Re: General Questions

[Jens K. <je...@su...>]

(Answers inline)

Moreno, Mark C wrote:
>> 1) What is the performance if you want the server to send its entire
>> screen (1280x1024 or higher)? Can the server send out 10 frames per
>> second? 20fps? 1fps?

Depends on the updated screen area, the bandwidth between the two computers
and the computing power of the sending machine. I'd say the response feels
near real time with the settings I am using, but I doubt I've got more than
1fps.

>> 2) Is the process lossy in any way? Is compression used? What kind?

Depends on the settings :) Generally, yes there is compression used. You can
set it to raw transfer, but why would you? The process is lossy if you use
JPEG compression (a.k.a. Tight Compression).

>> 3) Can a single client receive multiple servers simultaneously? Can
>> I run 1 client application that monitors several servers via a
>> Picture-in-Picture type capability? Or do I have to bring up a
>> separate client for each server?

I think you are looking for something like VNCMonitor (I believe there are
also a few commercial VNC versions which may facilitate your needs).

>> 4) Can I resize the client window to any size regardless of the
>> server window size? Can I zoom in and out? Can I position the client
>> window anywhere?

Yes you can resize it. Either to just show a part of the server, or scale
the window. You can ofcourse place the client window anywhere you want.

>> 5) Is the code written in Java? Is the source code available?

The server is, AFAIK, not available in Java. The client is. You can get the
source code at the homepage.

>> 6) How does the server gain access the the framebuffer in order to
>> transmit it? On Linux, is it via an X-server system call? On Windows
>> how does it work technically?

No idea. I do know that some VNC implementations try to intercept the
windows GDI calls to get the necessary data, but don't ask me any details
about that. On Windows you can, however, just go ahead and dump the whole
screen into a buffer - with the exception of overlays, they'll show up
black. If you want the overlay captured, you'll probably have to capture the
drawing surface directly, but don't quote me on that, I've never tried that.

Jens Knoell