11 ms·

Show HN: Remote Desktop from any browser

65 points by asadlionpk 9y ago

lozzo 9y ago
yet another site which asks for your email before showing you anything. Just one page telling how incredible this is. But not even a page about the authors/makers and how the magic (not plugin required) works.
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  I tried showing a quick demo in the attached video. I wonder how can I improve this.
  - skrowl 9y ago
    You may want to include differences from [mstsc.js](https://github.com/citronneur/mstsc.js https://github.com/citronneur/mstsc.js) for RDP and [noVNC](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC https://github.com/novnc/noVNC) for VNC, apart from those are both being free open source software while yours is closed source monthly subscription software.
  - JasonFruit 9y ago
    The demo didn't show up for me (Brave v.0.20.29) until I started to scroll down, and it was not obvious to me that I could do so until I read this comment and wondered. EDIT: to be clear, there was enough screen real estate to show it; it was simply empty white.
    - asadlionpk 9y ago
      Might be a bug. Let me try it on Brave.
      - sprt 9y ago
        Same bug happened to me on Chrome stable, though only on the first load
tdburn 9y ago
Chrome remote desktop is very fast, speedwise how does this compare?
- skrowl 9y ago
  I feel like it got a little slower when they moved it from a Chrome App to https://remotedesktop.google.com https://remotedesktop.google.com as part of deprecating Chrome Apps. Other than that, it's pretty great (and simple to use). I always recommend it to people with Windows home editions, since they can't use RDP.
  - tmikaeld 9y ago
    Is it private? I know it says it's encrypted, but that's not the same as end-to-end encrypted.
TooMuchWoW 9y ago
How would this compare to something such as https://guacamole.apache.org/ https://guacamole.apache.org/
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  This is built around guac but more of a managed version with a custom frontend and browser client.
- bedros 9y ago
  if you install Guacamole on a server, what kind of software to be installed on machines that need remote access? there's no mention of how to access windows machines, even thought it's in the demo?
  - celere 9y ago
    There's a HTML5 browser interface. With some basic scripting/"programming" skills and some front-end magic anyone could build such a service. More important is a good network and security engineer to keep it safe and stable for everyone (around the globe).
sena 9y ago
Does this use Apache Guacamole or is it a custom-made software?
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  This indeed is mostly a wrapper around guac. But we did design a custom client protocol for speed.
  - skrowl 9y ago
    Doesn't Guacamole Client's Apache License 2.0 require you to provide copyright notice / attribution for using it in this way? I don't see it anywhere here.
    - sena 9y ago
      I think the Apache License 2.0 does not require any attribution or copyright notice, unless you redistribute the source code. https://www.apache.org/foundation/license-faq.html#WhatDoesItMEAN https://www.apache.org/foundation/license-faq.html#WhatDoesI...
      - mynameisvlad 9y ago
        From the license itself, it seems like you do need to include the license contents within the derivative work somewhere. Since "Derivative works" includes "Object" (compiled) projects, and 4a states: > You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy of this License They're pretty clear on attribution being in the source only in 4c: > You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Source form of the Work, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works
        asadlionpk 9y ago
        OP here. So it’s okay to keep the license in source only right? Do I need to attribute on the site too?
giancarlostoro 9y ago
How does it fair against a firewall or behind a router? Is it just a simple client for convenience or does it provide a server too? Cause being able to pass through a firewall would be worth paying for, otherwise I still have the same problems as using a normal client.
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  This works through websockets. So if you (the client) can access this website, you can RDP to your machines.
  - giancarlostoro 9y ago
    But how does it work if I can't normally RDP to my computer due to NAT router?
    - celere 9y ago
      ngrok.com (freemium) or https://github.com/mmatczuk/go-http-tunnel https://github.com/mmatczuk/go-http-tunnel (open source, needs some afford, very fast and easy configurable) btw. @op go-http-tunnel would provides you with great base for a "branded" ngrok like client for your users.
      - asadlionpk 9y ago
        Thanks for the link. I have been planning on doing this since most people don’t keep their machines with public IP.
  - gshulegaard 9y ago
    Just so you know, it doesn't require websockets. There is a HTTP tunnel fall back (at least there was one when I worked with guac). Quick search seems to suggest the HTTP fallback persists: https://glyptodon.org/jira/browse/GUAC-1474 https://glyptodon.org/jira/browse/GUAC-1474
Gys 9y ago
I think this only works on the local network (or vpn) ? In which case I wonder what the added value is ? There are several free solutions that work exactly like this in a local network (like vnc). The only (?!) difference is you asking money ? The bigger challenge (and therefore added value) is to access desktops from remote locations. Similar to TeamViewer or Google RemoteDesktop.
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  This should work from anywhere if the server you are connecting to has a public IP.
  - Gys 9y ago
    None of 'all my desktops' have a public ip. Therefore I use Teamviewer or Google RemoteDesktop which give access to any desktop anywhere. Occasionally I use vnc or rdp for the networks where I can use vpn for access. Its still very unclear to me what your added valude is ?
    - ksk 9y ago
      I believe most of the rented VMs on AWS/Azure have public IPs. I suppose you could use this product with those.
      - yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
        But in that case we can just run vnc on the server
        ksk 9y ago
        I've found RDP to be a better protocol, personally.
        yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
        Once it's set up I agree, but it's a bit of a pain to set up on Linux servers (in my limited experience, even including SSH encapsulation to make vnc not completely vulnerable).
chaz6 9y ago
Do you support smart card authentication?
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  Not right now! I wonder if that's doable here.
  - celere 9y ago
    Chrome provides the WebUSB API for example: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/03/access-usb-devices-on-the-web https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/03/access-usb...
andihow 9y ago
Fun Story: I decided i wanted to be able to VNC into my home computer while I was at work for various reasons. I fwd'd port 5900 from my router to my pc and would just point my VNC client at work to my home IP. This worked well for a really long time until one night I came home, turned my PC on and discovered a crypto miner running and upon checking my webhistory my g-mail account, lastpass vault and pretty much every other account I had had been accessed and drained. Checked Windows system logs and saw the guy got in through VNC, even though i had a reasonably complex password and secure connection enabled. How does this protect me against people using stuff like shodan or masscan from finding my connection details and bruteforcing the pw?
thrownaway954 9y ago
What measures have take to secure your infrastructure??? If someone is able to penetrate your network can they now have access to all your clients machines???
- thrownaway954 9y ago
  just the lack of _any_ answer from the founder shows me that they haven't even thought this far into the security of their product and that, _right there_, tells me I shouldn't be using their product.
gshulegaard 9y ago
So relevant: https://guacamole.apache.org/ https://guacamole.apache.org/ Back ~4 years ago I did a similar web application as a way to bring a legacy Windows desktop to the web...I used the Guacamole project before it was brought into the ASF. It was remarkably easy to use and even modify for our business use case.
- disease 9y ago
  I learned about guacamole about a year ago from HN and it is amazingly useful software. I use it as a way to have a cloud desktop on a linode instance. I've heard some great use cases, such as people using it to serve up legacy software as a simple web app. Awesome stuff!
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  This project is based on guac too. I LOVED guacamole. One thing I didn’t like was the client dependency on Java and Tomcat. So I wrote a client myself and made some improvements in websocket protocol. It’s still a wip.
  - askz 9y ago
    Do you have it somewhere on, like, github ?
    - asadlionpk 9y ago
      Not yet but I plan to. It's written in nodejs.
modzu 9y ago
remoteApp support?
timwis 9y ago
Do you have to install anything on the host machine? Or can both just go to the website? (Will this help me fix my mom's computer remotely?)
- asadlionpk 9y ago
  Unfortunately not a replacement for teamviewer right now. This only helps you access machines that already have Remote Desktop enabled and accessible on public internet. Like servers.

65 points by asadlionpk 9y ago

yet another site which asks for your email before showing you anything. Just one page telling how incredible this is. But not even a page about the authors/makers and how the magic (not plugin required) works.

asadlionpk 9y ago
I tried showing a quick demo in the attached video. I wonder how can I improve this.
- skrowl 9y ago
  You may want to include differences from [mstsc.js](https://github.com/citronneur/mstsc.js https://github.com/citronneur/mstsc.js) for RDP and [noVNC](https://github.com/novnc/noVNC https://github.com/novnc/noVNC) for VNC, apart from those are both being free open source software while yours is closed source monthly subscription software.
- JasonFruit 9y ago
  The demo didn't show up for me (Brave v.0.20.29) until I started to scroll down, and it was not obvious to me that I could do so until I read this comment and wondered. EDIT: to be clear, there was enough screen real estate to show it; it was simply empty white.
  - asadlionpk 9y ago
    Might be a bug. Let me try it on Brave.
    - sprt 9y ago
      Same bug happened to me on Chrome stable, though only on the first load

tdburn 9y ago

Chrome remote desktop is very fast, speedwise how does this compare?

skrowl 9y ago
I feel like it got a little slower when they moved it from a Chrome App to https://remotedesktop.google.com https://remotedesktop.google.com as part of deprecating Chrome Apps. Other than that, it's pretty great (and simple to use). I always recommend it to people with Windows home editions, since they can't use RDP.
- tmikaeld 9y ago
  Is it private? I know it says it's encrypted, but that's not the same as end-to-end encrypted.

TooMuchWoW 9y ago

How would this compare to something such as https://guacamole.apache.org/ https://guacamole.apache.org/

asadlionpk 9y ago
This is built around guac but more of a managed version with a custom frontend and browser client.
bedros 9y ago
if you install Guacamole on a server, what kind of software to be installed on machines that need remote access? there's no mention of how to access windows machines, even thought it's in the demo?
- celere 9y ago
  There's a HTML5 browser interface. With some basic scripting/"programming" skills and some front-end magic anyone could build such a service. More important is a good network and security engineer to keep it safe and stable for everyone (around the globe).

sena 9y ago

Does this use Apache Guacamole or is it a custom-made software?

asadlionpk 9y ago
This indeed is mostly a wrapper around guac. But we did design a custom client protocol for speed.
- skrowl 9y ago
  Doesn't Guacamole Client's Apache License 2.0 require you to provide copyright notice / attribution for using it in this way? I don't see it anywhere here.
  - sena 9y ago
    I think the Apache License 2.0 does not require any attribution or copyright notice, unless you redistribute the source code. https://www.apache.org/foundation/license-faq.html#WhatDoesItMEAN https://www.apache.org/foundation/license-faq.html#WhatDoesI...
    - mynameisvlad 9y ago
      From the license itself, it seems like you do need to include the license contents within the derivative work somewhere. Since "Derivative works" includes "Object" (compiled) projects, and 4a states: > You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy of this License They're pretty clear on attribution being in the source only in 4c: > You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Source form of the Work, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works
      - asadlionpk 9y ago
        OP here. So it’s okay to keep the license in source only right? Do I need to attribute on the site too?

giancarlostoro 9y ago

How does it fair against a firewall or behind a router? Is it just a simple client for convenience or does it provide a server too? Cause being able to pass through a firewall would be worth paying for, otherwise I still have the same problems as using a normal client.

asadlionpk 9y ago
This works through websockets. So if you (the client) can access this website, you can RDP to your machines.
- giancarlostoro 9y ago
  But how does it work if I can't normally RDP to my computer due to NAT router?
  - celere 9y ago
    ngrok.com (freemium) or https://github.com/mmatczuk/go-http-tunnel https://github.com/mmatczuk/go-http-tunnel (open source, needs some afford, very fast and easy configurable) btw. @op go-http-tunnel would provides you with great base for a "branded" ngrok like client for your users.
    - asadlionpk 9y ago
      Thanks for the link. I have been planning on doing this since most people don’t keep their machines with public IP.
- gshulegaard 9y ago
  Just so you know, it doesn't require websockets. There is a HTTP tunnel fall back (at least there was one when I worked with guac). Quick search seems to suggest the HTTP fallback persists: https://glyptodon.org/jira/browse/GUAC-1474 https://glyptodon.org/jira/browse/GUAC-1474

Gys 9y ago

I think this only works on the local network (or vpn) ? In which case I wonder what the added value is ? There are several free solutions that work exactly like this in a local network (like vnc). The only (?!) difference is you asking money ? The bigger challenge (and therefore added value) is to access desktops from remote locations. Similar to TeamViewer or Google RemoteDesktop.

asadlionpk 9y ago
This should work from anywhere if the server you are connecting to has a public IP.
- Gys 9y ago
  None of 'all my desktops' have a public ip. Therefore I use Teamviewer or Google RemoteDesktop which give access to any desktop anywhere. Occasionally I use vnc or rdp for the networks where I can use vpn for access. Its still very unclear to me what your added valude is ?
  - ksk 9y ago
    I believe most of the rented VMs on AWS/Azure have public IPs. I suppose you could use this product with those.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
      But in that case we can just run vnc on the server
      - ksk 9y ago
        I've found RDP to be a better protocol, personally.
        yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
        Once it's set up I agree, but it's a bit of a pain to set up on Linux servers (in my limited experience, even including SSH encapsulation to make vnc not completely vulnerable).

chaz6 9y ago

Do you support smart card authentication?

asadlionpk 9y ago
Not right now! I wonder if that's doable here.
- celere 9y ago
  Chrome provides the WebUSB API for example: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/03/access-usb-devices-on-the-web https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/03/access-usb...

andihow 9y ago

Fun Story: I decided i wanted to be able to VNC into my home computer while I was at work for various reasons. I fwd'd port 5900 from my router to my pc and would just point my VNC client at work to my home IP. This worked well for a really long time until one night I came home, turned my PC on and discovered a crypto miner running and upon checking my webhistory my g-mail account, lastpass vault and pretty much every other account I had had been accessed and drained. Checked Windows system logs and saw the guy got in through VNC, even though i had a reasonably complex password and secure connection enabled. How does this protect me against people using stuff like shodan or masscan from finding my connection details and bruteforcing the pw?

thrownaway954 9y ago

What measures have take to secure your infrastructure??? If someone is able to penetrate your network can they now have access to all your clients machines???

thrownaway954 9y ago
just the lack of _any_ answer from the founder shows me that they haven't even thought this far into the security of their product and that, _right there_, tells me I shouldn't be using their product.

gshulegaard 9y ago

So relevant: https://guacamole.apache.org/ https://guacamole.apache.org/ Back ~4 years ago I did a similar web application as a way to bring a legacy Windows desktop to the web...I used the Guacamole project before it was brought into the ASF. It was remarkably easy to use and even modify for our business use case.

disease 9y ago
I learned about guacamole about a year ago from HN and it is amazingly useful software. I use it as a way to have a cloud desktop on a linode instance. I've heard some great use cases, such as people using it to serve up legacy software as a simple web app. Awesome stuff!
asadlionpk 9y ago
This project is based on guac too. I LOVED guacamole. One thing I didn’t like was the client dependency on Java and Tomcat. So I wrote a client myself and made some improvements in websocket protocol. It’s still a wip.
- askz 9y ago
  Do you have it somewhere on, like, github ?
  - asadlionpk 9y ago
    Not yet but I plan to. It's written in nodejs.

modzu 9y ago

remoteApp support?

timwis 9y ago

Do you have to install anything on the host machine? Or can both just go to the website? (Will this help me fix my mom's computer remotely?)

asadlionpk 9y ago
Unfortunately not a replacement for teamviewer right now. This only helps you access machines that already have Remote Desktop enabled and accessible on public internet. Like servers.