yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
bragih:

If you use vncs, can you post the command you start it with. If you use the GUI, turn on debug mode, start the server and post the cmd: it shows when you start the server.

scotty1:

Can you post your cmd: in debug mode. If you have time, can you snap the logcat right after it happens? I haven't seen this but I imagine something in my service routine is crashing when it updates the notifications or widgets. Are you maybe doing something memory intensive and my program is not gracefully exiting and the OS is killing it? Only my tablet is ICS, but I will try to reproduce it.
[Android Apps and Games] JustusIV:
Hey knoxbrder,

Long time no talk.

I was checking out a new program today and it has what vnc server needs :)

Dont know if you have heard of webkey but here is what they say.
[Android Apps and Games] matthelm:
I don't have the slightly ideal. Is there some way to check? BTW, I've been reading up on the Webtop, and it's accessing the Linux OS under the Android interface. Would this mess you up?

BTW, I can always wait until ICS comes out, and then the Webtop is running directly from Android, which should fix things, or at least simplify them.
[Android Apps and Games] bragih:
I use the GUI, cannot find the option to turn debug mode on.

it says:

cmd: /data/data/com.mrk2012.android.preferences/
vncs -d 300000 -P 5901 -k uinput -r 0 -m 2 -n

Edit:

Works now! I don't know why, didn't do anything different to the previous try. Maybe because I restarted it.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Interesting, but why not just use the "Remote Listener" feature? It should allow you to connect on any network.

I don't really want to forward all my traffic through their server.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Glad it is working. The debug option is the first option in the preferences under "Tweaks". Are you using the latest 1.80 version?
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
I haven't had time to look into how the webtops really work.

But, if you can connect and "something" shows up then the server is probably still reading the display. Does the image change at all as you change the webtop? Try major changes like opening a program with lots of black and then with lots of white. Does anything change in the vnc window? If it is changing then I probably just need to fix the resolution. If it is NOT changing then I probably can't read the webtop display. Post a picture of the garbaged VNC window if it is changing.
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Debug mode (manually typed, hope I haven't inadvertently introduced errors)

cmd: /data/data/com.mrk2012.android.preferences/vncs -d 300000 -P 5901 -p1111 -k uinput -r 0 -T 0 -m 1 -3 -s

I'll try to capture a logcat. As noted, the problem occurs only sporadically, and unpredictably. Thanks, all the best.
[Android Apps and Games] JustusIV:
My bad i didnt know you had a remote listener..... i havent updated in a while

Sorry
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Just wondering if anyone has tried remote listener vs something like this site. To compare them.
[Android Apps and Games] bragih:
How would one start/stop the VNC server via tasker? Is that even possible?

Trying to automatically start the server once my phone is charging
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
I played with Tasker last year before I started messing with VNC Server.

I think it has a way to send an intent, so you could try sending the BOOT_COMPLETE intent, and if you have start on boot checked, it may start.

I will try it when I have time, and if necessary I will add a new intent to make sure it can be started/stopped.

This goes along with my own desire to have remote ways to start/stop the server (like from an email or SMS). I have always thought I might be able to use Tasker to catch the email/SMS/etc and send my program a start/stop intent.

Has anyone tried it already?
[Android Apps and Games] suffer1989:
FYI, Great thread, great app, but you should also update your first post with the most up to date version of the application so that we dont need to shift through 29 pages to find it. Most people generally dont read past the first page, so youre presenting them with an outdated version.
[Android Apps and Games] bragih:
That would be nice. So I should be able to send an "Action Intent" containing "BOOT_COMPLETE" to start it? What shall I send to stop it?

You don't happen to know the Type or Target I should select?

I was thinking of plugging my phone into the dock and then having my computer auto-connect to it and displaying the screen somehow integrated into my desktop.

No idea how to do the desktop part since I just had the idea to do something like that..

Thanks in advance :) I know this feature isn't supported
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
I have a dock at home and work so that is the kind of thing I want to support. But I haven't gotten around to trying it yet, so I don't know the Tasker details yet. Sorry.

Maybe something to play with this weekend :-)
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
I think 1.80 is finally stable enough to move to the first post.
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Lost in translation ??

Knoxbrder: maybe a small bug, kind of "lost in translation" thing? I have a Galaxy Nexus, rooted, ICS404; Swiftkey keyboard; your server v1.80; and I use TightVNC to see my "virtual phone" on the desktop monitor.

The problem I'll describe goes for any phone software (email, notes, SMS, whatever), and appears when I am entering text using my desktop keyboard. I start typing - the Swiftkey popup appears (as it should) and everything is fine. Now, here is the weird bit. I type a word, followed by a question mark. For example, say I want to type the sentence "How will you get there?" Every time I do it, it shows on the phone as "How will you get There?" So the problem is, as soon as I enter the question mark using my desktop kb,

the word that precedes the question mark is capitalized

. Happens every time. Note that the Swiftkey kb isn't showing any "recommendation" that the word be capitalized -- in the above case, Swiftkey recommends "there", not "There", so I don't think the problem is Swiftkey.

Another indication that it may not be Swiftkey is this: If I do NOT enter the q-mark with the desktop kb, and instead use my mouse to click the q-mark key on the virtual Swiftkey kb (on my monitor), the q-mark is entered, and the word does NOT capitalize. If I then backspace with my desktop kb to delete the q-mark, then re-enter it but this time using my desktop kb - bingo, the darn word capitalizes.

In summary, it's acting as though the q-mark key on the desktop kb is being "translated" by the server as "enter a q-mark and capitalize the word".

100% reproducible for me. You?

OK just noticed something - don't want to change all of the above, 'cos it's correct. I just realized that, to enter the q-mark from my desktop kb, I have to hold down the shift key (so, shift - q-mark). So I wondered if maybe the server was picking up the "shift" and was capitalizing the word. So I tried it using the exclamation point, instead of the q-mark. That, too, requires me to use the shift key (shift - 1 on my desktop kb). And bingo, "there!" becomes "There!"

Obviously not a huge issue - but fixable? Thanks, Scotty1
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
It is actually a SwiftKey auto-correct bug/feature.

My ICS Prime tablet with real keyboard behaves exactly the same way without VNC running.

The other virtual keyboards don't have the problem.

My work-around for the real keyboard, which works with VNC as well, is to press space after the last word and then ? or !. Swiftkey "corrects" this by moving the punctuation to the end of the word, but it does NOT capitalize that word.
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
I don't think it's an autocorrection because, as I explained in my post, if I click the question mark key

on the Swiftkey keyboard

, it does NOT capitialize the word. If it were an autocorrection issue, I'd think that action WOULD invoke the capitalization. The only time it the capitalization happens, for me, is when I use the "shift / other" on the PC keyboard to enter the question / exclamation mark. But if it's not VNC server related, as is suggested by your experience using the Prime, maybe there is a "mistranslation" when the external keypress is passed to Swiftkey. So, yes, probably a bug in Swiftkey. Thanks...
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
As I said its a "feature" in swiftkey. Notice if you press shift and nothing else they toggle their "suggestions" between Capitalize, CAPS, and normal.

They "want" this happen when you press the shift key.

It even works that way if you press the virtual shift key.

----------------------

I just noticed there is an option in the swiftkey advanced settings to disable Hard Keyboard autocomplete. This worked for both my real keyboard and VNC!

Learn something everyday :-)
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Sadly, no such setting in Swiftkey X on my phone. There's a setting to turn off auto-caps, but that didn't change things (and might have some unwanted effects). Nothing re/ hard keyboard. I am guessing you have "Swiftkey Tablet X"....ah well. Thanks for the "add a space first" tip - seems to work.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Yeah, I have the tablet version on my tablet.

Glad the work-around works for you.

Guess you should drop them an email and ask for that Hard Keyboard toggle in the phone version. They already have the fix, just need to enable it in the other version.
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Yup, just joined their forum. They have a new beta (Swiftkey 3) so I DL'd that -- same problem, and still no hard keyboard setting (and it had other changes that I didn't like, such as no question mark on the main kb, so I reverted to version X). But I have left a message re hard kbs....Thanks, Scotty1
[Android Apps and Games] broedschroed:
Running on GN with Liquid-ROM (4.0.4)

Great work, it's perfectly running on my Galaxy Nexus with Liquid-ROM v1.35 (4.0.4)

(after wasting a lot of google-time for buggy alternatives)

For those, who want it very fast: I use the USB-connection ("adb forward tcp:5901 tcp:5901" in a batch script before starting the viewer)
[Android Apps and Games] kamehouse:
Working on Galaxy Nexus (GSM) with AOKP ROM (4.0.4)

v1.8 working great on my Galaxy Nexus with AOKP ROM (B29). Thanks for the great build!

'End' key worked well power-on/off the device to gain access when the phone goes to lock screen. Note that Alt-o/Alt-i don't work for power-on/off the device though.
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
1.8 confirmed working on my EVO 3D with ics leak :)

a bit slower than droid vnc but since it's not working on my rom... i won't complain
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Different devices/OS builds seem to use different keys to power on/off. Glad you found a key that worked.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Speed improvements have taken a backseat to features. Maybe over the summer I can tweak the speed.

I just saw that he is about to release a new version of droidvncserver; if it works really well maybe I can drop this one and use it :-) Which is what I wanted to do in the first place; just add a small feature to it and use it on my ICS tablet!
[Android Apps and Games] krismann:
v1.8 working good on HTC Sensation XE running ICS 4.0.3

Cannot install on my AC Ryan Veolo (froyo 2.2), receive parse error.

Nice job so far!
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Try version 1.81 to see if it works with 2.2; I lowered the SDK version.

A couple unfinished features are in this; namely intents that allow you to start/stop from desktop shortcuts and programs like tasker.

The new intents are not quite complete, so I suggest everyone except 2.2 users keep using 1.80 for a couple days.

If some 2.2 users confirm everything works for them and I don't see any problems in my 2.3 and 4.0 testing I will release all new versions at SDK version 8 (Android 2.2).
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
what's the difference beetween framebuffer and the other option?

because it looks faster on framebuffer but can't get a stable enough view with it
[Android Apps and Games] krismann:
almost there? ...

Thanks for your quick reply knoxbrder!

Installation of v1.81 was good, but server will not start (I've tried a lot of different settings). I use notification to show status every 5 seconds (nice feature :) btw) but it's only saying 'not running'.

Could a log-collector file help you out with this?

regards Kris
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
The framebuffer reads the linux graphics framebuffer directly, which isn't supported on most newer devices. But it is faster.

The screenshot method is supported on newer OS/devices, but still requires root to work. It is currently slower, and I don't know if it can be made faster.

What do you mean "stable enough"? In my experience if the framebuffer works, it works fine. On most newer devices it just shows black, or the boot screen, or some other "not updating" static data.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Yes, try to collect a log, or run vncs from the command line via adb or connectbot. You can use the vncs file from the first post for 1.80, since the SDK version does not affect NDK programs.
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
yeah i should have explained, it's almost a black screen with some text
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Sounds like you can't use the framebuffer then.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Version 1.82 in this post.

Version 1.82.

vncs:

- nothing new, still 1.80

VNCPrefs:

- GUI compiled for Android 2.2+.

- Custom Launchers and other apps can call activities to start/stop the server

- Tasker and other apps can call intents to start/stop the server:

Tasker Action Intent setup:

Action: com.mrk2012.android.preferences.START (or STOP)

Cat: Launcher

Target: Broadcast Receiver

For instance, I have my phone setup to start the server when I place it in the dock or connect power.

As usual, let me know of any problems.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
I looked at this a little over the weekend. It looks like the OS is killing my app because it needs the space. And restarting it later. Which is normal for a long running service.

On my 2.3 phone this seems to happen as well, but nothing appears on screen.

On my ICS tablet I finally made it happen and I do get the error messages.

I will have to spend more time to see if I can either avoid getting killed (don't think so since Google queries seem to indicate this is normal) or get the errors not to display (not sure why they appear on newer OS and not older OS).

Long term I need to find a better way to determine if the vncs app is running or when it exits/crashes. But, that is something I need to figure out still. If I can do that then I probably won't need the service which won't get killed, etc.

I'm pushing it to the back burner for now. Ping me again if it gets really annoying.
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
is it normal that my phone lags a lot when server is started?

and no i can't use frambuffer, was too tired yesterday to give you good frenglish words
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
You mean the phone runs slow or that the vnc stream is behind?

Make sure you have a delay of 300000 or so.
[Android Apps and Games] psychuil:
Maybe somewhat of a newb question, but what does this mean?
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
i mean the phone run slow
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
It means that one of us got the order wrong. Try swapping the order to "chmod 777 vncs".
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
If it just has a short "pause" every now and then (but consistent), that is the snapshot code running. I don't know how to avoid that right now.

If the phone runs slow all the time, that is something new.

Let me know which it is.
[Android Apps and Games] psychuil:
Thanks :)

Is there a way to bump up the refresh rate?
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Right now it is usually 3-6 frames per second on my devices. That is it for now.

Sometime we will have to figure out where the slowdown is and see if it can be sped up.
[Android Apps and Games] psychuil:
Sounds good :)

Would it be complex to compress everything into a single APK, instead of playing around with shell commands?
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
It is distributed as one APK right now. You only need to download vncs.zip if you ONLY want to run it from the command line.

But, behind the scenes, the server itself is extracted and launched from the GUI for two main reasons:

- the server is C code that would take a lot of work to convert to Java for no gain, and is mostly common code used across multiple platforms so for upgrading it is best to leave it as it is

- currently we need to launch the server as root; there is no way I know of to upgrade your currently running app to root; you can only launch new (sub) applications as root; so the GUI runs as a normal app and it launches the root server
[Android Apps and Games] psychuil:
So i need to push vncs to /data/local for the apk to work?

I'm not quite clear on that part.
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
yup you have to do that
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
No. You ONLY need to push vncs to /data/local if you ONLY want to run the server from the command line. If you aren't clear on what this means, or what "command line" means, or already have a reason to do this, then this is NOT something you should do or worry about.

--------------------------------------------

Most users wanting to run VNC server should ONLY install the apk. This is the "normal" Android application with the preferences menu and "normal" Android look-and-feel. It launches vncs from inside itself (but you normally don't need to know those details).
[Android Apps and Games] psychuil:
It didn't click for me coz i though the apk was like 1/8 the size of the other file, guess i just took too short of a glimpse :)

All makes sense now, keep up the good work :D
[Android Apps and Games] keyra74:
oh so the file is useless for me too since i use the gui...
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Thanks for looking at it....glad to know it's not just me. And no, it's not really annoying, because it's very sporadic, and all I need to do is dismiss the popup (I don't need to restart the server). Cheers!
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Version 1.83

- option to reconnect to remote listener if the connection is dropped
[Android Apps and Games] PRoPAiN!:
Wanted to say thanks for this, as it's just made my tablet a complete replacement for my laptop with a crashed HD (which I now get to repurpose w/o the wife complaining too much! :D ).

Haven't played with it too much. My tablet's an Acer Iconia A100 w/ the recent ICS update. Initially had a problem with dragging, but I turned on the S2 tweak and that seemed to fix it.
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Version 1.84 in this post.

vncs:

- if all connected clients support it then size and rotation are updated without disconnecting the client; if any client doesn't support it, then all clients are disconnected as it worked previously. Normally not a problem since most people only connect to a device with one client at a time.

GUI

- notification icon now changes like the widget to give visual indication when the server is running
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Intents

Trying to use an app called Llama to turn off the server. Llama has an "Android Intent" action, where you can enter the desired information. I've done it (see screenshot) but it doesn't turn off the server. Obviously, the problem could be me (that's happened before), or with Llama, rather than with VNCPrefs, but I thought maybe I'd ask you first and, if the info I've entered looks OK to you, I'll contact the Llama dev.....
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
Nice find "llama", I just installed it and tried it out.

I left the "Category" blank and put it what you had and it worked fine for me.

Seems "None" or "Launcher" work in Tasker. Looks like you don't need to specify it in llama.

Finally updated my GS2 to ICS so I should see the same issues you do from now on :-)
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Yes, Llama is terrific, by far the best of its sort (IMHO).

So after reading your reply, I removed "Launcher", but still no joy (I was judging the response by the widget display, i.e., green bar or not). I noticed that (in Llama) I also was turning off WiFi, so I deleted that action, and lo & behold, VNCPrefs started responding to Llama . Mysteriously, when I added back the "WiFi off" action, VNCPrefs still responded.

So I am none the wiser, but much happier ;). Now, when I arrive in my office, Llama will turn on WiFi, hook me into my private network, and turn on your server. And when I leave, it all gets turned off. Awesome :D
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
OK, there is a problem, but it's not what I initially thought. when I arrived at the office this morning, Llama turned on WiFi, but seemed NOT to turn on the server, judging by the lack of a green bar on the widget. However, suspecting that it might be a widget display/refresh issue, I started tightVNC on my PC, and it hooked up to the server immediately. So the server IS running, but the widget shows it as off. If I tap the widget, the server stops (but there is no change in the widget status - i.e., it stays off, but this time the display is accurate). Tap the widget again, server on, widget bar is green.

I strongly suspect that this was the problem yesterday - i.e., the intent command was probably working just fine, but I was using the widget as the sole indicator of server status....

So, is there any way to force a widget refresh when you start the server using the intent command? Thanks, Scotty1
[Android Apps and Games] foxdie:
Hi knoxbrder, firstly thanks for creating a VNC server that (near-perfectly) works with my Official ICS ROM Samsung Galaxy S2 :)

Although it works great, there are a handful of issues which I'd like to put on your radar if they're not already. All of these can be lived with, but would make the product complete (at least in my eyes) if addressed :)

Framebuffer access doesn't work, can only use screenshot mode, this results in heavy battery usage and slowwwww VNC updates

After prolonged periods of being left running without a connection, upon receiving a connection request from a VNC client, the server will accept the connection but display a fixed image that doesn't update, this can be from many hours ago, maybe a bug in using screenshot mode? Input events get sent to the phone though, at least making sending text messages easier :)

It would be nice to have an option in the GUI version to automatically restart the VNC server daemon if it crashes or gets killed by the OS under low memory conditions (not so much a problem on the S2 but I'm sure it'll be a problem on other devices)

Thanks :)

Ps. I believe the mentality of the Android community is that software should always be free, I too feel the same way, but I will say if you fix the 3 issues above I will donate $10 to yourself or a charity of your choice :)
[Android Apps and Games] Scotty1:
Follow-up: last night I activated the status bar notification icon, and set the refresh to 5 seconds. This morning, arrived at work, Llama turned on WiFi, but the server (widget) still looked off. But again, TightVNC connected immediately, so this time I pulled down the staus bar --see attached -- the server notification shows "not running". So, it looks like neither the widget nor the status bar icon properly indicates the server status, when the server has been started or stopped using the "intent" method. All the best, Scotty1
[Android Apps and Games] knoxbrder:
I will look into it Sunday. I guess the service is getting killed and not restarting. Not sure what would cause that.