Thursday, July 15, 2010

noVNC: HTML5 VNC Client

I have been playing around with Chromium OS (Google Chrome OS). The only thing I can do with it is pretty much just browsing. So, I had to find a way to remote my desktop computer somehow. Mostly, I use VNC for remote desktop.
So, I have to be able to perform remote desktop via web browser (Chromium) using VNC protocol. Fortunately, there is noVNC, which requires python (for websocket) and flash. Excellent, those things are already available with my default Chromium OS.

Here is how I did it:

1. Download noVNC from here.

2. Extract that file:
$ tar zxvf kanaka-noVNC-xxx.tar.gz

3. Change to the directory created in step #2.

4. Now, you have to move *.html files and includes directory in the same locations as web.py (in util directory).

5. Run the websocket proxy with the proper arguments, in my case:
$ python wsproxy.py -f 5901 desktop_pc_ip:5900
# 5901 is the port that I will use for the web vnc client.
# 5900 is the VNC Server port running in the target computer.

6. Run the web server:
$ python web.py 8080 # 8080 is the web server port

7. Go to the (Chromium) browser and enter the following in the url:
"localhost:8080/vnc.html"

8. After the web vnc client appears in the browser, enter the following data:
host: 127.0.0.1
port: 5901 # check with the local port in step #5
password:
then click "connect" button, and everything should work fine.

Now, I can do some other stuff other than just browsing, with my Chromium OS.

8 comments:

  1. ThinVNC is another alternative: a pure web app that uses HTML5 to replace the old VNC.

    Here you have a link to the product page. There's a exe setup ready to be used, and ThinVNC is free for non commercial use:

    http://www.supportsmith.com/ThinVNC/HTML5-VNC.aspx

    :)

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  2. @Mariana: Thanks a lot. I am going to play around with it, to see whether it suits my need.

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  3. @Mariana: Seems like ThinVNC only supports Windows OS. :(

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  4. Awesome! Everything needs to be web based :D

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  5. @Chrelad: Since most Computers has web browser installed, your statement is totally valid. :)

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  6. Hi Murzal! I remeber you were interested on remote access solutions for Linux. We worked on a new solution, ThinVNC Access Point, which permits web remote PC access via RDP and xRDP. Would you like to receive a key to use it and give us your opinion? Please email me! :) info@cybelesoft.com

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  7. @Mariana: I just sent you an email. Thanks.

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  8. ThinVNC is not actually anything to do with VNC, just stealing the name. Total waste of time if looking for a VNC Server Client!

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