Remote desktop apps currently available for Puppy

[Mike Walsh]

Remote desktop apps available for Puppy

Evening, boys & girls.

Following the recent discovery, by labbe5, of the browser-based remote desktop app called DWService, I thought it was time somebody put together a list of just how many remote-control applications you can download for use in Puppy, as of this moment in time.

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1.) DWService. Similar to TeamViewer in principle, and operation, but runs in your browser instead. A lot more lightweight, too!

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 78#1030578

2.) BackSeatDriver. Smokey01's masterpiece from early this year. Around 3.5 MB all-in. Includes file-sharing, and live chat via PSIP.....and all running via a VPN.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=115411

3.) Remmina. A long-standing Linux remote desktop application. I put together some packages for the 5-series Slackos, but this should be readily available through the PPM of most Pups.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=112427

4.) TeamViewer. I haven't been able to get the recent Qt5 releases of this to work; Qt5 and me do not see eye-to-eye. It's incredibly fussy about specific versions, and backwards-compatibility seems to be non-existent compared to Qt4. Nevertheless, the last WINE-based releases of version 12 are still available for download, and still function reliably.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=109125

5.) Last, but not least, if you absolutely must have an up-to-date version of TeamViewer, and use any of the Chromium 'clones' (including Chrome itself), there's always the TeamViewer Web App, available as a rather large extension via the Chrome webstore (around 45 MB, I think!)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... bejikcmkfo

If anybody wants to do what I've done, i.e. put together a Menu entry for this, so you start it up by itself, follow the instructions I detailed for using NetFlix as a standalone app, here:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=112072

EDIT:- - 18/07/19

6.) Anydesk. Contributed by Nilson Morales - see post immediately below (thanks, Nilson!), and 'Puppified' by WiZard - see post further down for links & packages. This is small, lightweight, covers all the important bases.....and is a darn sight smaller than TeamViewer to boot. I'd heard of this previously, never got around to investigating, and definitely wasn't aware it had a Linux port. Having tried it, I'm impressed. This may well become one of the main TV replacements for Puppy, and, as WiZ has found out, it's a good candidate for a 'portable'.

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And that, boys & girls, is the current 'state of play' with regard to remote desktop apps for Puppy. (As far as I'm aware, that is.....) Hope that helps some of you.


Mike.

[nilsonmorales]

https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... 4P2k0X3vhy
Anydesk
https://anydesk.com
Also made remote desktop using Hamachi + vnc, Puppy-Windows
https://youtu.be/XsyK9h0C8bs
hamachi pet
https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... JRY8QErx8y
ssvnc pet
https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... PqtuP3Kx1X
only 32 bits.

[Mike Walsh]

Thanks, Nilson. All contributions gratefully received....


Mike.

[dancytron]

And rdesktop (client) and xrdp or freerdp (server).

[aqeelz]

Thanks all mates for sharing such a great work, this was a major need for some people now. Thanks alot I Appreciate your initiate

[WiZard]

Recently Teamviewer disabled any version less than 14 for its free users. They made significant changes to their code in version 14 and several forum members including Mike Walsh and myself have been unsuccessful in getting the new version to run in puppy. I've done some research and testing on alternates and found Anydesk as a viable replacement. Here are some of its features:

-free version
-cross platform
-small, 13mb for puppy, 3mb for windows
-portable, no install required
-no registration required
-supports file transfer
-supports unattended access

I repackaged the debian/ubuntu package along with dependencies into a .pet, .sfs and a single file portable. Tested these on Dpup Stretch 7.5rc4, lxpup 7.5, bionic 8.0, and bionic64 8.0 (works with 32bit compatability package installed). I think they will probably run on other ubuntu based puppies.

Here are the links to the file versions:

http://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linux ... p-portable
http://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linux ... 6_Dpup.sfs
http://archive.org/download/Puppy_Linux ... 6_Dpup.pet

Thanks to Mike Walsh for his suggestions on building the packages.

[musher0]

Hello, Mike_Walsh.

Sorry in advance if this sounds dumb, but...

What does one use "remote" desktop apps for, anyway?
( Aside from ftp. )

Perhaps more importantly, why does one need them?
Especially in this day and age when there are so many
snoops and malware online.

I can find nothing wrong with using "local" desktop apps.
Plus, e.g., my weekly budget and time organization
should remain private...

Thanks in advance for any examples.

Best regards.

[rufwoof]

Hi Musher

Facilitates seeing an image of a remote computer's desktop and interact with it as if it were local. Why? Mostly used for support purposes, or for real time collaboration.

Much of the gui based remote desktops are just a further Windowfication of Unix. Under Unix more generally the Unix community commonly use ssh/sshfs/tmux as most remote boxes tend to be servers that have no graphical interface. ssh permits the remote access via a secure (encrypted) tunnel. sshfs facilitates mounting remote drives/folders as though they were local. tmux failitates sharing and communicating between the remote/local ends (a person at both end can each individually control the same shared session - or alternatively it can be set so only one can change things, the rest just view. With that you can reasonably have 100's partaking with relatively low overheads, I suspect under gui remote desktop having even 10's might see excessive overload ???

Personally I run many remote things. IRC, BBS access, Email, storage, even browser traffic being routed via the server. That way someone else maintains all the integrity (backups, hardware/software updates etc.) and it means my ISP (state) only see a single encrypted link between me and the server (all web traffic and dns access are made at the server end). That also means web sites see the servers IP, not my IP. I can filter email and forward ones that are relevant to my local end, and if a server session is cracked then my local end is outside of that. It also means I don't have to use a dedicated single device, and can log into the exact same session that continues running even when my local end system is powered off, from across a wide range of devices (just needs to be able to ssh).

Yes for private content/data, you could just store/use that locally, but what if my laptop with all that data gets stolen? Encryption helps, but a variant of that is to store data as two separate keys, one on the server, one locally, where one key alone is useless, requires both to be brought together in order to see the clear-text (actual content). One time pad encryption works along those lines, and avoids having to remember passwords.

Increasingly I'm moving away from Linux gui and back towards Unix style (tui). More often my phone will do the gui things better and quicker for some things, whilst the tui is better/quicker for other things. As Linux gui tends more towards being Windows, I have less need for that. But as ever, choice is good, and having a quick/easy means to share a desktop between gui and tui is better than being restricted to one or the other alone.

[Mike Walsh]

@ rufwoof:-

Many thanks for that, Ruffers. Saves me having to explain it all.....and I think you've made a better job of it than I could have done, especially since you're now also gaining experience in more 'traditional' Unix-style operations.

Cheers.

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@ musher0:-

Just to add to rufwoof's explanation above, you mentioned about all the 'snoops' & malware, yes? Pretty well all of the GUI-based apps either run via an encrypted VPN, or else good old SSH. In both cases, pretty secure.....and 'snoop-proof'.


Mike.

[WiZard]

@musher0

I'm afraid I (we) have wrongly assummed all users would understand the software term "remote desktop". Remote control is the better description for remote desktop. It allows one computers keyboard, mouse, and screen to control another computer. The computer being controlled can be in the same room or across the world.

My biggest personal use has been remote support, helping solve problems on a remote computer, and it has saved me countless hours and frustrations.

As rufwoof pointed out there are many other more sophisticated and useful reasons to use this category of software.

Thanks for asking

wiz

[musher0]

Thanks, WIZard, rufwoof and Mike_Walsh.

Your explanations and examples make it much clearer.

If I may ask one more detail to lift the fog in my mind about this:

do online collaboration sites qualify as "remote desktops"?
Mike_Walsh mentions "TeamViewer".
Would something like "EtherCalc" qualify? or ZoHo?

TIA.

[WiZard]

@musher0

Something like EtherCalc or ZOHO are web/cloud based applications and are only "remote desktop" in a very narrow sense. Remote Desktop programs as used in the context of this topic provide broad control of the remote computer, you can literally do anything that doesn't require physical presence, like inserting a USB drive.

Hope that helps.

wiz

[musher0]

Again thanks for the info.

[rockedge]

here is pUTTY for ssh access where one can save profiles

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=112618

[Mike Walsh]

Recently Teamviewer disabled any version less than 14 for its free users. They made significant changes to their code in version 14 and several forum members including Mike Walsh and myself have been unsuccessful in getting the new version to run in puppy.

Just for general information (though it's a 'moot point' by now), TeamViewer very quietly rolled out TV 15 a few days ago. Apparently it's made very few changes except for improving audio quality.....

https://betanews.com/2019/11/20/teamviewer-15/

TBH, since the 'debacle' of switching to Qt5 (and the fact that it's now rendered TeamViewer 'persona non grata' as far as Puppy's concerned).....do we really care any more?

I think not. However, for anyone who's using the above-mentioned combo of the Iron browser + the TeamViewer 'webapp', if you fire it up and click on the 'Info' ("i") button, you'll find it's now reading as 15.0.14842..... This is the only way I've found that will 'auto-update' TeamViewer without all the hassle of constantly needing to rebuild the app from the ground up.


Mike.

[WiZard]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for keeping up with the changes. I used Teamviewer V6 for years to help family and friends. Version 6 worked great in both windows and Linux. As Teamviewer evolved it took on "feature creep" and grew in size and complexity, but they continued to support the older simple versions. With the introduction of version 14 they disabled older free versions. Additionally they tightened the restrictions on what they considered "personal use". I quickly found myself locked out of TV 14 because it saw me as a "business user".

In short, the problems created by Teamviewer made it no longer viable for my use and I have successfully switched to Anydesk for remote control and support needs in both Puppy and Windows.

The biggest problem I see with most of this category of programs is long term sustainability. Most of them use an external server for validation, those servers can disable the programs at anytime.

Several years ago I found a beta version of a windows remote control program that would validate using a gmail account. Unfortunately, it was not developed further. It would be great if someone would write a program that used those techniques.

wiz

[Mike Walsh]

Hallo, WiZ.

Yes, well that's why I'd like to get the 'glitches' sorted out with Smokey's Back-Seat Driver. This, as I understand it, uses his own personal VPN tunnel (I think that's right; could be wrong), but definitely doesn't require external validation. It works fine on a LAN, but it's a slightly different story getting it to work on the WWW.....

And it's very small, to boot.....only 3 MB or so all-in. I agree that AnyDesk works extremely well with newer Pups, but BSD seems to work with all of 'em, even the oldies. Plus, it's "home-grown".


Mike.

[ndujoe1]

I have started to use Anydesk and it has worked fine for me. The free version does have a time use limitation but hey you just connect again, it usually works.

[takenp]

<><><>

The latest 5.5.3_i386 version of Anydesk is here. I made a .sfs module from Anydesk original .deb + libpolkit-gobject-1.so.0 that I did not have. I'm happilyrunning tahrpup i386 thats why it's non x86_64 )

You may find Anydesk_5.5.3 here as some other my 'pets n' stuff':
drive.google.com/pet files

cheeerz!

[Mike Walsh]

@ takenp:- Nice one!

....and following on from that, I may as well make available the 64-bit .pet of Anydesk 5.5.3 I put together for my own use, day before yesterday. This works fine in Bionicpup64 & Xenialpup64.

You can find it here:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O3qV2D ... sp=sharing

(And this thing is way smaller than TeamViewer ever was.....)


Mike.