Java Remote Desktop Controls Remote Computers Across Different Platforms
Usually when I need to remotely access a computer that is running a different
operating system, I’d go for TightVNC or
UltraVNC because it is free and can support multiple operating systems. There
are a lot more of other remote connection software such as CrossLoop,
TeamViewer, LogMeIn, VNC and etc but here’s one that is worth taking a look
because it can support many operating systems. It is good to have another
alternative because you may never know that one day you’ll have to stop using
VNC and switch to another software.
As you can see at the image below, it is possible to remotely control a Windows
Vista from Mac OSX using jrdesktop.
Java Remote Desktop
(jrdesktop) is an open source software for viewing and/or controlling a distance
PC. Besides screenshots, keyboard and mouse events transfer, jrdesktop includes
many additional features such as file transfer, data compression, color
conversion and etc. jrdesktop uses RMI (Remote Method Invocation) with SSL/TLS
to establish a secured connection between the viewer and the server.
Since Java Remote Desktop (jrdesktop) runs on Java, it can remote access across
different platforms. That means you can use Windows to connect to Mac OS, Linux
to Windows, Windows to Linux, Mac OSX to Vista, and etc. jrdesktop Main
features:
· Screenshots, keyboard and mouse events
transfer
· Control
functions : Start, Stop, Pause and Resume, view only, full control
· Screen functions : full screen, custom size,
scale, …
· Data
compression (with level selection)
· JPEG quality compression (with level
selection)
· Color
quality (full colors, 16 bits, 256 colors, gray color)
· Clipboard transfer (texts and images only)
· File
transfer
· Connection infos : duration, transferred
data size, speed
·
Authentication & encryption
· Multi-sessions
To run Java Remote Desktop, just download the
package from the link at the end of this article, extract and run jrdesktop.jar
file. If you get an error saying “Could not find the main class. Program will
exit.”, you will need to run the jrdesktop.jar using command line.
Go to Start > Run
and type cmd
to launch command prompt. CD to the jrdesktop directory and type the following
command.
java -jar jrdesktop.jar
display
There are a bunch of other commands that you can
use to:
1.
Start jrdesktop server using default parameters (local machine with port 6666)
java -jar jrdesktop.jar server
2.
Connect to (view) local machine
java -jar jrdesktop.jar viewer
3.
Start multihomed server using port 8888, admin as username and pwd as password
with secured connection (ssl)
java -jar jrdesktop.jar -p:8888 -u:admin -d:pwd -s -m
4.
Connect to (view) 192.168.1.2 using port 8888, admin as username and pwd as
password with secured connection (ssl)
java -jar jrdesktop.jar -a:192.168.1.2 -p:8888 -u:admin -d:pwd -s The way
jrdesktop sends a file across is a bit different compared to other remote access
software. You won’t a dialog box where you can browse for the file that you want
to send but instead it sends what is in your clipboard. Let’s say you want to
send a file called Nero-9.0.9.4_esd_asknet.exe. Just right click on the file,
select copy and then go back to jrdesktop and send. Alternatively, you can also
use the shortcut key CTRL+C to copy a file to clipboard. You need to have Java
installed in order to run jrdesktop. If you don’t have, just head to
Java.com to install the latest Java Runtime
Environment. To connect to a computer in a network from outside, you’ll need to
configure port forwarding. It might not be the best if compared with several
other popular remote access software but it has its own advantage which is able
to control remote computers across different platforms. [
Download Java Remote Desktop ]