VNC development plan - discuss

[Callum Lerwick]

How about a usage case:

I have a desktop machine. It runs multihead, 1400x1050 on a 19in CRT and
1280x960 on a 17in CRT. That's 2680x1050.

I have a laptop. It has a 1024x768 LCD.

Sometimes I want to access my desktop's existing X session from the
laptop.

Problem: The vast difference in resolution. As well as the difference in
font size. I use a font size that is comfortable on the desktop but
looks huge on the laptop. Scrolling around a massive area staring at
huge fonts is painful. Its like trying to use my desktop looking through
a straw.

Possible solution: randr the desktop machine down to 1024x768 and scale
the font size down when connected. This can be awkwardly done manually
through the gnome preferences panel through vino. The server side
libvnc.so module does not understand randr at all. Score: vino 1,
libvnc.so 0

Possible solution: Scale the whole screen down server side. Neither vino
or libvnc.so support this. Score: vino 1, libvnc.so 0

Possible solution: Scale the whole screen down client side. vncviewer
does not support this. No VNC client that I know of supports this on
Linux. TightVNC and some others support this on Windows. Score:
vncviewer 0, TightVNC on Windows 1, TightVNC on Linux 0

Possible solution: Implement a vnc server as a compositing manager, that
internally re-composites all windows to a virtual 1024x768 screen, with
window positions independent of the real desktop. Status: Just some
crackrock idea I had.

So, sounds like vino wins? Except:

Vino's performance is complete and total ass. vino 0, libvnc.so 1

Vino spews an enormous amount of shit over the network, when nothing is
even happening. What, I don't know and I don't care enough to find out
because of the previous point. vino -1, libvnc.so 1

Vino isn't available when not logged in. vino -1, libvnc.so 2

Cursor modification doesn't seem to work in vino. vino -2, libvnc.so 2

In Vino, ctrl-click in Galeon to open a link in a new tab doesn't work
for some reason. vino -3, libvnc.so 2

After being rock solid for many years, recently libvnc.so has started
randomly crashing the X server when I connect to it. I initially assumed
it was fglrx, but no, it happens with nv, nvidia, and radeon drivers as
well.

Final score: vino -3, libvnc.so 0

So, yeah. I guess I should file some bugs or something if no one else
has already.
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