remote desktop

[Soda_Popinsky]

I'm intrested in writing my own remote desktop utility, in Java or c++, with no frills, just the ability to up/download, and mouse control while viewing a compressed screen. I want to do it myself because im going to have it on some family computers, and I don't want any other program to be able to connect to it. I've looked at tight vnc, and some other open source remote desktops, but I dont want all the options they provide. Are there any no frills remote desktop programs, or anything close to it that I can modify? Thanks

[SirDice]

For what OS are you designing?

If the family computers are Win2k/XP why don't you use RDP?
Lock it down properly and configure their firewall so only you can connect.

[gothic_type]

Hey, sounds like an interesting project. I'd be quite interested in helping if I could. The only problem with that is that I'm still a newbie at java, and I don't know a lot of the swing/socket classes, so I'm not sure what help I could be.

From what I can tell, though, you would need to create a screenshot (on the "server") then transmit it to the client. You would not retransmit the screenshot until something changed (the user opened a program, etc.). You would not need to transmit the pointer to the client anyway because the client would be the one controlling the mouse.

You would have to somehow find a way to hook into the mouse system on the server and transmit the client mouse coordinates to it, and write some sort of code that would check to see if something had changed (like a program being opened, etc.) and retransmit the screenshot in that case.

That's all I can think of atm theory wise.

ac

[edit] the advantage of using java would obviously be that it would be multi-platform [/edit]

[Tiger Shark]

Our very own Slarty wrote this

In a win2k/XP environment it works great and is quite secure since you must have admin rights on the target machine.

I still recommend a firewall though.... It just keeps the prats at arms length.

[chsh]

That's not secure actually, that is an assload more INSECURE requiring admin rights...

[Tiger Shark]

chsh:

That's not secure actually, that is an assload more INSECURE requiring admin rights...

Hmmmm..... Now, let's analyze that statement shall we?

What you are saying is that because the program _requires_ administrative rights on the target machine it is more insecure..... Than what? If the malicious person can run this program on the remote host then he/she _already_ has admin rights..... So the target is already compromised..... So who cares what program the attacker can run on it? The host is already screwed!!!!!

The program works because the admin rights are needed to make the required changes to the machine to enable the connection to be made. Ergo, if you can make those changes you already own the machine........

[gothic_type]

Soda_Popinsky, I think you should write your own remote desktop prog even if it's a really simple one just for the sheer fun of it :P Because you started this thread, I think I'm going to write a basic one (or attempt to)...should be interesting.

I know normally if you can already find a program that'll do the job, you shouldn't write your own, but occasionally it can be worth it. At least after doing it you'll know that you could.

ac

[Soda_Popinsky]

In theory, if I write my own program to do the job, nobody should be able to connect to it unless i released the source code, right? Also, what Java or C++ librarys need to be used to do this kinda job?

Looks like I can't use that tool by slarty, only works on xp pro, and my family has everything from windows 98 to xp. I would have to make a server, and viewer to connect to it then, right?

[Tiger Shark]

Soda: It works fine in Win2k but you won't be able to use it on the Win 98 machines.

[gothic_type]

I reckon that you should do it in java if you just want a simple program to be able to carry out simple tasks on a remote computer like opening and closing progs, etc. The only info I've really looked at would be taking the screenshot.

I found a site explaining the use of the java Image class to take screenshots:

http://www.geocities.com/marcoschmid...creenshot.html

When I say explaining, it really just gives you the code. But it seems fairly simple and self-explanatory.

ac