TightPNG Encryption

[shadowfax]

It would be great to include TightPNG Encryption to UltraVNC.

TightPNG Encryption can be found in Kanaka's fork of libvncserver located at https://github.com/kanaka/libvncserver

It is used with NoVNC (http://kanaka.github.com/noVNC/) viewer developed by Kanaka. This VNC viewer is developed using JavaScript and therefore could be used as an online viewer making it possible to merge the VNC Viewer into any website. Due to speed limitations of JavaScript it is unable to use ZLib decompression so the workaround has been "TightPNG Encryption".

It would be nice to merge NoVNC directly into de Distributer/Repeater (As an option) so you could access an ID with a single click, similar to what you get from profesional solutions such as NTR.

Best regards

[B]

I don't think I've heard of noVNC before; sounds cool!

But alas, HTML5 only.

I suppose that's the way forward, but I have a certain fondness for the existing browser-agnostic multiplatform and relatively light weight built in Java client.

[redge]

great idea TightPNG Encryption as HTML5 inside repeater for slow connection via repeater

[B]

Inside the <b>repeater</b>? Would that really help? I thought it was just a relay and the meat of the interaction (including encryption and compression) was between the client and server ends...

[shadowfax]

The repeater interaction I was proposing:

Since the repeater has a new web interface where you can see the servers connected to it we could show this lines as a link. If you click on the link NoVNC would come up starting -automatically- a connection to that server.

This way the remote server would connect to the repeater using UltraVNC or any derived product such as SC... While the person taking control would have two options:

• Use NoVNC through the repeaters web UI (Simply click on the ID)
• Use UltraVNC viewer or any compatible viewer to connect to the repeater.

NoVNC integration in the repeater would come handy in places where you wouldn't want to install a viewer. For example at public places (Hotel's computers, cafes, etc.), places where you don't have right to install software, etc...

We could even add a bit of AJAX to the repeater's web UI in such a way that clicking on the ID would open a tab where NoVNC would remain allowing us to take control of several computers at the same time throuh an AJAX driven web UI. This would make it quite close to some comercial products such as NTR Global.

Linux and MacOS VNC servers which allows for the use of the repeater usually use libvncserver, compiling them with Kanak's forge would allow TightPNG and therefore could be controlled in the same way through the web UI.

[B]

OHHHHhhh..... I get it now! Thanks, shadowfax.

The only tweak I would make is to include the JavaViewer option for each listed connection too -- why not have both methods available?

Come to think of it, someone's got an ActiveX version as well.

But while I like the idea (I'm one of the people endlessly waiting for a LogMeIn replacement) it doesn't sound like a trivial change to the repeater.

Hmm, the "old school" way to do it would be for the link to have a MIME type that would launch whatever VNC viewer you had registered with your browser -- in other words, the click could conceivably launch ordinary UltraVNC Viewer too.

[shadowfax]

I haven't had a look at the new repeaters source code so I can only guess that the repeaters generates the HTML code on the fly and oesn't have a directory structure such as a standalone HTTP server... Neither have I had an in-deepth view of NoVNC sources... but I guess most of NoVNC's code could be reused and included as resource files in the same way the JAVA viewer is included on the server. Therefore, adding NoVNC to the repeater itself for a single VNC session shouldn't be a tough change on the repeater (Generating a full-blown AJAX gui would certainly take much more time).

The tough parts would be to get TightPNG to work with UltraVNC's server (Right now there is no VNC server on Windows that runs TightPNG for what I've seen) and getting NoVNC to send the ID string in order to connect to a repeater.

The nice thing if NoVNC and the repeater merge would be a nice and userfriendly web UI where you can access the server with a single click. However, if it was up to me I would leave this in a ToDo box and my planning would be:

1) Getting UltraVNC to supports TightPNG and make it work fine with NoVNC.
2) Once it is working... Get NoVNC to work with the repeater. This would open a bunc of new features as people could develop their own VNC manager websites although they wouldn't have the available IDs shown.
3) Merge NoVNC into the repeater.

What I don't really like of using MIME is that you would need a VNC Viewer installed on the system and it could be imposible in some places such as public places... and if you're controlling more than one VNC you would require some kind of additional manager installed. If it could all be merged into a WEB UI it would be far more flexible. However, if an aditional button was placed for MIME types it would be terrific, as you could use the web UI as a simple VNC Viewer and get all of ultraVNC's features through UltraVNC's viewer if required.

[B]

Yes, that's what I was getting at -- having the full menu of options -- Launch in browser (HTML5), Launch in Browser (Java), Launch in Browser (ActiveX), Launch VNC Viewer (MIME). You just need a clickable link for each.

In addition, you could have browser plugins as yet another option -- that would let it more closely resemble the LogMeIn/GoToMyPC model.

In part I'm still a little puzzled about why the NoVNC itself would be so important -- personally I just want the repeater / connection management integration in order to mimic GoToMyPC/LogMeIn.