Pc to Pc control

[anthony2010]

Hi all.

Its not that there are no answers on the net, its that they are either conflicting or they simply don't work. So here goes!

I have a laptop running mint cinnamon 16. This is by my side permanently. I also have a home theatre pc accross the room running Mint 17. Both systems are 64 bit.

What I want to do is control the HTPC and send files to it from my laptop. If possible using a graphical interface.

Does anyone have a link to a step by step way of doing this please?

Many thanks in advance.

Anthony.

[memilanuk]

Assuming both are inside a network under your control i.e. not an internet hotspot out in the wild... try looking @ VNC for remote desktop capabilities. Transferring files might end up being a separate matter.

The only thing I'm aware of that does both in one app is TeamViewer... which does have cross-platform apps free for personal use. It shines for things like where I needed to remote into a computer in someone else's house, upload a couple files to their desktop and then run an app on their computer, all behind firewall/NAT on both ends. One client fires up, connects to TeamViewer's servers, and the user calls/texts me with the login code. I fire up my client, enter the appropriate peering codes and connect to their desktop. Probably not an ideal use for your situation.

Might it not be a better idea to use a dedicated HTPC distro/build on the one box, assuming it should come with a web interface for things like control and file upload/download?

[anthony2010]

"Might it not be a better idea to use a dedicated HTPC distro/build on the one box, assuming it should come with a web interface for things like control and file upload/download?"

- Absolutely! Do you know of one?

Thing is, I am disabled and struggle with my eyesight so I cant see text or file names from accross the room or keep getting up to see whats on the screen. So really I was hoping to find a way of getting the htpc screen up on my laptop so I could control it from there. Something akin to the 'remote desktop' that came bundled with MS messenger back in 1998.

Ant.

[memilanuk]

As far as the HTPC software... maybe look into XBMC?

http://xbmc.org/about/
http://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/xbmc
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=In ... _for_Linux

For remote desktop control... there are a variety of clients for vnc, rdp, etc.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... nts-716346 (somewhat dated)

Still don't think any of them (other than TeamViewer) include file transfer as a *part* of the remote desktop experience - but I might be wrong.

HTH,

Monte

[woodsman]

I have an HTPC in my home. Generally I perform maintenance from my office system or laptop rather than on the HTPC. I do not have the TV powered on when I perform that maintenance.

In my case my main office computer is in a different room than the HTPC. Yet I routinely perform HTPC maintenance and updates from my office.

As you experience eyesight challenges, the tools I use should suffice for you as well because the maintenance is performed at a computer directly in front of you rather than through the HTPC TV many feet away.

Configure SSH keys at both computers. This allows you to SSH into the HTPC as well as use scp to transfer files to the HTPC.

Create some NFS exports on your laptop. Then you can SSH into the HTPC and with a short script, connect back to the NFS shares on your laptop. Once connected, use Midnight Commander (mc) in your SSH session to pull files from the laptop to the HTPC. As the entire SSH session occurs directly in front of you at your laptop, you should be able to avoid eyesight issues.

Granted, a terminal, SSH, and mc are not graphical tools, but they work quite well.

Occasionally I connect to the HTPC using VNC. However, I have my HTPC desktop locked to prevent inadvertent changes. I treat the HTPC as an appliance and don't want anything changing inadvertently, by me or other users. Thus, VNC does not prove useful (for me) for maintenance.

I even perform backups this way. All remotely, pulling the HTPC files to my backup drive in my office system.

With a modern motherboard that supports wake-on-lan, which is needed these days for a decent HTPC anyway, I sit in my office, power on the HTPC, perform maintenance, and then with my SSH session, shutdown the HTPC.

I have been maintaining my HTPC this way for many years. Yes, sometimes I login directly to the HTPC to perform tasks. I use a wireless keyboard and sit about 6 feet from the 37" TV and experience no eyesight challenges at that distance. Mostly though I maintain the HTPC remotely as described.

I hope this helps.

[anthony2010]

Well hey!

Theres some great information in there. Many, many thanks!

Its early hours here but Im going to make this a project for this week. Will post results.

Cheers to all of you for your help thus far. I am most grateful.

Anthony.

[scryan]

As far as copying files, I have been finding sftp via my media pc's ssh server very easy.

All you have to do is open your file browser and add the sftp server and you can browse your remote files/drag and drop just like they were local.