What software do you use to link computers?

[w0mbat (Ian)]

Teamviewer does not need any internet connection to work at all. There is a setting to "permit LAN connections only". Therefore there can be no security problem if used this way. I use it to control my observatory around 60 metres from the house. With a fast Ethernet (or wireless) connection you will not even notice you are not using the remote computer directly. Many remote observatories are controlled using Teamviewer.
Ian

[luka]

Can't believe nobody mentioned VNC. I have been using it for about 15 years so far. It is direct PC-to-PC connection and does not require Internet. Free and open source. Several compatible variants exist, see UltraVNC or TightVNC for example.

If I am not mistaken remote desktop will not allow you to use the local screen in the observatory until you close your remote session which will shut down all the running software (I am not sure if you need to use the screen in the observatory but my guess would be yes).
VNC simply exports the running screen so in your office you would have exactly the same screen as in the observatory.

[gary]

Originally Posted by luka

Can't believe nobody mentioned VNC. I have been using it for about 15 years so far. It is direct PC-to-PC connection and does not require Internet. Free and open source. Several compatible variants exist, see UltraVNC or TightVNC for example.

Suggested in posts 7 and 8.

If I am not mistaken remote desktop will not allow you to use the local screen in the observatory until you close your remote session which will shut down all the running software (I am not sure if you need to use the screen in the observatory but my guess would be yes).
VNC simply exports the running screen so in your office you would have exactly the same screen as in the observatory.

When a Remote Desktop client takes hold of the session, it does not
shut down all the running software.

On the server machine the login screen appears but on the remote client
you see the desktop as it was with all applications running. If you
then login to the desktop of the target machine, it terminates the client's
connection but again all applications continue to run.

Microsoft also provide a free Remote Desktop client for Mac OS X which
is updated regularly.

Remote Desktop tends to be faster than VNC because of the difference
in how they communicate changes to the screen. However, since VNC
uses a low-level bitmap approach, it is more readily ported and
will run across a range of different platforms such as Linux. Windows,
Android and Mac OS X and Apple iOS.

Teamviewer also supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, and Apple iOS.

[luka]

Originally Posted by gary

Suggested in posts 7 and 8.

Oops, I should have read the posts properly. Thanks for correcting me and thanks for explaining how remote desktop works. I have not used it for long, long time

[dannat (Daniel)]

make sure & keep your network cable to under 100m, did you mention if you have a home modem -which also can act as 4 port router?

direct ntwork cable connection is possible with a crossover cable [will be a special order]

the cable you have rigged up, can you see all the small wire colours inisde the plug & have them set corecttly? may be cheaper to just buya long new cat6 cable from a place like MSY [typically under $1 per m]

will you be running the cable underground?

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

I use RDP to connect to the obs computers (which are running Win 8.1 Pro), which are connected by wifi to the home network. My inside computer is running Ubuntu, and so I use Remmina to establish the RDP connection. I also have an andriod app (RD Client) that I can use to connect to the obs as well.

[graphworlok (James)]

Remote Desktop is built into Windows, or VNC will work as well.

If you dont even have them physically linked up yet, then you'll need to configure your network first before worrying about remote desktops.

If you are only connecting two systems, you may require the cable to be configured as a crossover, but that is rare these days. Another option would be to buy a small router/switch with wireless - this will give you more flexibility.

Worry about getting both computers to have a "Link Up" first - in Windows, this will show as "Media State: Enabled" under your local area connection status. This will depend on your cable being good, and not much else.

One thats done, you can set up your IP addresses, and start setting up network services between them

[RobF (Rob)]

Make sure you try Teamviewer again Greg. Just seamless once you get it sorted, and consistent across platforms (e.g. phone, tablet, other O/S).

Also suggest read this thread: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ght=teamviewer

[silv (Annette)]

I'm a bit concerned about the underground cable.

Are you considering Cat5 because you want to collect the data directly to your office computer and therefore need bandwidth galore?

I'd probably go Wifi with 5GHz if this frequency is feasible.
5GHz is fast - but can not go through (many) walls. Window-to-Window should work fine.
(2.4 GHz is too slow.)
Wifi routers compliant with 802.11ac give the best throughput.
You would connect 1 computer to this wifi router via cable and the other computer connects to the WiFi.

An alternative could be PowerLAN (by Devolo, Netgear, TP-Link or AVM to name a few):
if the electrical circuit in the Ob feeds of the one in the house, PowerLAN gives you a stable quasi-Ethernet connection with ~ 500Mbit/s without an additional cat5 cable under ground.
Does not support going through power strips.

Remote Desktop software:
I know and like VNC, Damware, NetOp, Teamviewer - we never used Windows' own RemoteDesktop in our professional environments.

[silv (Annette)]

here is a fruitful discussion on the same matter. maybe have a read?

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=144526