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Open Source Guacamole Puts VNC On the Web
tbitiss writes "A new open source project dubbed Guacamole allows users to access a desktop remotely through a web browser, potentially streamlining the requirements for client support and administration. Guacamole is an HTML5 and JavaScript (Ajax) VNC viewer that makes use of a VNC-to-XML proxy server written in Java. According to its developers, Guacamole is almost as responsive as native VNC and should work in any browser supporting the HTML5 canvas tag. Supporting 10 Linux desktops in 10 browser tabs? I like the sound of that."
Please, can't we have some more abstraction layers? My machine is just so fast I can't handle it. (Yeah, I know, we use the extra performance to services which were unfeasible earlier blah, blah...)
Eavesdropping 10 Linux desktops in 10 browser tabs? I like the sound of that.
There, fixed it for you
Ack! TFA (yeah, I went for it) splashes some ad that didn't make it past my hosts file. You might want this link instead, which goes to the sourceforge page and not the techworld blog:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/guacamole/
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
"Almost" as responsive as VNC? So it sucks even more?
Plain old vncserver had this capability since at least 1998. I remember using it once at a customer site and their staff gathered around gawking. "He's got xterms in Netscape!"
I'd like to see something like this using the NX protocol as the response time is much faster than VNC.
Yeah, but LogMeIn is an private, non-free app. Wake me up when an zero config behind-router to behind-router VNC-like app hit the road. The remote desktop integrated app used in MSN (live or whatever is its name now) is very good, but have some flaws (send EVERY FRAME of the remote desktop, becaming slow very fast) and its Windows/MSN only.
that Guacamole would be announced on Cinco de Mayo?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Heh, all the way back since the late 90's I've been logging in to my VNC sessions via the built-in java client (just go to http://vnchost:5801/ instead of vnchost:1 ). I guess that means that HTML5 + JIT compiled Javascript is the new Java?
If you like Guacamole, you'll probably also like AJAXterm, which can give you a webpage-based shell. It works well with GNU screen. It's nice for workplaces that block SSH but have an HTTPS proxy. Can't find a definitive webpage for it, but it's not too hard to set up from the debian repository. But it does seem to work a bit better than Mindterm (the Java ssh client from the 90's).
For mobile phone use, I've been fairly content with the java MIDPSSH. Unless your smartphone has a native ssh client, of course.
If you type passwords into a VNC session, you definitely want to tunnel it through something secure.
Fortunately, HTTP has been tunneled over TLS since TLS was called SSL.
Would you prefer a seven-layer Guacamole dipswitch?
I'm sorry, but I must not be the only one who's facepalming over a post about Guacamole being posted on Cinco de Mayo.
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
The client (read:web browser) doesn't need Java installed. That's about it.
If you have Java installed on your machine you can run a Java-based VNC client. The Java-based VNC client could be stored on a web server. So the benefits of cross-platform compatibility or use-anywhere accessibility aren't new or unique to the HTML5 client.
But you don't need Java. But you do need an HTML5 capable browser. Both solutions require you install an application of some kind. But everyone has a browser, you say. Well, HTML5 isn't set to be ratified until 2012. Changes to the spec could still happen. Changes that might break this HTML5-based client. Whereas the Java-based client, I know, will work right now and will continue to work.
What's worse, you're introducing a new point of attack/failure into the system. If you're paranoid enough to want an encrypted VNC connection you now have to worry whether or not the VNC/XML server is encrypting it's connection to the VNC server. You can't prove that it is, you just have to trust that it is. Whereas with a Java-based client you can setup a tunnel through any number of means and know that your direct connection to the VNC server is safe.
You might argue the HTML5 client approach is more user-friendly; a less-technical user would find this solution far more convenient. A system admin might like the solution too as there's no need to worry about installing a JVM on the client or teaching the client how to start a Java application. But those arguments don't fly. Whether it's a JVM or a browser you will have to install some piece of software on the client machine. And a Java application can be delivered and launched over the web just as easily as some embedded HTML5 client. The ease-of-use to the end-user is the same.
It's a nice hack to showcase what HTML5 can do, but that's all it is.
Why do so many open source projects have the dumbest names? Whats next? Ketchup? Towel? Come on guys, put the bowl down for five minutes and come up with a name that isn't related to the munchies in front of you or the stains on your shirt.
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
Well apparently version 1.0 was released in 2006 so it's not that new.. but I've definitely noticed that too.. like I'll have never heard a word before in my life and then it'll turn up two or three times in as many weeks..
which is totally what she said
My company uses FormFlow Filler extensively, for filling out government forms. It was bought by Adobe and killed, with the end of life in 2004. It barely runs on XP, let alone anything later. If it was open sourced, I'm sure even with my meager coding skills I could at least keep it functional, since it is still heavily used. Point being, proprietary software being shelved sucks much more than open source software being shelved.