Remotix for iOS: Help

1. Introduction
2. Server list
3. Viewer
3.1 Gestures
3.2 Toolbar
4. Connection settings
5. Security
6. Supported servers and authentication modes
7. How to set up a VNC server
8. Connect to a Mac using authentication key instead of password

1. Introduction

Remotix is a powerful yet simple VNC and Apple Remote Desktop client for iOS. It allows you to connect to any remote computer running any operating system from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

2. Server list

Remotix home screen presents a list of known and nearby servers available to connect. You may add a new server manually or select one of nearby servers found automatically via Bonjour.

Servers you never visited before would have default “blank” thumbnail and no stored settings.

Remotix regularly scans your network for available servers thus refreshing the NEARBY list.

On the first connect to a Bonjour server, the only option you need to choose is the authentication type. After disconnect this server will be moved to the STORED list. All settings that you’ve selected or changed on-the-fly would be stored. Don’t be confused if you lost this server in the NEARBY list, look into the STORED part.

To add a server manually:

1. Press [ + ] button
2. Remotix will ask you to set the new server up. The Host/IP field is mandatory; all the other fields are optional. If you leave the Port field blank, Remotix will use the default value (port 5900).
3. When you finish, press [ Done ] button. The new server will appear at the end of STORED list with a default thumbnail.

When you disconnect from a server, Remotix will save its screen for you as a thumbnail to help you recognize it later. The thumbnail will be refreshed at the end of every session.

3. Viewer

When you connect to a server Remotix shows you the Viewer screen channeling remote desktop. Please note: If you have connected to Mac OS X using “Ask for observe” option, you’ll be in the Observe mode and won’t be able to control the server.

3.1 Gestures

Remotix provides multitouch gestures for the following actions:

• pan:
  
  
  
• zoom:
  
  
  
• click:
  
  
  
• double click:
  
  
  
• right click:
  
  
  
• drag:
  
  
  
• scroll: move two fingers in vertical direction to scroll vertically
  or (Mac OS X servers only) in horizontal direction to scroll horizontally
  
  
  
• show the hiding Dock or taskbar: pan the screen in opposite direction
  
  
  

3.2 Toolbar

Remotix toolbar contains the most useful buttons to manage your connection and to control the server.

• Keyboards
  Remotix allows you to use two keyboards: standard iOS keyboard and Remotix extended one. Extended keyboard provides you with keys that you cannot access through standard iOS keyboard, such as F1-F10, Escape and cursor keys. Special buttons for “Cut”, “Copy” and “Paste” actions are also included.


• Right click mode
  This button will imitate right mouse click instead of left one while it is pressed. It won’t be released until you do tap (e.g. panning gesture won’t cause it to release).


• Modifiers
  Modifier keys (⌃, ⌥, ⌘ / Ctrl, Alt, Win) are put on the toolbar. Once you press a modifier button, it stays pressed until released.
  E.g.: to close a browser tab, first you press a modifier (⌘ or Ctrl), then ‘T’, then modifier again.


• Connection settings
  You may change connection settings on-the-fly. Press the gear icon in the right to edit preferences of current connection. The new settings will be applied immediately.

4. Connection settings

Options for Mac-based servers:

• Adaptive quality
  If set, Remotix will use adaptive quality codec provided by Apple Screen Sharing™. This codec minimizes buffering and guarantees a fast start. It also provides a fast performance on average and slow connections.


• Keyboard through clipboard paste
  Having this option on you don’t need to switch the keyboard layout on your server. You can type any national characters from keyboard layouts installed on your device.


• Color depth
  You can adjust color depth of the Viewer screen. The higher the color depth value – the better picture you see and the better bandwidth you need. You can get satisfying level of picture quality vs. performance adjusting this option, e.g. on 3G connection you need to set it on 16 bits.


• Server scaling
  You can further improve performance of Remotix on zoomed out view by setting up this option. On the connect stage Remotix sends a command to server to send back downscaled image. This will reduce required bandwidth and free your device resources.


• Display type
  Use Virtual display type to access the virtual desktop of remote server. That option allows you to work on a server without interfering with actions of currently logged user.
  IMPORTANT: Do not connect with already logged in user’s account using this mode. This action can hang the server.

Options for other servers:

• Operating system
  Selected server OS defines extended keyboard layout (OS-dependant modifiers) and Dock / taskbar icon for the corresponding gesture and ensures correct work of cut/copy/paste extended keyboard buttons.


• Preferred encodings
  You may change the preferred order of graphical encodings used by Remotix for every server. Encodings that require increasing bandwidth decrease processing requirements, and vice versa. While connecting, Remotix will use the first encoding in list which is supported by server. If all encodings are turned off, the raw encoding will be used (which does not perform any compression and needs the widest bandwidth).


• Color depth
  You can adjust color depth of the Viewer screen. The higher the value – the greater the width of bandwidth used. You can get satisfying level of picture quality vs. performance adjusting this option, e.g. on GPRS connection you need to set it on 8 bits.

5. Security

You may use a secured connection through SSH if your server supports it. To establish a secured connection, enable “Use SSH tunnel” option in Remotix connection preferences.
You will be asked to provide the following information:

• SSH username
  This is the username that you'll use to login via SSH. Usually it's the same as your OS login on the remote computer.
  To enable SSH connection on your Mac, do the following:
  1. Go to System Preferences -> Sharing pane
  2. Enable Remote Login service


• Authentication type
  You may choose either interactive or public key-based way to authenticate.
  For interactive, you have to enter password associated with the SSH username. For public-key based authentication, you need to have a pair of keys. For detailed instructions, see section 8.
  


• SSH password (or Private key passphrase)
  You may fill it in advance, or leave blank if you want to be asked for this password on every connection attempt.
  


• SSH host and SSH port fields are optional, and in most cases you don’t have to fill them in.
  

6. Supported servers and authentication modes

Remotix supports the following servers and authentication modes:

1. Mac OS X Screen Sharing™: Ask for observe, Ask for control, Mac OS X authentication (Mac OS X username + password);
2. UltraVNC: VNC password, MS Logon II authentication (Windows username + password);
3. RealVNC (without encryption): VNC password;
4. TightVNC: VNC password;
5. TigerVNC: VNC password;
6. TurboVNC: VNC password;
7. x11vnc: VNC password.

You may also connect to any of supported servers over SSH.

7. How to set up a VNC server

7.1 You own a Mac

The easiest way is to enable Screen Sharing on your Mac.
Do the following:

1. Go to Sharing pane in System Preferences.
2. Select Remote Management service in the list and enable it.
3. Look to the right and make sure that access is allowed for all users.
4. Press the Options… button and enable all options in list.
5. Press the Computer settings… button and enable “Anyone may request permission to control screen” option.

7.2 You own a PC

First, you have to choose one VNC server. The most popular ones are Ultra VNC and Tight VNC.

• How to set up a Tight VNC server
  1. Go to Tight VNC website and download Self-installing package for Windows.
  2. Install it. Default installation settings are OK.
  3. Start TightVNC in Service mode if it didn’t start automatically.
  4. You should see a TightVNC service icon in tray, informing you that VNC service started successfully.


• How to set up an Ultra VNC server
  
  1. Go to Ultra VNC download page and download the latest version of Full installer.
  2. Install it. On Select Additional Tasks step make sure that two upper checkboxes are checked (“Register UltraVNC Server as a system service” and “Start or restart UltraVNC service”).
  3. After installing, go to server preferences and set your own VNC password.
  
  If you want to enable access by using your Windows username and password, do the following:
  4. Enable Require MS Logon and New MS Logon options,
  5. Press Configure MS Logon Groups button and enable full control for the user you will log in as.
  6. In Windows XP you have to disable Force Guest option in registry. Executing this .reg file will do the job: disableforceguest.reg.zip.
  
  Always make sure that UltraVNC is able to save changes in preferences. In Windows XP you need to uncheck “Protect my computer and data from unauthorized program activity” option; in Windows 7 you need to “allow this program to make changes to your computer”.

8. Connect to a Mac using authentication key instead of password

The advantage of this method, is that you don’t need different passwords to log on different servers. Once the public key is installed on the server, access will be granted with no password question. You can also authenticate via the personal private key on all servers, needing not to remember several passwords.

After you create two associated keys, the public key has to be stored on the remote computer host, and the private key should be stored on your device.

To generate a pair of keys on a Mac, do the following:

1. Open Terminal.app
2. Execute this command: ssh-keygen
3. Enter passphrase that will be the password needed to use your private key. (This could save you from unauthorized access under your username if the device with private key is stolen.)
4. Repeat passphrase
5. Open the folder where your pair of keys was saved. If you used default location, you may go there using this command: open ~/.ssh/

To install the public key on the server, simply add the contents of client’s ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub to the server’s ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.
In most cases, this command will do the trick: cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

To save your private key to the device:

1. Connect your device to your computer
2. Select the device and go to Apps tab, then scroll down to the File Sharing section
3. Select Remotix in the Apps list
4. Drag the private key file (usually named id_rsa) to the Remotix documents

To connect securely using this key:

1. Go to Security preferences of your connection in Remotix
2. Select Public Key authentication type
3. Select Private key file from the list of stored keys
4. Enter key passphrase if needed
5. Save connection preferences.

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