View SWRemote on the iPhone

[roussell]

First off, this is not native - you use RDP - with a twist. The end result however is a full functioning SWremote that looks and feels native to the iPhone.

Concept:
This method uses a free open-source RDP client for the iPhone and the multiple RDP hack for XP, the twist is that you make some registry tweaks in windows to show just the SWremote and not the whole desktop on the iPhone.

Needful Things:
Windows XP (sorry Vista and 7 users)
iPhone/Touch
ThinStuff's iRdesktop (from the Apple app store)
Multiple RDP patch form Sala-Source (http://www.kood.org/terminal-server-patch/)
Registry tweak to Modify users default shell in Windows XP (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... ed.5).aspx)
And of course - HouseBot

The Procedure:
1. Create a user for the SWRemote in windows - nothing special here, just temporarily make it an admin user so you can edit the registry later.

2. Follow the changes in this link (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... ed.5).aspx). These changes will allow you to specify a default shell other than explorer for each user that logs on. We're going to use swremote.exe as the default shell. That way, when windows opens the "desktop" for the logging in user, it opens the swremote and only the swremote. You'll need to log in as the user you created in Step 1 and modify the HKCU key specified in the link. Specify the path to the swremote in the last step of creating the user shell registry entry.

3. Log out and log-in as the new user. Instead of seeing explorer, you should see the swremote startup. Ctrl-Alt-Delete to log out.

4. Install the multi-rdp patch and reboot, you should now be able to log in as the swremote user without affecting the currently logged in user on the HB server.

5. Install iRdesktop on the iPhone and configure a connection to the Hb server. Set it to auto-login as the swremote user you setup.

6. Configure your very own iPhone SWremote! BTW, the resulting available screen resolution seems to be around 320x430.

Limitations:
iRdesktop's smallest resolution is 640x480 so you can "move" the swremote screen around on the iPhone. The developers have released the source under the GPL, so I am going to add smaller resolutions and possibly other tweaks to it to turn it into a HB-Only rdesktop client.

You can close the swremote application "shell" and windows doesn't auto log-off the session. There's most likely several ways around this - I just haven't researched it yet. To log-off a "blank" session from the iphone, just send a Ctrl-Alt-Del to launch task manager and choose Log-off from the menu.

Here is a screen-cap of a theme I'm starting. The only thing I've really done at this point is the background. I placed a couple of buttons on there to test the response.

swremote screen as viewed in iRdesktop on the iPhone

photo.jpg (56.55 KiB) Viewed 25482 times

I hope this is useful to someone, post if you have any problems setting it up. I don;t think I missed anything, but I may have been too high-level in some areas. Just let me know.

Happy HouseBotting
Terry

[roussell]

So I downloaded the code for the iRdesktop last night and played around with it a bit. It's pretty straight forward and I've already added support for a 320x430 screen size and a few other visual tweaks. I intend to fork the original iRdesktop code into a new HouseBot-specific remote desktop client so I'll be setting up a repository on the web and taking suggestions for enhancements. At some point I'll submit it to the App store for downloading, since the original app was free to download and open-source (GPL), this one will be as well.

Terry

[Osler]

Very nice!!!

I will play with it this weekend.

Osler

[yaccri]

This is going to be an interesting thread.

Thank you Terry!

It will keep me busy for the weekend.

[Richard Naninck]

Little off topic maybe, but how about the following:

I installed a free copy of LogMein (logmein.com) which creates a remote desktop for your PC. Than download the iPhone app from the Apple Store also called LogMein and you get your PC's desktop fully functional on your iPhone. This app was the reason for me to buy the latest iPhone 3GS and get the logmein app from the app store. I just a few seconds I can connect to my PC from anywhere using either Edge, 3G or WiFi which gives me my full SWRemote running native on the PC.
Just google or youtube a bit for logmein and iPhone and you will find demo's out there showing it's capabilites and power.
I am very happy with it and really don't see the need anymore for creating an extra theme for the iPhone. (Just my two cents off course!)

[roussell]

Richard,

That's how I started - I tried logmein on a friends iPhone (too expensive for me) and another that I can't remember. I didn't want to use a third-party server to route my screens through and I'm a bit of a security freak so those services have never made me feel warm-n-fuzzy, plus I'm cheap so I didn't want to pay a fee to use the service either. Anyway, that's why I started down this path. I looked around for a good (and free) remote desktop client for the iPhone/Touch but just recently ran across iRdesktop. I love the fact that it was built on existing GPL'ed code and that ThinStuff GPL'ed their version of it as well.

If you've already modified your HB pc to use multiple RDP connections, the registry edits take only a few minutes (you can do them while installing the iRdesktop client) and you're up and going. I like that I can put several configurations in the server list - right now I have connection profiles for Housebot for Home (WiFi) and Away (3G). That makes it easy for the wife.

Not you have to, but since my HB server is a HP t5720 thin client, I didn't know if it would have the horsepower to run multiple concurrent RDP sessions along with it's other tasks, so I built a small virtual XP machine on another box and use the virtual as an "swremote server"

End the end though, what you're doing is exactly the same as what I've done. Hopefully, I can customize the client-side app further to provide a seemless experience for whoever wants it. In the future, I'd like to create a server-side piece that takes the place of the multi-rdp hack and simply publishes a swremote over RDP - that will be awhile though. Scott may have a native iSWRemote by then!

How do you find logmein client? Are there any protrusive icons, buttons, etc that get in the way of the screen? Can you publish a single app instead of the entire desktop? Can you set a custom resolution or are you stuck with the "standard" defaults.

Terry

[Richard Naninck]

I am very happy with the logmein service. My PC just pings the server telling it is online. The actual connection is secure between my PC and the iPhone. It displays the XGA (1024x768) res of my PC's desktop onto the iPhone and it can be sized either way you want it. You can choose to move the mouse or choose to keep the pointer in the middle and move the screen around. Keyboard and mouse features such as left and right clicks are all supported. It is very quick even on Edge and the screen looks just as clear as the PC itself. For me this is the answer. A few years ago I used an iPaq with a separate theme but as my system grew, I was unable to keep up with all the changes on multiple remotes. That's why all of my system is based on a single XGA remote containing all features.

Just a few buttons on the screen, but they are all transparent and I don't really notice them. The screen can be landscape or flipped to portrait just like the rest of the iPhone apps do.

[roussell]

Thanks for the info Richard, it sounds like a good fit for some. As complex as your screens are, I wouldn't want to redo them either! FWIW, you can use iRdesktop to view the entire windows desktop and larger swremote screens also. You can also push sounds from the server to the iPhone (although I haven't tried that).

Terry

[vcruz777]

I will try the IR Desktop this weekend to see how it works.

In my case I have been using VNC on my iphone and it has worked great. To deal with the resolution differences, since the server I access has an 800 x 600 remote panel configured, I just created 320x240 screens that can be accessed through a button at the top corner of the main screen. That way when I am using the iphone I just hit that button it opens the 320x240 screens fitting perfectly in the iphone screen. I just created panels for the most critical needs when using the iphone (example, open garage door, arm security, etc. but not the music panels nor the tv/media panels). So far is has worked fine and with relatively fast screen refreshes. If I want to access the main 800x600 panels I can do it as well by shrinking the display or just moving through the screen but the reality is that the custom 320x240 screens have just worked right.

Saludos,

Victor

[yaccri]

Terry,

Thank you for sharing this tip.
It is great!

Do you have a way to keep the IRDesktop running with a blank screen?
Instead of reconnecting every time I use it, I'd like to be connected all the time (without using too much battery power).

Thank you,

Yoram

[Richard Naninck]

This tablet is going to be nice to have the swremote running on:

[roussell]

Terry,

Do you have a way to keep the IRDesktop running with a blank screen?
Instead of reconnecting every time I use it, I'd like to be connected all the time (without using too much battery power).

Yoram,
I don't have a way to do that currently - I'll look into the code to see if it's something I can provide in a custom version. I don't really have a use for it though as I use it from my iPhone periodically and don't have the need to keep it connected. Perhaps when Apple introduces the larger tablet...

Terry

[PServais]

So I downloaded the code for the iRdesktop last night and played around with it a bit. It's pretty straight forward and I've already added support for a 320x430 screen size and a few other visual tweaks. I intend to fork the original iRdesktop code into a new HouseBot-specific remote desktop client so I'll be setting up a repository on the web and taking suggestions for enhancements. At some point I'll submit it to the App store for downloading, since the original app was free to download and open-source (GPL), this one will be as well.

Terry

Thank you for posting this solution!
Is there any way I can get your modified version (with the 320x430 support)?

Patrick

[roussell]

Sorry for the long delay - I've started a new job and had no time for fun stuff lately.

I went though a couple of OS and Xcode upgrades and can get the code to compile any longer. When I have some time I'll sit down and get it sorted out. Sorry. To tell the truth, I don't use the Swremote from the iPhone much anymore. I wrote an HTML5 based application that is served through IIS on the HB server using iWebKit http://iwebkit.net/. It is faster than a swremote, plus now I have the ability to add all sorts of HTML5 goodies in there like real-time graphs, webcams and such. Another nice feature is that it looks and behaves like a native app on the iPhone but you don't have to go through the app-store to publish it. You can also place several "app" icons on the iPhone screen that represent different sections of the app. For instance, on the iPhone screen I can have an icon for the "main" remote control that shows lighting, irrigation, audio, etc. But I can also have an icon that launches directly into audio, or "Bedroom Audio" immediately so it gets you where you're going a little faster. The wife loves that part. With IOS 4 I group all of those icons into a group called "Home Control" and it makes it really convenient.

Unfortunately, it's not very generic and not easily portable from one install to another. Fortunately, iWebKit is very easy to understand and implement and calls to the HB server are done through the external control plugin.

It won't be soon, but I'll try to post some examples of code and screenshots to help others who want to venture down this path.

Terry

[PServais]

Terry,

thank you for your reply.
Good luck with your new job!
I will patiently wait for your coding examples.
I had a look on the iWebkit site and looked quite promising!

Patrick.