How to use Remote Desktop Protocol ActiveX from Puppy?

[BHINTZ]

I am trying to access my network at work. I get a message requiring that I use Remote Desktop Protocol ActiveX. Our network uses Windows Small Business Server 2003. Is there any chance that I will be able to do this with Puppy 202 or am I stuck with having Windows XP for this purpose.

Bob

[M.Gregg]

Hi,

I know that VNC works across platforms.

http://www.realvnc.com/download.html

I have seen others use it over the Net as remote desk top. I must admit to only using it with Windows untill i found Log me in (Free edition).

I have seen it work between win lin over the net but have never had to use it my self. So you will have to experiment!

Regards
Michael

[rarsa]

I am a little bit confused:

What are you using to try to connect?
Do you want to connect to the network? (for wich you would need VPN)
or to a computer on the network (For which you would need to open a remote desktop connection)

In my case I frist open a VPN connection that gives me access to all the network resources (Shared drives, printers, my internal email, etc). If I need to control a server or another computer then I use "rdesktop".

Please elaborate on what do you do when you try to do the same using windows and on your particular network set-up.

[M.Gregg]

hi,

If i am correct i think the Idea is to control another computer over the internet ie, from home to work etc, however VNC works between lin and xp over local intranet also.

Regards
Michael

[BHINTZ]

Yes, I would like to be able to log in on my computer at work from home. I am using a dialup connection and have accessed the network with foxfire and with opera, but when I get to the option of accessing my computer, I get a message regarding ActiveX and can go no farther. I have gotten nowhere trying to use Remote Desktop or Rdesktop and cannot seem to figure out how to use either one so that anything at all happens. Foxfire seems to have an ActiveX plugin for windows but not for linux. Opera had something for radio stations that seemed irrelevent.

Any suggestions continue to be appreciated. I also had to dig out my external modem when I put in puppy 202. The Ltmodem no longer seems to work. So any clue about this would also be appreciated.

Bob

[ZeNiTRaM]

Hi,
If you are connecting to a remote Windows desktop you actually have to use Rdesktop. The thing is, you must get the IP address of the machine you're connecting to.

You could try entering the webpage hostname (i.e: if the page with the ActiveX is http://intranet-server/logon try to put intranet-server in the IP address). Or you could take a peek at the ActiveX source code and look for any references to the IP address.

[rarsa]

I think it's clear now:

You are accessing your computer through the browser.

As you can see in the article to connect to your computer using remote desktop you need a remote desktop client. The way you are doing it in windows is through an ActiveX client. You cannot run ActiveX in linux (without severe headaches). ActiveX is designed for windows. Period.

So stop trying to do it through the browser.

What you can do is to use a real remote desktop client. Puppy has two of those in the "Network" menu. The only parameter they need is the ip address of the computer you want to connect to. There are other optional parameters such as "full screen" or "Colour depth".

Instead of connecting trough the browser entering http://<remotecomputer>/whatever, open a command console and enter

Code: Select all

rdesktop <remotecomputer>

Of course replacing <remotecomputer> with the actuall name or address.

What confused me is the fact that you are directly connecting to your computer from the internet without using VPN. This means that your computer must be visible (or routed) to the internet. I'm quite surprised as that would leave your computer very vulnerable. Are you sure you are not opening a VPN connection first?

What's your simplified network topology? is it

Home ---> Internet ---> Work-computer

or

Home ---> Internet ---> Gateway server ---> work-computer

[ZeNiTRaM]

What confused me is the fact that you are directly connecting to your computer from the internet without using VPN. This means that your computer must be visible (or routed) to the internet. I'm quite surprised as that would leave your computer very vulnerable. Are you sure you are not opening a VPN connection first?

What's your simplified network topology? is it

Home ---> Internet ---> Work-computer

or

Home ---> Internet ---> Gateway server ---> work-computer

He said he used a Dialup connection, probably he's connecting to its work intranet dialing directly to a server in the office--my father uses that to connect to its work (but he uses TightVNC instead..)

So it would be..
Home ---> Comp. in the Intranet (via Dialup) ---> Intranet ---> Work computer

I might be wrong..

P.S: Intranet = Internal network...

[BHINTZ]

I am attempting to access my machine through the server that connects all of the building machines to each other and the internet.

I cannot directly dial my machine. So I am guessing Home ->Internet ->server -> machine

I do have the IP address for the server and I do reach the server through the internet.

I have administrator passwords and my own passwords if I could get to my machine.

I have tried to use all the options on Puppy and Knoppix, but never get anywhere without a browser. I imagine that I don't know enough about remote desktop or rdesktop to actually use them. I have a Knoppix book but it has not been sufficiently helpful for me. I do have a windows machine that can accomplish my purposes, but would like to find another way.

Do I connect to the internet before attempting to get "remote desktop" to do anything. I have tried to fill in the boxes, but nothing happens when I hit the connect button.

I don't usually get on my home machine until later in the evening and will continue to hope for good suggestions. Also, is there anythng I can do to get my internal Ltmodem working again.

Bob

[rarsa]

Now it's clearer.

The issue here is that your work computer is in your intranet and your home computer is on the internet. These computers are separated by the server that must be doing the translation.

One alternative would be to forward port 3389 in your company's firewall to your work's computer internal IP, but that's not a very secure solution.

A better solution is to do VNC (or Remote desktop) over ssh.

This link should help you:

http://www.svarovsky.org/jan/sshvnc.html

[BHINTZ]

Thanks a lot for your patience. I finally accomplished the task and connected to my machine. Unfortunately, it is so slow that it would be useless for practical purposes. I am assuming that a lot of translating must be going on to make the separate operating systems communicate.

Is there a way to speed it up or is it just because of the dial up connection?

At any rate a good learning experience. Our IT guy wants a copy of Puppy and will be receiving one on Monday.

Bob

[rarsa]

Is there a way to speed it up or is it just because of the dial up connection?

I guess is just the dialup connection. nothing to do about that.

It also depends on what you are trying to do. If you are using an application that refreshes constantly then the amount of trafic increases.

Avoid working with such things.

For example don't browse in the remote computer. If you go to a page with an animated ad then the screen is constantly refreshing.

If you are copying files try to use the command line instead of the windows explorer.

etc.