How to roll NAT-to-NAT and video hooks into SC?

[fredthompson]

Is it possible to include nsc inside SingleClick builds?

ShowMyPC https://sourceforge.net/projects/showmypcssh/ does something similar and uses plink.

Does SC include the video hooks? If not, is there a way to add them?

I'd like to find a way to make an UltraVNC SC build so clueless people (i.e., family members) can just run the SC and get connected to me, wherever I am without using a repeater and with fast video refresh.

[JDaus]

why not just setup the viewer with a DYNDNS updating agent ... that will allow you to setup your SC to be using that dyndns address ...

alternatively setup an SSH server @ home on port 443 ... setup DYNDNS @ home, and have your SC point to the DYNDNS ... then you connect using "plink -pw password -load HOME"

if you use portaputty (plink from that distro, or putty) and create a session called HOME & setup a remote SSH tunnel as follows 5500:localhost:5500 (dont forget to tick "Remote Ports do the same")

hope this helps

thanks for the link to that awesome project ... think i will offer some assistance to that champion ...

[fredthompson]

Guess I'm not the only one intrigued by the possibilities.

I was also thinking about a private version of the NAT helper. ShowMyPC works for me. nsc gets caught up in my firewall (Astaro Linux).

I hadn't thought about a dynamic DNC. The free ones usually have a requirement to poll them periodically or the accounts will be closed. DynDNS allows only 1 free account. In my case, Astaro already uses it. There are a number of DNC redirector services, though.

Actually building these is a little outside my realm right now. I'm still learning.

[fredthompson]

UltraVNC Viewer trumps the ShowMyPC viewer once a connection is made. That's cool except, of course, the UltraVNC-specific commands don't work.

[fredthompson]

I just got a reply from the ShowMyPC folks. They said they're interested in the added functionality of UltraVNC. This is really cool. Some new blood will probably help kick things up, especially since they have a nice NAT-to-NAT method.

I still really like the idea of private helpers for that, though, because they would reduce the downtime when something goes wrong at the main helpers. Maybe a cascading list of helpers, similar to the way some clock utilities check the atomic clocks would be a good idea.

[JDaus]

Maybe a cascading list of helpers, similar to the way some clock utilities check the atomic clocks would be a good idea.

yep ... that would be a great idea ...
can't wait for the "ShowmyPC" to start using UltraVNC server ... maybe he should just use the SC, and be done with it ... that would mean a small redesign of his tunneling setup within the app ... but nothing to serious, then it will be AWESOME ... and smaller too

waiting with baited breath

[fredthompson]

Somebody here could just as easily roll the ShowMyPC SSH and helper stuff into UltraVNC. All the ShowMYPC code is available and it's based on Open Source packages. When I mentioned UltraVNC to them, they responded quickly saying they'd take a look at what's here but none of it seems to have migrated and it's been a few weeks already. Maybe somebody here has more interest in adopting some of their ideas to UltraVNC.

ShowMYPC's default connect method is much easier than UltraVNC (Click, get a number, tell the other person the number). SSH is nice, too. UltraVNC has a speed edge given the display driver hooks. The file transfer methods are not compatible.

Frankly, I'd rather run my own redirection service than to use somebody else's from both a reliability standpoint (what happens if ShowMyPC's servers disappear?) and privacy. Maybe such a service could be run by multiple UltraVNC fans and parsed out, so to speak, in a method similar to the way some high use sites automagically redirect to mirrors. Surely a network of volunteer connection helpers would give more uptime than a single-point service.

[JDaus]

Somebody here could just as easily roll the ShowMyPC SSH and helper stuff into UltraVNC.

Thats not a simple job ... i have played around with JDsVNC for quite some time ... and the time necessary to debug errors is something that is largely glossed over by people who have not done something similar (i had never made anything similar before) ... it took me months of coding at night (teaching myself autoit scripting while there) and debugging before i had my first version ready ... then a friend came into it, and we totally redesigned it... but thats another story

it's been a few weeks already.

Give it time ... these sort of things take a while to design, code, and debug ...

Maybe such a service could be run by multiple UltraVNC fans and parsed out, so to speak, in a method similar to the way some high use sites automagically redirect to mirrors. Surely a network of volunteer connection helpers would give more uptime than a single-point service.

this can be done through a randomisation of the DNS system (try ping pool.ntp.org - then ping it again ... )

The main problem i see with this is that, what if the viewer connects to one server, and the server to another ... no connection possible ... the only way would really be to run your own ... not a problem for me ... but others may struggle

[fredthompson]

Perhaps you misunderstood my comment. I was trying to communicate that people who already have a working knowledge of the UltraVNC source would be most able to modify it. I hadn't thought of scripting.

The guys at ShowMyPC haven't made any replies other than to my initial emailed suggestion. It's been a couple of months. There's almost no activity in the support area on SourceForge. Hence, my OP.

The round robin idea popped into my head as I was thinking about the reliability of a single redirection server and the resilience of Bit Torrent. Thing is, this could be over-engineered. The real issue is one of a reliable method of finding the redirection service and its record-keeping to parse connection information.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with you. It's too complex to be worth the effort. Probably better to use a small server-side script on a web page. Hmmm... I wonder if any of those free web space places like GeoCities give enough access to put a redirector there. (Shuffles off to think about this some more and do some research...)