Remote control another Ubuntu system and file sharing

[mike_linux]

Hello guys, long time ago .

Hope you all are doing fine, are healthy and far away from the covid virus.

I am using Remmina to connect my Ubuntu 20.04. LTS laptop to my Ubuntu 20.04. LTS PC for screen and file sharing using the VNC protocol. I am also using the RDP protocol to connect my laptop to my Windows 10 Pro PC (for those who do not know, RDP only works with win 10 pro not the home edition without any tweak). Everything works fine and I have enabled the remote access on all systems in the preferences. While I perform screen sharing I have encountered a very slow behavior despite setting the color depth and quality to the lowest values (256 colors, Poor). Unfortunately, Remmina does not have further settings for the quality and connection performance in contrast to the RDP protocol which allows also folder sharing and setting the resolution accordingly. After doing a research via google I have found that there is a client called TightVNC which allows also to dynamically adjust the resolution. What are your opinions to do screen and file sharing and what do you recommend?. I know that for file sharing there are solutions like Samba or OpenSSL, but I do not have any experience with them.

THX for advices and tutorials on how I can achieve this.

 

[KGIII]

I've had pretty good results with TeamViewer as of late. There's a free tier of usage, though it's not opensource or even FOSS.

TeamViewer; My Most-Recent Favorite Alternative To VNC. • Linux Tips

Today's article is going to be about my latest favorite VNC alternative, TeamViewer. It's a surprisingly handy application that just works. Read on!

linux-tips.us

 

[mike_linux]

I've had pretty good results with TeamViewer as of late. There's a free tier of usage, though it's not opensource or even FOSS.

TeamViewer; My Most-Recent Favorite Alternative To VNC. • Linux Tips

Today's article is going to be about my latest favorite VNC alternative, TeamViewer. It's a surprisingly handy application that just works. Read on!

linux-tips.us

Hi, the problem with TeamViewer is that it connects you to a server and not pear-to-pear. That means that if the server for some reason does not work you will not be able to connect remotely. So in my opinion TeamViewer is not the proper solution if you want to perform screen sharing on your network.

 

[KGIII]

On the other hand, it works. I don't think I've yet experienced an outage of any kind.

But, someone here may have had better success with VNC than I have. Even when I've managed to make it work, it didn't work well. Are you open to just using something like SFTP to share files?

 

[stan]

Hi, the problem with TeamViewer is that it connects you to a server and not pear-to-pear.

As I reported to you back in July... TeamViewer will work on your local LAN without the need of TeamViewer servers. I had also provided this link on how to do this. I tested it with Windows 10 Home Edition at the time and found it worked for me, but your mileage may vary.

 

[KGIII]

As I reported to you back in July... TeamViewer will work on your local LAN without the need of TeamViewer servers. I had also provided this link on how to do this. I tested it with Windows 10 Home Edition at the time and found it worked for me, but your mileage may vary.

Yes, I know that. It goes through the public internet. It's awesome that way.

 

[stan]

It doesn't have to use the internet... that's what the link above shows. It will work on a local LAN by itself. I think that's what Mike wants to do, but maybe I'm mistaken.

 

[KGIII]

Oh, wait... I completely misread what you wrote.

My bad. In my defense, I'm pretty heavily 'medicated'. I'd normally not post, but I got medicated pretty early today.

 

[stan]

Oh, wait... I completely misread what you wrote.

I thought you might have... we posted at almost the same just above. I edited mine to show the quote from Mike... it was he that I was referring to as "you" in that post.

 

[mike_linux]

It doesn't have to use the internet... that's what the link above shows. It will work on a local LAN by itself. I think that's what Mike wants to do, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Hi @stan that's right this is exactly what I want to do screen sharing on a local network. BTW meanwhile I have managed to access my remote pc to perform file sharing using samba and everything works . It is a little bit tedious, because you have to setup some parameters in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. I will now try the solution using TeamViewer but as I know this is a commercial app if you want to use it for long time every day. Is that right?

 

[KGIII]

I think it's pretty much free for SOHO use, but you'd have to double check. I've never had it not work and I use it for a while every day. I don't time how long I use it.

It does nag you. It also thanks you for playing fair - so I am guessing there aren't a lot of limits. I just disconnect when not in use. The client chews through some RAM (over time), so shutting it down when not in use is just a good idea.

Yeah, it's perfectly free for personal use:

Personal use with TeamViewer Remote | TeamViewer

Discover how TeamViewer Remote can transform your personal user experience. Overcome challenges by remotely supporting family and friends or accessing files and projects.

www.teamviewer.com

 

[mike_linux]

I think it's pretty much free for SOHO use, but you'd have to double check. I've never had it not work and I use it for a while every day. I don't time how long I use it.

It does nag you. It also thanks you for playing fair - so I am guessing there aren't a lot of limits. I just disconnect when not in use. The client chews through some RAM (over time), so shutting it down when not in use is just a good idea.

Yeah, it's perfectly free for personal use:

Personal use with TeamViewer Remote | TeamViewer

Discover how TeamViewer Remote can transform your personal user experience. Overcome challenges by remotely supporting family and friends or accessing files and projects.

www.teamviewer.com

Ok thank you @KGIII I will try it because I have done some attempts using X11 Forwarding (displays only applications) and Remmina with the VNC plugin, but the performance for both is awful. So maybe TeamViewer is the only solution .

 

[stan]

I know this is a commercial app if you want to use it for long time every day. Is that right?

I think that "every day" is okay... but not "long time." My typical use is to connect to computers of distant family... going through the TeamViewer servers in my case... and I do get timed out and disconnected after some hours. I'm not sure of the exact time limit, but I've reached it a few times. So this may be a deal breaker for you.

Maybe just using your own LAN would not have a timeout?

 

[mike_linux]

I think that "every day" is okay... but not "long time." My typical use is to connect to computers of distant family... going through the TeamViewer servers in my case... and I do get timed out and disconnected after some hours. I'm not sure of the exact time limit, but I've reached it a few times. So this may be a deal breaker for you.

Maybe just using your own LAN would not have a timeout?

To the point @stan. That is why I am holding back from using TeamViewer for a long time. I have now checked how TeamViewer performs and it has a much better performance in contrast to the solutions mentioned above. Using TeamViewer for commercial purposes I wouldn't have any problem to pay some bucks, but not a monthly payment. I am against of such payment methods. I don't know if there are other solutions like this of TeamViewer.

Why is not possible to share the desktop on the LAN without having any performance breakdowns?.

 

[stan]

Why is not possible to share the desktop on the LAN without having any performance breakdowns?.

It may be possible. I don't know. I don't use it on my LAN, just through Teamviewer servers on the internet. And through that system, I have encountered a timeout several times. But it does work very well for me for what I do.

 

[mike_linux]

It may be possible. I don't know. I don't use it on my LAN, just through Teamviewer servers on the internet. And through that system, I have encountered a timeout several times. But it does work very well for me for what I do.

Surely TeamViewer is a great app and has a good performance but the drawback of the app is that you have to accept on the remote computer the connection by using the password provided. This is a problem if you have two floors and you have to go every time up and down to get the pass.

 

[KGIII]

You only need to go through that whole password and authentication thing once per device.

 

[stan]

Surely TeamViewer is a great app and has a good performance but the drawback of the app is that you have to accept on the remote computer the connection by using the password provided. This is a problem if you have two floors and you have to go every time up and down to get the pass.

Besides the TeamViewer LAN instructions, you may also want to review the Unattended Access instructions too. No need to wear yourself out going up and down stairs. At the end of the day, all you can do is test it out and see if it meets your needs. Maybe the program will do what you want (or not), or maybe you will not accept their payment structure (if you need to use them commercially).

As a free tool, it works very well for what I do... but my needs are not as demanding as yours.

Good luck!

 

[mike_linux]

You only need to go through that whole password and authentication thing once per device.

Yes and that is a problem because you have to be on place to do that. I have found this solution, has anybody experience with this method? I don't really know if this works over a server. If this is the case the solution is not good.

 

[mike_linux]

Besides the TeamViewer LAN instructions, you may also want to review the Unattended Access instructions too. No need to wear yourself out going up and down stairs. At the end of the day, all you can do is test it out and see if it meets your needs. Maybe the program will do what you want (or not), or maybe you will not accept their payment structure (if you need to use them commercially).

As a free tool, it works very well for what I do... but my needs are not as demanding as yours.

Good luck!

Cool I will try that @stan. THX