ChunkVNC - New User Questions

[smgerber]

Hello. I'm new to ChunkVNC and just got it working, with some difficulty. Biggest obstacle was not knowing what a "repeater" was. I thought it was my router and eventually realized that it was considered a "server". Wow!

At this point I'm looking for some ease of use and was hoping someone could answer a few questions.

1. I guess this is obvious but it seems necessary to bring up the repeater program first, before any connection can be achieved. I don't recall anything in the brief documentation that tells us this, nor does the installation place a repeater icon on the desktop. Did I miss something here? It cost me a lot of time.

2. Support person ID: It seems that I've got to bring up the ChunkVNC viewer and then have it sit there waiting for a support call to come in. When it does, I've got to ask the caller for their support ID and then I have to enter that into the viewer dialogue in order to connect. Is there some way to avoid this process entirely. After all, I know someone needs my help and would just like them to single-click directly into my viewer without this front end stuff.

3. Password: This seems entirely unnecessary. Who is this trying to protect. I'm the support person and should be calling the shots so why do I have to enter a password. Can't this be avoided?

4. Front-end automation: I'm spoiled by years of using UVNC's single-click. Isn't there some way I can just bring the viewer up by double-clicking it and then just wait for the server to connect to me? No IDs, no passwords, no bringing up the repeater manually. That would be superiffic if there were a way!

5. Finally, is there a way I can configure either the server or viewer defaults. At the server I may want to optionally leave Aero on, and the default is off. At the viewer, I want full color and the default is 256 colors, very unseemly.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some kind souls out there can come to my rescue, if the software permits it. I went the ChunkVNC route because I like single-click and have had nothing but grief getting UVNC SC working properly with Aero.

Thanks very much in advance for any possible aid from the gurus among you.

Regards ... Sam

[B]

ChunkVNC requires the repeater. But if you really don't need one (if your listening viewer will always be at a static location rather than roaming) you might check out SCPrompt. It's a similar offshoot/wrapper of UltraVNC but does not require a repeater in the mix.

1. The installation guide at http://chunkvnc.com/installationguide.html makes it very clear that running the repeater is "Step 2" after installing the program.

2. I think you'll be happier with SCPrompt, which can have preset technician links. There are a couple of ChunkVNC forks that do the same thing too.

3. Not sure but I think so... It used to work without a password.

4. The repeater can be running ALL the time. Consider it a server like the one at logmein.com or gotomypc.com. But again, SCPrompt may be more to your liking.

5. Just modify the INI files in the build directory to use the settings you want, before compiling the ChunkVNC package.

Good luck!

[smgerber]

Thanks for the post Super-Mod. I'll revisit SCPrompt. I did take a look at it and its setup was fairly mysterious. ChunkVNC was much more understandable and straightforward. I'll probably spend some more time with Chunk first since it does work well with WIN7.

Guess I've got to learn to be more tolerant of useful open-source programs. It sucks being a perfectionist.

Regards ... Sam

[B]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

The kind of open source remote control solution I keep pining for just doesn't exist yet.

Good luck.

(By the way my handle here is simply "B". I just happen to be a moderator at present.)

moving from Related Products to ChunkVNC subforum...

[smgerber]

I'm a bit red in the face, "B". After calling you "super-mod" for several posts I saw that "name" on other threads and finally realized that it was a user designation, not a name.

Won't make that mistake again.

[supercoe]

Somehow I missed this post sorry I would have answered this earlier!

1) As B stated this is in the the documentation but I'm always open to a different way of explaining it if you have a suggestion.

2) This feature is currently not implemented but the program is open source so feel free to help add that functionality.

3) Saving the password is explained in the release notes, I will add it to the FAQ.
* Added ChunkViewer ini setting "Password=". Default connection password, for the lazy only. WARNING: Obviously insecure storing passwords in plain text!

4) ChunkVNC was designed with the idea that if a Repeater is constantly running in a fixed location Viewers can connect from anywhere. With SC running the way that you liked it was more difficult of a network setup to be on the road with a laptop and still support people.

5) You can change any of UltraVNC's settings such as the Aero removal option in the SRC\InstantSupport_Files\ultravnc.ini file before compiling InstantSupport.
You can change the default Viewer settings in the Viewer\Bin\chunkviewer.ini file.
From the FAQ: https://forum.ultravnc.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=17163

Can I change the default Viewer quality level?
Yes, you can adjust the quality after compiling in the Viewer\Bin\chunkviewer.ini file, look for Quality=3
1: Auto
2: LAN
3: Medium
4: Modem
5: Slow
7: Ultra

[smgerber]

Thanks for your lengthy response "supercoe".

1) As B stated this is in the the documentation but I'm always open to a different way of explaining it if you have a suggestion.

Sorry, I had read that early on and then forget about it. It would be a good thing if your installation could place shortcuts on the desktop for the viewer, compiler, and especially the repeater (that would have been great for me).

3) Saving the password is explained in the release notes, I will add it to the FAQ.
* Added ChunkViewer ini setting "Password=". Default connection password, for the lazy only. WARNING: Obviously insecure storing passwords in plain text!

That's VERY helpful. Didn't know I could do that.

4) ChunkVNC was designed with the idea that if a Repeater is constantly running in a fixed location Viewers can connect from anywhere. With SC running the way that you liked it was more difficult of a network setup to be on the road with a laptop and still support people.

I hadn't thought about that. Good point! The whole concept of a repeater kinda threw me. Never knew that as a networking term. Always good to learn something new!

5) You can change any of UltraVNC's settings such as the Aero removal option in the SRC\InstantSupport_Files\ultravnc.ini file before compiling InstantSupport.
You can change the default Viewer settings in the Viewer\Bin\chunkviewer.ini file.

This is terrific! You've got that covered very well! I was especially bothered seeing the ugly 256bit colors at every connect.

You've done a great job developing this software. As you know there's a world-wide scarcity of single-click VNC programming. I fell out of love with the standard, age-old UVNC SC when it presented me with Windows 7 issues that I couldn't modify myself around. ChunkVNC has opportunities to do just that and that's what I appreciate most about it. It runs flawlessly with Windows 7 as a server and makes my nitpicking about the ID entry pretty unimportant.

Thanks very much for your contribution and for taking the time to participate in my thread.

Best ... Sam

[supercoe]

Thanks man, I appreciate your comments.

Keep in mind that all the power is there with the source code and all of the features of UltraVNC. I choose to "hide" most of these options until someone like yourself asks otherwise I find that things can get confusing for most if everything is explained up front.

If you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask!