nanogui: Thread: Update to VNC viewer

I have updated the VNC viewer for nano-X, the main changes are:

+ Builds on 0.88pre8.
+ Uses GrSetSystemPalette() to handle 8-bit palette displays.

I had started work on this using 0.88pre7 so it was developed
in parallel with the version included in the 0.88pre8 distribution.
The palette changes are all in nanox.c which should just drop
in to the 0.88pre8 release.

You can find it at:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/way/fr30/uclinux/downloads/contents.shtml

The README is included below:

Regards,

George

=====
               README for the nano-X VNC viewer

What is VNC ?
-------------
VNC is Virtual Network Computing, you have a 'viewer' running on one
machine which allows you to control the desktop of a different
machine via the VNC 'server'. The design allows the viewer and server
to run on different hardware and different operating systems yet
still work together. What this means in practice is that you can have
a Windoze desktop in a window on your X display or vice-versa.
The viewer has also been designed to be small and portable so it
seemed like a good candidate for a nano-X application.

More info, source and binaries can be found at:

    http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/


Status of the nano-X port
-------------------------
The nano-X port is based on the VNC viewer for X, version 3.3.2.
This is the 2nd work-in-progress release, the main differences
from the previous release are:

+ Now uses GrSetSystemPalette() to handle 8-bit palette displays.
+ Builds for Microwindows 0.88pre8.

The features / limitations of this release are:

+ Compiled with Microwindows version 0.88pre8
+ Viewer tested on uClinux running on an Isicad Prisma 700
  workstation with the serial mouse driver, the tty keyboard driver
  and my own screen driver. The Prisma has a 1280 x 1024, 256 colour
  display but it is not accessible as a frame buffer so needs a 
  custom microwindows screen driver.
+ Also tested with the X11 screen driver on Slackware Linux.
+ Tested with VNC servers running on NetBSD-Amiga and Slackware
  Linux.
+ Only tested with an 8-bit palette display.
+ Keyboard handling is working but only for simple ASCII text, no
  shift-clicking.
+ Mouse seems to work OK.
+ No way to scroll the screen if the viewer window is smaller than 
  the server's screen.
+ Runs very slowly on the Prisma, most likely due to the Prisma's
  weird graphics interface.

Installation
------------
The tarball is intended to be unpacked in the src/demos subdirectory
of the Microwindows distribution. The makefiles have been adapted
from those used by the rest of the demo programs so it should build
from the top level 'make'. The resulting binary will appear as
src/bin/vnc. You will need a network connection to a VNC server
to do anything with it :-)


George Harvey
####@####.####
13th June 2000


==== end ====

: I have updated the VNC viewer for nano-X, the main changes are:
: 
: + Builds on 0.88pre8.
: + Uses GrSetSystemPalette() to handle 8-bit palette displays.

George - 
    Well done, the palette now is correct and looks great!

On my system, I still have a problem that I've seen from the beginning
when using the palette mode (that's why I had compiled the truecolor
332 support, which fixes this).  When moving large windows
around, the VNC client doesn't always display the screen correctly,
and I have to move the mouse around to repaint the screen properly.
Do you ever see this?  Also, when running in palette mode, the
area under the mouse flickers alot, which doesn't happen in 
other modes.

I'd be interested to hear your comments as to whether VNC
under Nano-X works PERFECTLY for you or not.  BTW, I'm
using Win98 as the VNC server.

Regards,

Greg

George,
    Also, when I add back in the getpass() call to get
the password for the server connection, the VNC client
fails to read the password, and fails.  That's why I commented
it out in the first place, and put a hard-coded password.  I
am using ./demo.sh to run the vnc client and nano-X server.
Does this happen to you?  I couldn't figure out how to get
a hashed password into a file.

Regards,

Greg

On 14-Jun-00, Greg Haerr wrote:
>George,
>    Also, when I add back in the getpass() call to get
>the password for the server connection, the VNC client
>fails to read the password, and fails.  That's why I commented
>it out in the first place, and put a hard-coded password.  I
>am using ./demo.sh to run the vnc client and nano-X server.
>Does this happen to you?  I couldn't figure out how to get
>a hashed password into a file.

I was wondering why you had taken out the password code, it
took me a little while to figure out why your version wouldn't
connect to my servers when I first tried it :-)

I have passwords set on the servers (Xvnc comes with a utility
'vncpasswd' to set them). On the Prisma, I am using Vnc linked
directly with the nano-X server and starting it by running 'vnc'
directly from a telnet session. To test it with the X11
screen driver, I built Vnc using the client-server option
and then start nano-X in the background followed by Vnc
in the foreground (from an xterm). I just tried it with demo.sh
and it works OK there as well.

I am going to be away again for a week but will do some testing
with a Windoze server when I get back.

Regards,

George

On 14-Jun-00, Greg Haerr wrote:

>: I have updated the VNC viewer for nano-X, the main changes are:
>: 
>: + Builds on 0.88pre8.
>: + Uses GrSetSystemPalette() to handle 8-bit palette displays.

>George - 
>    Well done, the palette now is correct and looks great!

>On my system, I still have a problem that I've seen from the beginning
>when using the palette mode (that's why I had compiled the truecolor
>332 support, which fixes this).  When moving large windows
>around, the VNC client doesn't always display the screen correctly,
>and I have to move the mouse around to repaint the screen properly.
>Do you ever see this?  Also, when running in palette mode, the
>area under the mouse flickers alot, which doesn't happen in 
>other modes.

>I'd be interested to hear your comments as to whether VNC
>under Nano-X works PERFECTLY for you or not.  BTW, I'm
>using Win98 as the VNC server.

I haven't done a lot of testing yet but the only problem I noticed
with the current version is that bits of the mouse pointer would
sometimes get left on the screen after moving a window. There may
well be some differences due to different servers, I am testing
with the Xvnc server running on NetBSD-Amiga and Linux. I should
be able to put together a Win95 server to see how that compares.
At work, I use the Win95 client talking to an NT server and that
works OK, although screen updates can be quite slow.

Regards,

George

: >On my system, I still have a problem that I've seen from the beginning
: >when using the palette mode (that's why I had compiled the truecolor
: >332 support, which fixes this).  When moving large windows
: >around, the VNC client doesn't always display the screen correctly,
: >and I have to move the mouse around to repaint the screen properly.
: >Do you ever see this?  Also, when running in palette mode, the
: >area under the mouse flickers alot, which doesn't happen in 
: >other modes.
: 
: I haven't done a lot of testing yet but the only problem I noticed
: with the current version is that bits of the mouse pointer would
: sometimes get left on the screen after moving a window.

Yes, I get that problem too, but only when I run in palette mode.
If I run the client in truecolor 332 mode, it's perfect.  I don't think
the palette mode is working yet.  Remember we don't have to 
run the client in the same mode that Microwindows is running 
on the hardware...

Regards,

Greg