4. Remote Control in Action

Figure 2.4. Controlling a Remote Computer

Controlling a Remote Computer

As you can see in Figure 2.4, “Controlling a Remote Computer”, once you connect to the remote computer you will see its desktop and you will be able to perform any action as if you were sitting in front of it.

[Tip]Tip

The mouse cursor becomes a round point and the remote computer's arrow-cursor will “follow” it. This can prove useful to keep track of where the cursor is at any given time.

The limiting factor of the response time of the remote computer is the speed of the link to it. For LAN connections (typically 100 Mbps), you will feel that you're really in front of the remote computer. For Internet connections (typically between 56 Kbps and 1-2 Mbps), don't expect “instantaneous” response from the controlled computer.

As an administrator, you're no longer limited to command-line access with telnet or ssh. They become the means to run the VNC server and then connect to a graphical desktop and benefit from graphical administration tools, for example the ones found in Mandrakelinux Control Center (see Section 2, “MCC's Components”, for more information).

As a user, you can access the office computer, for example a Windows® one, from your Mandrakelinux computer at home and do some work.

As a technical support person, you can show the person who has called you how to perform a given task by guiding them visually, connecting to their computer and performing that task.

Once you've finished using the remote computer, you can disconnect from it by closing the VNC viewer window. If you're using the full-screen mode, press the F8 key and select the Quit viewer option from the menu which pops up.