[Fwd: Re: [AG-TECH] Announcement: Shared Desktop v0.1b]

[Derek Piper]

	Yea, I'd have to agree with that, it looks really good. I looked at the 
known bugs and saw the one about changing venue would not cause the vnc 
to disconnect. That would be a nice one to fix, when the shared app 
closes, it closes all of its spawned vncclients.
	It's certainly very easy to use, I use realVNC anyway, so I just 
installed the app and it was running. It's important to note that you 
don't have to shut down your existing vnc server (that runs on the port 
range 5900-590x (depending on displays), since this shared app runs on 
port 9010 as the webpage says. I shared both Windows and Linux desktops 
with each other using it.
	I wonder if some selection could be made for quality, for example. If 
as a default the shared app could connect clients at a certain bit 
depth. VNC tends to figure out the compression type itself so that might 
not be useful to expose to the user. But a basic 'quality' setting could 
be useful, for each desktop shared. Then users over slower bandwidth or 
with slower machines could specify they only want initial connects at 16 
or 8bits to save their line (or machine) from being pegged when multiple 
people connect. When you're in VNC, I know you can alter it, but for the 
'click and go' crowd, it might be helpful.

	Derek

Michael Miller wrote:
> Here, Here!!
> 
> Everyone please try this out.  This is the VNC tool we've all been 
> looking for..
> 
> MYK
> 
> Great stuff Todd, Congratulations.
> Doug Bowman
> 
> Todd Zimmerman wrote:
> 
>> Hello All,
>>
>> I've just finished a new AG Shared App that I've called 'Shared Desktop'.
>>
>> In WestGrid, we needed a tool to allow for simple desktop sharing - to 
>> facilitate sharing of PDF's, powerpoints, spreadsheets, etc.  Since 
>> building a shared app for every possible application on multiple 
>> platforms sounded like a lot of work ;-), I decided to rework and 
>> extend the existing VenueVNC shared app - to give users the ability to 
>> easily share their desktop's with other collaborators.
>>
>> The Shared Desktop app listens for other users to share their desktop via
>> VNC - then offers these desktops to the user. It also allows the user 
>> to easily share their own desktop with the other connected sites.  
>> I've attached a screenshot of Shared Desktop in action....
>>
>> You can download this software from
>> http://www.westgrid.ca/support/collab/research-agshareddesktop.php
>>
>> I'll also be making it available on the new AG-Central site shortly.
>>
>> Remember...this is _beta_ software - so if you have any comments, 
>> suggestions or bug reports, please email.
>>
>>
>> Todd
>>
>> -- 
>> Collaboration & Visualization Technician
>> WestGrid - www.westgrid.ca
>> IRMACS - www.irmacs.com
>> Ph. 604.268.6979
>> Todd Zimmerman - toddz at sfu.ca
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
> 

-- 
Derek Piper - dcpiper at indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111
IRI 323, School of Informatics
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana