path: root/doc/krdc/index.docbook

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN" "dtd/kdex.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY kappname "&krdc;">
  <!ENTITY package "tdenetwork">
  <!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
  <!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE"> <!-- ONLY If you are writing non-English 
                                     original documentation, change 
                                     the language here -->
    
  <!-- Do not define any other entities; instead, use the entities
       from entities/general.entities and $LANG/user.entities. -->
]>
<!-- Based on kdoctemplate v0.9 January 10 2003 -->

<book lang="&language;">

<!-- This header contains all of the meta-information for the document such
as Authors, publish date, the abstract, and Keywords -->

<bookinfo>
<title>The &krdc; Handbook</title>

<authorgroup>
<author>
&Brad.Hards;
&Brad.Hards.mail;
</author>
</authorgroup>

<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->

<copyright>
<year>2003</year>
<holder>&Brad.Hards;</holder>
</copyright>
<!-- Translators: put here the copyright notice of the translation -->

<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>

<date>2003-09-27</date>
<releaseinfo>1.0.0</releaseinfo>

<abstract>
<para>
&krdc; is a client application that allows you to view or even control
the desktop session on another machine that is running a compatible
(VNC) server.
</para>
</abstract>

<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>tdenetwork</keyword>
<keyword>krfb</keyword>
<keyword>VNC</keyword>
<keyword>RFB</keyword>
<keyword>krdc</keyword>
<keyword>Desktop Sharing</keyword>
<keyword>Remote Control</keyword>
<keyword>Remote Assistance</keyword>
<keyword>Remote Desktop</keyword>
</keywordset>

</bookinfo>

<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>
&krdc; is a client application that allows you to view or even control
the desktop session on another machine that is running a compatible
(VNC) server.
</para>

<para>
You would typically use &krdc; with the &kde; VNC server, which is
&krfb;, since it closely matches the special features of &krdc;.
</para>

<para>
Please report any problems or feature requests to the &kde; mailing
lists or file a bug at <ulink
url="http://bugs.kde.org">http://www.bugs.kde.org</ulink>. 
</para>
</chapter>

<chapter id="what-is-RFB">
<title>The Remote Frame Buffer protocol</title>

<para>
This chapter provides a brief description of the Remote Frame Buffer
protocol used by &krdc; and by other compatible systems. If you are
already familiar with Remote Frame Buffer, you can safely skip this
chapter.
</para>

<para>
The high level implementation of a system using the Remote Frame
Buffer protocol is known as Virtual Network Computer, or more often
just as <acronym>VNC</acronym>. 
</para>

<para>
Remote Frame Buffer (or <acronym>RFB</acronym> for short) is a simple
protocol for remote access to graphical user interfaces. It works at
the frame-buffer level, which roughly corresponds to the rendered
screen image, which means that it can be applied to all windowing
systems (including X11, &MacOS; and &Microsoft; &Windows;). Remote
Frame Buffer applications exist for many platforms, and can often be
free re-distributed.
</para>

<para>
In the Remote Frame Buffer protocol, the application that runs on the
machine where the user sits (containing the display, keyboard and
pointer) is called the client. The application that runs on the
machine where the framebuffer is located (which is running the
windowing system and applications that the user is remotely
controlling) is called the server. &krdc; is the &kde; client for the
Remote Frame Buffer protocol. &krfb; is the &kde; server for the
Remote Frame Buffer protocol. 
</para>

<para>
It takes a reasonable amount of network traffic to send an image of
the framebuffer, so Remote Frame Buffer works best over high
bandwidth links, such as a local area network. It is still possible to
use &krdc; over other links, but performance is unlikely to be as good.
</para>

</chapter>

<chapter id="using-krdc">
<title>Using &krdc;</title>

<para>
It is very easy to use &krdc; - it has a simple interface, as shown in
the screenshot below.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Here's a screenshot of &krdc;</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; main window</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
If you click on the <guibutton>Browse &lt;&lt;</guibutton> button, you
will get an even simpler interface, as shown below.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; main window, without browse functionality</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot_nobrowse.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot_nobrowse.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; main window, without browse functionality</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
If you click on the <guibutton>Browse &gt;&gt;</guibutton> button, you
will get the normal interface back.
</para>

<sect1 id="compatible-versions"><title>Connecting &krdc; to compatible servers</title>

<para>
&krdc; is a client, and it needs to be used with compatible
servers. There are three ways to connect to those servers:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Directly typing the server name (or IP address) into the
<guilabel>Remote desktop:</guilabel> combo box.</para> 
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>By using an invitation that you received. &krfb; uses
invitations, and can send them by email.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>By using Service Location Protocol browsing.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
Let's look at each of these in turn.
</para>

<sect2><title>Server name entry</title>
<para>
If you know the host name (or IP address) of the server you want to
connect to, you can enter it directly into the <guilabel>Remote
desktop:</guilabel> combo box.
</para>

<para>
If you want to connect to a machine named megan, which is
running a <acronym>VNC</acronym> server on screen 1, you can enter
<userinput>megan:1</userinput> or alternatively as
<userinput>vnc:/megan:1</userinput> into the <guilabel>Remote
desktop:</guilabel> combo box.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Entering a hostname into &krdc;</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot_vncentry.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot_vncentry.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>Entering a hostname into &krdc;</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
Similary, if you are using a <acronym>RFB</acronym> server on that
machine, you can enter <userinput>rfb:/megan</userinput>. RFB does not
need the screen number to be specified.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Using an invitation</title>
<para>
Within the &krfb; server application, it is possible to send
invitations over email (and in other ways, although email is the most
useful). If you receive this type of email invitation, you can just
click on the link provided in the mail. 
This will start &krdc; if it is not already running, and connect to
the server specified in the invitation.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Using Service Location Protocol</title>
<para>
The third way to use &krdc; is to browse using Service Location
Protocol. A list of compatible servers that are registered with the
Service Location Protocol system is shown in a list in the center of
the main window:
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; showing service browsing</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; showing service browsing</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<note>
<para>
If your main window doesn't contain the table, remember that you can
use the <guibutton>Browse &gt;&gt;</guibutton> to get back to the full
&krdc; window. Also, not all compatible servers support automatic
registration - one that does is the &krfb; server which is part of
&kde;.
</para>
</note>

<para>
If you click once on an entry in the table, it will be selected, and
you can use the <guibutton>Connect</guibutton> to establish a
connection to the server. As a short-cut, you can just double-click on
an entry, which will also establish a connection.
</para>

<para>
While Service Location Protocol will usually detect new servers
becoming available, you can also force the &krdc; to scan for new
servers. This is done using the <guibutton>Rescan</guibutton>. When
you ask for a scan, the button is disabled (greyed out) while the scan
is being performed - this typically takes a few seconds.
</para>

<para>
When using Service Location Protocol, the concept of Scopes is
important. If there are a lot of services being advertised, it can
become unwieldy to scan through a list. A re-scan can also produce
a lot of network traffic. To avoid this problem, administrator's can
configure Service Location Protocol with a set of Scopes, and only
register services in certain scopes. For example, a host may be
registered in the "third_floor" scope and the "logistics" scope, but
not in the "engineering" scope or "maintenance" scope. In smaller
setups, everything is only registered in the "DEFAULT" scope. &krdc;
supports selection of a scope other than "DEFAULT", using the
<guilabel>Scope:</guilabel> drop-down box in the top right hand corner
of the main window.
</para>
</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="connection"><title>What happens when you connect</title>

<para>
No matter how you select the server to connect to, the next thing that
happens is that &krdc; asks you about the network connection to the
server, as shown below:
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; connection speed selection</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot_connectionspeed.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="snapshot_connectionspeed.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; connection speed selection</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
There are three speed settings:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>High Quality (LAN, direct connection), which is the
default, and you should evaluate how well this setting performs before
selecting a lower performance option that uses less bandwidth.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Medium Quality (DSL, Cable, fast
Internet).</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Low Quality (Modem, ISDN, slow
Internet).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
If you always operate over the same link type, you can deselect the
checkbox labelled <guilabel>Show this dialog again for this
host</guilabel>, which means that you won't be asked about the
connection type again for this host, providing you identify it in the
same way. For example, if a host has two names, and deselect the
checkbox when connecting using one name, you won't get asked if you
connect using that name, although you will be asked if you use the
other name, or the IP address.
</para>

<para>
You select the appropriate speed setting, and select the
<guibutton>Connect</guibutton> to proceed.
</para>

<para>
You will then see a small window containing a progress bar, which
fills in as &krdc; negotiates the connection.
</para>

<para>
Depending on the configuration of the server, you may (and almost
certainly will) need to provide a password to authenticate to the
server. &krdc; will provide a password dialog similar to that shown
below. 
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; password entry</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="authentication.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="authentication.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; password entry</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
After authentication, you will be connected to the remote server, and
can begin using &krdc; to observe or control the remote desktop.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="controlling-remote"><title>Controlling the remote desktop connection</title>

<para>
Having connected to the remote server, you would normally use the
keyboard and mouse to control the windowing system and applications on
that remote machine. 
</para>

<para>
You can view the remote desktop either as a full screen, or as a
window on the local desktop. You can change between these modes using
icons shown below.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; full screen mode selection</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="window_fullscreen.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; full screen mode selection</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; window mode selection</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="window_nofullscreen.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; window mode selection</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
Full screen mode is normally better when you are helping a remote
user, because you can see all of what they can see. Window mode is
most useful when you are working both remotely and locally - perhaps
referring to some local documentation and then using those
instructions on the remote machine.
</para>

<sect2><title>Using window mode</title>

<para>
&krdc; in window mode looks something like the screenshot below.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; window</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="krdc_window.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="krdc_window.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; window</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
In window mode, you can terminate the connection by closing the window.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Using full screen mode</title>

<para>
In full screen mode, you can terminate the connection by selecting the
red "close" icon, which is shown below.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; close icon</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="close.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; close icon</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="managing-configuration"><title>Managing &krdc; configuration</title>
<para>
Using the <guibutton>Preferences...</guibutton> button in the bottom
left hand corner of the the &krdc; main window, you can open a dialog
to modify the behaviour of &krdc;. Selecting that button brings up a
window as shown below:
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; preferences - Host Profiles tab</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="preferences_profilestab.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="preferences_profilestab.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; preferences - <guilabel>Host Profiles</guilabel> tab</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; preferences - <guilabel>VNC Defaults</guilabel> tab</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="preferences_vncdefaultstab.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="preferences_vncdefaultstab.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; preferences - <guilabel>VNC
Defaults</guilabel> profiles tab</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&krdc; preferences - <guilabel>RDP Defaults</guilabel> tab</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="preferences_rdpdefaultstab.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="preferences_rdpdefaultstab.eps" format="EPS"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&krdc; preferences - <guilabel>RDP
Defaults</guilabel> profiles tab</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>


</sect1>

</chapter>

<chapter id="dcop">
<title>Developer's Guide to &krdc;</title>

<para>
&krdc; supports a small number of &DCOP; commands, which are described
in this chapter. If you aren't familiar with &DCOP;, then you don't
need to worry about this. However if you'd like to automate some of
your &krdc; (or other &kde; application) actions, &DCOP; is a useful
tool. You can find out more about &DCOP; in its on-line documentation,
and in tutorials on <ulink
url="http://developer.kde.org">http://developer.kde.org</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
You can shut down the &krdc; application using the quit command, as
shown in this example:
</para>

<informalexample>
<screen>
<prompt>&percnt;</prompt>dcop krdc-25550 MainApplication-Interface quit
</screen>
</informalexample>

<note>
<para>
You will need to change the <userinput>krdc-25550</userinput> in the
example to match the instance of &krdc; that you actually want to
shutdown. If you run <command>dcop</command> with no options, you will
get a list of all applications that are running and &DCOP; can
control.
</para>
</note>

</chapter>

<chapter id="faq">
<title>Questions and Answers</title>

<!-- (OPTIONAL but recommended) This chapter should include all of the silly
(and not-so-silly) newbie questions that fill up your mailbox. This chapter
should be reserved for BRIEF questions and answers! If one question uses more
than a page or so then it should probably be part of the
"Using this Application" chapter instead. You should use links to
cross-reference questions to the parts of your documentation that answer them.
This is also a great place to provide pointers to other FAQ's if your users
must do some complicated configuration on other programs in order for your
application work. -->


&reporting.bugs;
&updating.documentation;

<qandaset id="faqlist">
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>When I start &krdc;, I get a message box that reads
<computeroutput> Browsing the network is not possible. You probably
did not install SLP support correctly.</computeroutput>
What is wrong?</para> 
</question>
<answer>
<para>SLP is Service Location Protocol, and is typically provided by
<application>OpenSLP</application>, or by <application>The
Knot</application>. </para>
<para>
If you compiled &krdc; yourself, this probably
means that &krdc; has been compiled against the SLP libraries, but
the server (probably called <command>slpd</command> or
<command>knotd</command>) isn't running. You normally need to start
these servers as the superuser, which may mean requesting that your
system administrator does this, if you can't do this yourself.
</para>
<para>
If you are running a packaged version of &krdc;, then you may have some missing
dependencies. There are so many ways this can happen that you'd need
to seek support from whoever did the packaging.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandaset>

</chapter>

<chapter id="credits">

<!-- Include credits for the programmers, documentation writers, and
contributors here. The license for your software should then be included below
the credits with a reference to the appropriate license file included in the KDE
distribution. -->

<title>Credits and License</title>

<para>
&krdc;
</para>
<para>
Program copyright 2002 Tim Jansen <email>[email protected]</email>
</para>
<para>
Contributors:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Ian Reinhart Geiser <email>[email protected]</email></para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Documentation Copyright &copy; 2003 &Brad.Hards; &Brad.Hards.mail;
</para>

<!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->

&underFDL;               <!-- FDL: do not remove -->

&underGPL;        	 <!-- GPL License -->

</chapter>

<appendix id="installation">
<title>Installation</title>

<sect1 id="getting-krdc">
<title>How to obtain &krdc;</title>

<!-- This first entity contains boiler plate for applications that are
part of KDE CVS.  You should remove it if you are releasing your
application --> 

&install.intro.documentation;

</sect1>

<sect1 id="compilation">
<title>Compilation and Installation</title>

<!-- This entity contains the boilerplate text for standard -->
<!-- compilation instructions.  If your application requires any -->
<!-- special handling, remove it, and replace with your own text. -->

&install.compile.documentation;

</sect1>

</appendix>

&documentation.index;
</book>

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