be somehow displayed on a much
smaller scale on the netbook.

Not unlike the earlier thread on "widescreen" movies.

[]

My preference here is to just have full file and printer sharing turned
on, and the same software installed on most of the computers. So I
just run the software on computer A (your proposed netbook in this
case) and access the files on computer B (your basement computer).

I think that would be mine too - though it would involve a lot of work
if he _hasn't_ got the same software everywhere already, would cost
money if the software licences he has don't allow multiple installs,
and, given that he's thinking of using a netbook, it might not have the
necessary power to run them properly (or at all).

Networking to read the files on another computer is relatively easy, so
you only need the program running on one computer.

Which is why I now use mostly open source software, like Thunderbird for
email and newsgroups, and Libre Office and others more than meets the
needs of the average user, IMO.

I'm running a 12" netbook (NC-20) and am now quite used to it. (Actually
I think it has higher _resolution_ than what I'd had before anyway!)

I have my netbook maxed at 1024X 600, basically 16:9, but I like full
page WYSIWYG, which is impossible at that screen resolution and size.

(By the way, OP - off-topic but might be of interest: "yard" in British
English means a, usually small, paved or concreted area, often
unsavoury; we'd say "garden", or "back garden" if we also have a front
one. Thought I'd mention this to avoid confusion! [A "Pretty back yard"
seems an odd concept to a Brit, unless you have attractive bins
{trashcans}!])

Note to the OP... Teamviewer is not perfect, but won't go into that here.


--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 12.0
Thunderbird 12.0
LibreOffice 3.5.2.2

 

[VanguardLH]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)

**I've just been sick for 2 weeks, and for 6 of the days, I spent an
hour in the backyard, in too much pain to do gardening, just sitting,
and for the first time in 28 years, really appreciated my pretty back
yard. I think I should spend more time there.

Thanks a lot.

I doubt your small netbook is going to have the same [max and native]
resolution as your monitor on your desktop. As a consequence, the
desktop you see on your netbook, even if full sized (instead of
windowed), will be smaller which means RDP on the desktop will have to
reduce its screen resolution to match what you are using on your
netbook. That means desktop icons will probably get moved around. Apps
that you open on your desktop that have a certain width and height won't
have that when you view them via RDP at the smaller screen resolution on
your netbook.

For example, say the LCD monitor you have on your desktop has a native
resolution of 1920x1080. Well, that's the resolution you should be
running that monitor so to eliminate artifacts, like fuzziness or color
tinging caused by having to interpolate between pixels at other non-
native resolutions. Your netbook has a max/native resolution of, say,
1024x640. So how are you going to view a 1920x1080 desktop monitor on a
1024x640 netbook monitor? By have RDP change the screen resolution on
the desktop monitor to reduce it down to 1024x640. So consider what
your desktop monitor would look like with its total pixel count reduced
to a third ((1024*640)/(1920*1080)=0.32). Because you are viewing the
remote desktop with a local desktop that is much smaller means you only
get the resolution of the smaller desktop. RDP is showing you a desktop
so it has to match the resolution of your local desktop. RDP does not
provide for virtual desktops where you can pan around but then you still
don't get to see all of the virtual desktop, just a piece of it. This
is the best scenario only if you maximize the remote desktop client to
fullscreen. If you window the remote desktop then you'll have an even
smaller resolution to work with on the remote desktop.

Typically users of RDP (or any remoting software) use an equal or larger
resolution local desktop when viewing the equal or smaller resolution
remote desktop. That way, they get to see the remote desktop at its
normal resolution. Because of changing resolutions on the remote
desktop (to make it smaller) can result in unwanted artifacts, like the
desktop icons getting moved around so they can fit the now smaller
space, usually you want to use a larger viewport on the local end than
the screen size on the remote end. You're going the opposite direction
where you would use a smaller viewport locally which results in having
to reduce resolution on the remote end.

Even with compression, you are pushing a lot of traffic across the
network. If your setup is between intranet hosts then you don't have to
contend with the slower Internet speeds along with hosts getting busy in
the route between your local and remote hosts. With RDP between RDP
hosts, and disallowing any other network traffic, you'll have the full
speed available for the slowest connection you have for the end point
hosts and the network between. If you have 1Gbit bandwidth in the NICs
in both hosts and the router or other access points in your network then
you'll get 1Gbits transfer. If one of the hosts only has 10Mbits then
that's the highest transfer rate. Since you're likely talking about
wireless connection with your netbook via a wireless access point or
wireless router, you might only have a max of 11 or 54Mbps which means
that's as fast as you can transfer. You never mentioned what hardware
is employed in your network.

If you are going between just your intranet hosts then you don't need
punch holes in your router's firewall, like opening port 3389 to
unsolicited outside connection requests and then having to port forward
3389 to whatever intranet host is running RDP (the remote desktop to
which you want to connect). However, if you are running a software
firewall on the remote host then you need to punch a hole in that
firewall to permit unsolicited inbound connections on port 3389 (the
default one used by RDP). You will not be able to connect to a remote
desktop unless you have a password on the accounts on that host. That
means you cannot have blank passwords on accounts there. When you use
RDP to connect to the remote host, you will be required to enter a
username (account name) AND a password. The is the security mechanism
to ensure that someone else doesn't remotely connect to that host.

You never mentioned what type of security mechanisms you enabled or
employed in your wireless network. If you left it insecure than anyone
else can tap into your wireless network and possibly remote into your
desktop host. While RDP requires a login, that won't prevent hacking in
by guessing on the login credentials (unless you also configured
security on that host to disable further logins for a specified time if
a threshold of failed logins is met) so you want your network secured
when it's wireless. Search Windows own help on "remote desktop" and
read the "Best practices: Security" topic on using strong passwords and
also how to remotely login without having to use an admin-level account
(on the remote host) by adding your non-admin account to the Remote
Desktop Users group. RDP means you are permitting an external
connection to that remote host and you want only yourself to be allowed
that external connection.

Are there apps that you can only install on your desktop that you can't
put on your netbook? If it's not the apps but just the data files you
want to get at, why not share them across the network? Some apps don't
like sharing (well, not concurrent sharing), like Outlook with its .pst
file, and many are not designed for concurrent sharing; however, if
you're out in the backyard running Excel then it's not likely that you
have Excel running on the basement computer or with the same document
opened in it. Just what is it that you expect or need to do via RDP
that you couldn't do by having the app local on your netbook? A
licensing issue perhaps? If you read the EULA and it really doesn't
allow multiple concurrent installs on different computers (versus
multiple concurrent *running* instances of the software), there are
likely freeware alternatives you can put on your netbook to work on the
same docs that you could share from your desktop host to your netbook
host.

 

[glee]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)

Yes, Remote Desktop would work fine for this, but I wouldn't want to use
a netbook for it..... tiny screen, for one thing.

 

[Ken Springer]

Would Teamvierer mean I didn't have to be in the basement at all to
click?

With Teamviewer, you would start in the basement. The first time you
run it, Teamviewer will assign a 9 digit number to your basement
computers. As far as I can tell, that number will never be changed, and
will be remembered in a dropdown list on your netbook. Teamviewer will
also generate a 4 digit password. This password does change.

Take your netbook to your kitchen table, backyard, even Timbuktu. Start
Teamviewer. Type the 9 digit number into the netbook. The netbook will
look for the basement computer. When it connects, it will ask you for
the password for the basement computer. If all goes well, the desktop
for the basement computer will display on the netbook, and you will have
access to the basement computer.

I mentioned Timbuktu for fun, as I have a friend that I occasionally
help with his computer using Teamviewer, lives 3500+ miles from me, and
is on a satellite connection.

There is an option in Teamviewer for files transfer. I've never used
it, as I've never had a reason to. It is my assumption you can access
those files on the basement computer and work with them using the
netbook. You may end up simply running the software on the basement
computer rather than the netbook.

One thing's for sure, you'll find out right away whether it's a
practical solution given the small size of the display on the netbook.

Even if this all works, I'd still prefer to just network my computers,
and have the software in both places if needed. Even then, in certain
cases, the software doesn't have to be the same on both computers.
There are a number of different free word processors that understand
..doc files, for example. And cross platform office suites like Open
Office, Lotus Symphony, and Libre Office, have versions that run on
Windows, OS X, and Linux. Since they are free and open source, you can
run 100 copies on 100 computers if you wanted and all files are
interchangeable from one platform to another.

I'd better quit. Getting way off topic, I think, but these are
things I've been experimenting with in the last two months.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 12.0
Thunderbird 12.0
LibreOffice 3.5.2.2

 

[glee]

I was so excited by the encouraging advice people gave Sunday that I
called a guy whose netbook I've borrowed when I went on a trip and
borrowed it again. He just got back from a trip and may not go again
for 3 or 6 months.

Went over and got it and Sunday night I was confused by lots of
possible screens, but basically the problem was I accepted the Hosts
invitation when the Remote was in the kichen but I never went to the
basement to accept the acceptance. This evening I started in the
basement.

Invitation? Are you using Teamviewer or some other 3rd-party software?
If you are using Remote Desktop, there is no invitation involved. It
sounds like you are using Remote Assistance, which is something else
altogether and not what you should be using for your scenario.

 

[micky]

Invitation? Are you using Teamviewer or some other 3rd-party software?

No. Just MS Remote Assistance that comes with XP. "Invite someone
to help you" is one of the two options. The other is View Invitation
Status (3)". Well 3, because I've issued three so far.

The response from the netbook uses Remote Keyboard iirc. I"m sort of
surprised there is little or no use of the word "remote keyboard" in
the final screen or the screens leading up to the invitation. (It
starts at Help and Support Center.)

Another intresting thing is that the email (I haven't used Messenger)
that I send puts a file in the Eudora attachement directory on the
remote computer. From the email (or from Windows Explorer) one can
click on the file and it starts Remote Keyboard. The file nae was
RcBuddy.McRcIncident and I sent second email withiout delleting the
first attachment. Instead of adding a 2 after McBuddy -- Isn't that
what Windows normally does????? -- it added a 2 after McRcIncident,
iow McRcIncident2 . This changed the extention and meant that
Windows couldn't find the progrram associated with McRcIncident,
because it had a 2 on the end. (I got around this but I had to
rename the first file and rename the second to get rid of the 2!!
The same sort of thing happened with the 3rd invitiation, the second
day.

sounds like you are using Remote Assistance, which is something else
altogether and not what you should be using for your scenario.

Hreres all of what the last screen on the host/basement computer says.

"Remote Assistance

Invite someone you trust to help you. Using an Internet connection,
anyone running Windows XP can chat with you, view your screen, and
with your permission, work on your computer.

Invite someone to help you

View invitation status (3)

Tell me more about Remote Assistance "'
---

The email that gets sent says something like this

"Administrator would like your assistance.A personal message may be
included below.

You can easily provide assistance from your computer by following the
instructions at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/RemoteAssistance/RA.asp

Caution:
* Accept invitations only from people you know and trust.
* E-mail messages can contain viruses or other harmful attachments.
* Before opening the attachment, review the security precautions and
information at the above address.

Personal message:
Please help me

RcBuddy.MsRcIncident2 "

 

[micky]

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)

**I've just been sick for 2 weeks, and for 6 of the days, I spent an
hour in the backyard, in too much pain to do gardening, just sitting,
and for the first time in 28 years, really appreciated my pretty back
yard. I think I should spend more time there.

Thanks a lot.

I doubt your small netbook is going to have the same [max and native]
resolution as your monitor on your desktop. As a consequence, the
desktop you see on your netbook, even if full sized (instead of
windowed), will be smaller which means RDP on the desktop will have to
reduce its screen resolution to match what you are using on your
netbook. That means desktop icons will probably get moved around. Apps
that you open on your desktop that have a certain width and height won't
have that when you view them via RDP at the smaller screen resolution on
your netbook.

For example, say the LCD monitor you have on your desktop has a native
resolution of 1920x1080. Well, that's the resolution you should be
running that monitor so to eliminate artifacts, like fuzziness or color
tinging caused by having to interpolate between pixels at other non-
native resolutions. Your netbook has a max/native resolution of, say,
1024x640. So how are you going to view a 1920x1080 desktop monitor on a
1024x640 netbook monitor? By have RDP change the screen resolution on
the desktop monitor to reduce it down to 1024x640. So consider what
your desktop monitor would look like with its total pixel count reduced
to a third ((1024*640)/(1920*1080)=0.32). Because you are viewing the
remote desktop with a local desktop that is much smaller means you only
get the resolution of the smaller desktop. RDP is showing you a desktop
so it has to match the resolution of your local desktop. RDP does not
provide for virtual desktops where you can pan around but then you still
don't get to see all of the virtual desktop, just a piece of it. This
is the best scenario only if you maximize the remote desktop client to
fullscreen. If you window the remote desktop then you'll have an even
smaller resolution to work with on the remote desktop.

Typically users of RDP (or any remoting software) use an equal or larger
resolution local desktop when viewing the equal or smaller resolution
remote desktop. That way, they get to see the remote desktop at its
normal resolution. Because of changing resolutions on the remote
desktop (to make it smaller) can result in unwanted artifacts, like the
desktop icons getting moved around so they can fit the now smaller
space, usually you want to use a larger viewport on the local end than
the screen size on the remote end. You're going the opposite direction
where you would use a smaller viewport locally which results in having
to reduce resolution on the remote end.

Even with compression, you are pushing a lot of traffic across the
network. If your setup is between intranet hosts then you don't have to
contend with the slower Internet speeds along with hosts getting busy in
the route between your local and remote hosts. With RDP between RDP
hosts, and disallowing any other network traffic, you'll have the full
speed available for the slowest connection you have for the end point
hosts and the network between. If you have 1Gbit bandwidth in the NICs
in both hosts and the router or other access points in your network then
you'll get 1Gbits transfer. If one of the hosts only has 10Mbits then
that's the highest transfer rate. Since you're likely talking about
wireless connection with your netbook via a wireless access point or
wireless router, you might only have a max of 11 or 54Mbps which means
that's as fast as you can transfer. You never mentioned what hardware
is employed in your network.

If you are going between just your intranet hosts then you don't need
punch holes in your router's firewall, like opening port 3389 to
unsolicited outside connection requests and then having to port forward
3389 to whatever intranet host is running RDP (the remote desktop to
which you want to connect). However, if you are running a software
firewall on the remote host then you need to punch a hole in that
firewall to permit unsolicited inbound connections on port 3389 (the
default one used by RDP). You will not be able to connect to a remote
desktop unless you have a password on the accounts on that host. That
means you cannot have blank passwords on accounts there. When you use
RDP to connect to the remote host, you will be required to enter a
username (account name) AND a password. The is the security mechanism
to ensure that someone else doesn't remotely connect to that host.

You never mentioned what type of security mechanisms you enabled or
employed in your wireless network. If you left it insecure than anyone
else can tap into your wireless network and possibly remote into your
desktop host. While RDP requires a login, that won't prevent hacking in
by guessing on the login credentials (unless you also configured
security on that host to disable further logins for a specified time if
a threshold of failed logins is met) so you want your network secured
when it's wireless. Search Windows own help on "remote desktop" and
read the "Best practices: Security" topic on using strong passwords and
also how to remotely login without having to use an admin-level account
(on the remote host) by adding your non-admin account to the Remote
Desktop Users group. RDP means you are permitting an external
connection to that remote host and you want only yourself to be allowed
that external connection.

Are there apps that you can only install on your desktop that you can't
put on your netbook? If it's not the apps but just the data files you
want to get at, why not share them across the network? Some apps don't
like sharing (well, not concurrent sharing), like Outlook with its .pst
file, and many are not designed for concurrent sharing; however, if
you're out in the backyard running Excel then it's not likely that you
have Excel running on the basement computer or with the same document
opened in it. Just what is it that you expect or need to do via RDP
that you couldn't do by having the app local on your netbook? A
licensing issue perhaps? If you read the EULA and it really doesn't
allow multiple concurrent installs on different computers (versus
multiple concurrent *running* instances of the software), there are
likely freeware alternatives you can put on your netbook to work on the
same docs that you could share from your desktop host to your netbook
host.

A lot to read, and I haven't read it all. I will. Thanks a lot.

My basement/Host computer uses a 15 or 16" CRT monitor, running at
1024x768, 32 bit color.

I don't know what the Acer 10" netbook is set at but it has great
resolution, and I've never gotten tired using it as a normal computer.
(I use an external mouse and keyboard.)

I also want to try Teamviewer. I see it also works all the way back
to win95, so I'm asking myself, and you, Would the remote laptop have
to be fast to work well doing this? I only click and type. And
then it displays one screen's worth of data on the laptop. All the
real work is done by the host.

If it doesn't have to be fast, I could buy a large-screen old
dedicated laptop, maybe win2000, just for use at home as the remote
computer.

Then I could return the netbook I borrowed and I'd still have enough
money for a netbook when I travel.

The temp in the basement is down to 68.2 and my mediocre humidity
gauge says 42%, That's probably cold.

 

[micky]

With Teamviewer, you would start in the basement. The first time you
run it, Teamviewer will assign a 9 digit number to your basement
computers. As far as I can tell, that number will never be changed, and
will be remembered in a dropdown list on your netbook. Teamviewer will
also generate a 4 digit password. This password does change.

Take your netbook to your kitchen table, backyard, even Timbuktu. Start
Teamviewer. Type the 9 digit number into the netbook. The netbook will
look for the basement computer. When it connects, it will ask you for
the password for the basement computer. If all goes well, the desktop
for the basement computer will display on the netbook, and you will have
access to the basement computer.

Sounds easier in the long run. Regardless, I think I should try
TeamVierer too. I will.

Wtih Remote Keyboard, I don't know if the benefit of being on the same
home LAN probably is is in effect. I'm not sure it knows both
computers are on the same LAN. It never asked any questions about
that. Does that mean I'm using a server somewhere, just to relay a
few keystrokes one direction and screen images back?

BTW, the basement computer is wired to a wireless router on the second
floor (100 feet of CAT-6) Eventually I'm moving the computer to the
seonc floor, but my AC is broken so it won't be until the fall.
(Better too cold I'm thinking than hot as hell. (Until last summer I
never needed the AC but 6 days a summer, but once the AC broke, it was
the hottest summer I've ever seen.)

I mentioned Timbuktu for fun, as I have a friend that I occasionally
help with his computer using Teamviewer, lives 3500+ miles from me, and
is on a satellite connection.

There is an option in Teamviewer for files transfer. I've never used
it, as I've never had a reason to. It is my assumption you can access
those files on the basement computer and work with them using the
netbook. You may end up simply running the software on the basement
computer rather than the netbook.

One thing's for sure, you'll find out right away whether it's a
practical solution given the small size of the display on the netbook.

Even if this all works, I'd still prefer to just network my computers,
and have the software in both places if needed. Even then, in certain

I can see that, but I've always tried to keep all the data on one
computer. When I travel, I keep the email on the server, and then
download all the email I got while I wa gone to my home computer.
That way all the email is in the same place. (I forgot on the last
two trips, one long, one short, only times I've taken a computer, but
from now on, every outgoing email willl include a copy to me, so they
will all show up on the home computer.)

WRT newsgroups, I like to have all the posts and replies in one
instance of Agent so I don't look in the wrong place. Either I have
it or I don't (and then I look on groups.google.) Maybe this is an
aspect of my low-level compulsiveness, but I'm not going to fight it.

cases, the software doesn't have to be the same on both computers.
There are a number of different free word processors that understand
.doc files, for example. And cross platform office suites like Open
Office, Lotus Symphony, and Libre Office, have versions that run on
Windows, OS X, and Linux. Since they are free and open source, you can
run 100 copies on 100 computers if you wanted and all files are
interchangeable from one platform to another.

Software licenses are probably not a problem. I use Firefox, Eudora
(the last real version (not by Mozilla) of which 7.1.1 or 7.1.0.9 or
so, is no longer being sold and passwords are available for anyone.
Eudora doesn't mind afaik. and Forte Agent, which one does have to buy
now for the recent versions, although the version I use 98% of the
time is 1.93 from 2002, and on rare occasions, Open Office.

I'd better quit. Getting way off topic, I think, but these are
things I've been experimenting with in the last two months.

No wonder you want to talk about them. It's fine with me. It's
interesting.

 

[micky]

I'm running a 12" netbook (NC-20) and am now quite used to it. (Actually
I think it has higher _resolution_ than what I'd had before anyway!)

4 years ago when I took an IBM Thinkpad about 8 years old then
(running ME) on a trip in a backpack, just to the plane, from the
plane to the train, to the cab, and to the hotel, my back hurt for 3
days. A week later, to another city by cab, train, bus, and walking,
and it hurt for 2 days. On the way home with a shoulder bag and it
didnt' hurt, but it was heavy. . But I would still like the lightest
thing I can find, iow, a netbook.

(By the way, OP - off-topic but might be of interest: "yard" in British
English means a, usually small, paved or concreted area, often
unsavoury; we'd say "garden", or "back garden"

The problem with that, to me, is that I think I would sound rather
more ritzy than it is to Americans. Not sure but I think it would
make my grass and not much else sound a lot prettier and better tended
than it is.

if we also have a front
one. Thought I'd mention this to avoid confusion! [A "Pretty back yard"
seems an odd concept to a Brit, unless you have attractive bins
{trashcans}!])

Well, there are no alleys here and the trash is collected at the front
of the house, so my bins are near the front door. I used to hide
them under a shelf, but I'm running on fumes lately.

I'm actually very lucky. There are a lot of hills and streams in
Baltimore, but I still never thought I'd have a stream and some woods
in my (well, right behind my) back garden, given my price range. . I
have a better location than people who spent 10 or 20 times as much,
if you like streams and woods. I own a townhouse, end of group, and
there are about 100 metres of woods behind the house, with a little
stream that can rise from 2 feet to 12 feet in a day when it rains
enough, once or twice a year. It goes from 8 feet wide to maybe 100
feet wide, and once every few years the water comes to one inch of my
property line. . Of course at 13 feet it overflows the sanitary
sewers and used to back up into the basement sink and onto the floor,
but I've stopped that after about 6 times with a rubber stopper and
jamming a piece of wood on top of it and beneath the shelf above it
which has about 50 pounds on it and is screwed to the shelf brakcet
which is is screwed to the wall. . Lucky for me, everything was so
diluted, 100,000 to 1?, that it never smelled bad.

So now I can look at the trees, but until I got sickly (after one of
those men's internal exams and biopsy) I rarely did.

I also just planted a cherry tree which I like to check daily.

 

[glee]

No. Just MS Remote Assistance that comes with XP. "Invite someone
to help you" is one of the two options. The other is View Invitation
Status (3)". Well 3, because I've issued three so far.

The response from the netbook uses Remote Keyboard iirc. I"m sort of
surprised there is little or no use of the word "remote keyboard" in
the final screen or the screens leading up to the invitation. (It
starts at Help and Support Center.)

Another intresting thing is that the email (I haven't used Messenger)
that I send puts a file in the Eudora attachement directory on the
remote computer. From the email (or from Windows Explorer) one can
click on the file and it starts Remote Keyboard. The file nae was
RcBuddy.McRcIncident and I sent second email withiout delleting the
first attachment. Instead of adding a 2 after McBuddy -- Isn't that
what Windows normally does????? -- it added a 2 after McRcIncident,
iow McRcIncident2 . This changed the extention and meant that
Windows couldn't find the progrram associated with McRcIncident,
because it had a 2 on the end. (I got around this but I had to
rename the first file and rename the second to get rid of the 2!!
The same sort of thing happened with the 3rd invitiation, the second
day.



Hreres all of what the last screen on the host/basement computer says.

"Remote Assistance

Invite someone you trust to help you. Using an Internet connection,
anyone running Windows XP can chat with you, view your screen, and
with your permission, work on your computer.

Invite someone to help you

View invitation status (3)

Tell me more about Remote Assistance "'
---

The email that gets sent says something like this

"Administrator would like your assistance.A personal message may be
included below.

You can easily provide assistance from your computer by following the
instructions at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/RemoteAssistance/RA.asp

Caution:
* Accept invitations only from people you know and trust.
* E-mail messages can contain viruses or other harmful attachments.
* Before opening the attachment, review the security precautions and
information at the above address.

Personal message:
Please help me

RcBuddy.MsRcIncident2 "

Hello.... why are you using Remote Assistance? Re-read my last
reply.... I told you Remote Desktop is what you have to use for this,
NOT Remote Assistance. Remote Assistance is not for what you want to
do, at all. Use Remote Desktop connection. It should be on your Start
menu at Start> All Programs> Accessories> Remote Desktop Connection....
OR, click Start> Run, type: MSTSC and click OK. You MUST be running XP
Professional, NOT XP Home Edition, on the computer you want to access
(the one in the basement). You can access it with Remote Desktop from
either an XP Home or an XP Pro computer, but the computer you want to
access must be running XP Pro.

How to use the Remote Desktop feature of Windows XP Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315328

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/remote-desktop-connection-windows-xp-home-t3802909.html

What you are using now, Remote Assistance, is a totally different
application for a different use than what you need. If you don't have
XP Professional on the basement computer you are trying to access, stop
wasting your time with Remote Assistance, and install TeamViewer.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per micky:

I haven't tried Teamviewr but ease of usel might matter. Now I have
to start in the basement.

I have to send myself an email and read it on the remote computer,
then click on the attachment, enter the password I made up.

Then I go to the Hostr computer and agree to let the other one see the
screeen.

Then on the Remote, I click "Take Control".

And on the Host I click that I agree to that.

At this point I could leave the basement, and go upstairs or even to
my bedroom. .

Would Teamvierer mean I didn't have to be in the basement at all to
click?

Once you get TeamViewer installed on both PCs, connecting is just
a double-click on the name of the remote PC. For all practical
purposes, it's instantaneous and transparent.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per micky:

I also want to try Teamviewer. I see it also works all the way back
to win95, so I'm asking myself, and you, Would the remote laptop have
to be fast to work well doing this? I only click and type. And
then it displays one screen's worth of data on the laptop. All the
real work is done by the host.

There is even a version of TeamViewer that runs on
iPhones/iPads/Ipods. I use it on my iPod every so often when
I'm someplace far away and need to look something up on my home
PC.

Dunno about Android, but my guess would be that there's a version
for that too.

 

[BillW50]

In

Sorry about the FF question. This is definitely On Topic, afaik.

Will Remote Desktop do this?

I don't like running two computers, even if I can synchroonize them.

I have a desktop computer running XP (It may turn out to be Home or
Pro, if that matters) , but it's in the basement, which has seemed
really cold this year for the first time, and I'm not getting enough
fresh air anyhow**.

I think I would like to get a netbook and sit in the back yard and use
the netbook, via WiFi, as a terminal for the computer in the basement.

Can I do that with Remote Desktop? (Or some other feature of
Windows?)

I've never used that. Does it have visible overhead, or would the
full screen match my usual full screen?

Or, since both computers would be on the same wired/wireless network,
is there a better way? (Ill ask about that on
alt.comp.networking.connectivity if you say Remote Desktop is good.)

**I've just been sick for 2 weeks, and for 6 of the days, I spent an
hour in the backyard, in too much pain to do gardening, just sitting,
and for the first time in 28 years, really appreciated my pretty back
yard. I think I should spend more time there.

Thanks a lot.

I wish you luck with this endeavor, Micky. I too thought that using a
remote desktop would be a great idea. But it requires more than one
machine running. And remote desktop software requires high bandwidth
over the network. And screen updates are slow and forget watching
something like videos on the remote. And listening to music is pushing
it and slows the screen updates even slower. And usually the one acting
as the server, the CPU works overtime and the CPU will heat up
tremendously. And if your cooling system isn't up to the task, that
machine might be damaged in time.

IMHO nothing works better than using the computer you are using at the
moment. I don't know why you don't like the idea of syncing the data,
but that works the best for me. I do and will stream like videos (which
would take longer to sync) from one computer to another over the
network.

For example, in another room I have a laptop just like this one
connected to my DirecTV box. And if I don't want to watch something in
that room, I'll have AverMedia (TV software), record it as a WMV file.
These files can be shared as read only with other applications and
machines. Thus while one laptop is recording it, another machine in
another room can play this file as it is being recorded. So there is a
bit of a delay, but it is only a few seconds. And this works perfectly
as far as I am concern. Doing the same with a remote desktop like
software and this ends up being awful!

Back to syncing software, one thing that might have turned you off about
them is most of them are terrible. And that would ruin it for me too.
But the best and fastest I have found is SyncBack (I use their free one
and no nags either). Although I only have usually under 100MB worth of
changes and that transfers very quickly. If your needs requires GBs,
well syncing is probably a bad idea. Although if you open those same
files off of one machine from another machine, that would be far better
than using a remote desktop software IMHO.

The *only* payoff IMHO to use remote desktop software is when one
computer (the remote) doesn't have the application or even OS that you
want to use on the remote. Now and only now is it worth my while. But
that so rarely happens anyway for me.

 

[Ken Springer]

In message<[email protected]>, micky


Probably more horizontally and less vertically. (Just right-click in an
empty part of the desktop, select properties, then settings, and you'll
see what it's set to. Works for most Windows - not sure about 7.)

In Vista and Win7, you click on Personalize, which opens up a
configuration window. Keep an eye on the left sidebar, often that is
where you need to go to find some settings.

(I use a 12" netbook - 1280 by 800 - _as_ my normal computer.)

I _think_ it's the speed of the internet connection that matters. I've
not tried to watch movies remotely - I don't think that would work well
- but otherwise, I don't think the controlling computer has to be that
fast.

The connection speed does make a difference. But so does the speed of
both computers. With my brother-in-law, his computer outruns me, but I
outrun my sisters computer. And using Teamviewer over a .5 mbps
satellite connection is painful. I often just tell my friend who has
that what to do while I watch the screen

If that would run TeamViewer, that could be a good idea. _Big_ s/h
laptops can be found cheaply if you burrow.

I believe the current Teamviewer will run under XP, I can't remember if
I have version 6 or 7 installed in one of my XP installs. I don't know
if older versions can be downloaded, and if they would even have the
same abilities.

20.3 here. C though (-:

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 12.0
Thunderbird 12.0.1
LibreOffice 3.5.2.2

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):

Fan though I am of TeamViewer, that's not quite true: you have to have
it _running_, not just _installed_, on the target PC. So you have to run
it (even if just the QS executable) on the target, then connect to the
TeamViewer server, then tell your controlling PC's operator the identity
and the password it shows you. (The identity is the same every time, and
can be remembered by the controlling PC; the password isn't.)

True, but at install time I just tell it to automagically run the
service when Windows starts. For practical purposes, it's
totally transparent.

If there is a power failure at the remote PC: it boots back up
when power is restored, TeamViewer starts, and we're back in
business.

Over the years, I've had to go to a remote site maybe twice bco
some problem or another - like when something goes wrong and a PC
hangs part way through a shutdown or there's some problem that
makes it die before Windows can load.

I don't know if the password remains the same if the controlled PC is
left on running TeamViewer and the controlling PC is rebooted. I suspect
it changes.

There are two passwords:

- One that TeamViewer concocts each time it is started. This is
the one I use when supporting somebody else's PC (for privacy
reasons).

The person on the other end has to tell me the PW each time
they want me to connect.

- Another that can be specified at install time and which does
not change until I change it. This one is remembered by the
"My Computers" list after the first time it is entered.

On that list, I double-click on the PC I want to connect to and,
in less than one second, I'm looking at that PC's desktop. It
happens so fast that I can't even put a stopwatch on it. My
guess is about a half-second.

No VPN session, nothing but double-click on the PC name on the
list and "Shazam!"... we're looking at the desktop.

It really should be a no-brainer to try. Install takes all of
five minutes. Maybe ten more minutes to dope it all out... and
the price is certainly right. The install is so simple that I
have talked total technophobes through it over the phone.

No, I don't work for TeamViewer. But it's such a class act that
sometimes I just can't contain myself.

 

[Char Jackson]

It really should be a no-brainer to try. Install takes all of
five minutes. Maybe ten more minutes to dope it all out... and
the price is certainly right. The install is so simple that I
have talked total technophobes through it over the phone.

No, I don't work for TeamViewer. But it's such a class act that
sometimes I just can't contain myself.

I've been using the free version of Logmein for a couple of years now
and I like it well enough that I think I'll stick with it. It's good
to know there are viable alternatives, however.