[General Topics] Menneisyys:
1.1.5.1 The LLE Web client

The only functionality that works on the Pocket PC are as follows: the above-mentioned Google Desktop-based Desktop search, Internet Favorites and Files links; all accessible via a Pocket Internet Explorer-compliant Web interface (Web Login screen; main menu). Of these, I elaborate on the first and the third; the second only lists the Internet Explorer favorites stored on the remote desktop.

Desktop searching: it’s one of the best things as it utilizes Google Desktop Search. If you haven’t already installed it, the client will display an error message (2 3). If you have installed it, you will also have access to this functionality – without your having to use the remote desktop to enter the expression to search for and see the results as can be seen in here and here (the search results on my remote desktop for “iPaq”). After clicking an e-mail link, the results are presented locally as can be seen in here and here. Of course, the “View in Outlook” link won’t work on the Pocket PC version (see the error message here)

Files: file transfer. As it’s based on HTML (again, this is the only way for a Pocket PC user to access remote files on a desktop), the engine isn’t so flexible as native apps. It doesn’t have file upload capabilities – not even on WM5 devices (WM5 PIE already has file upload capabilities), as is, unfortunately, the case with all the other Web-based remote controller solutions too (except for I'm InTouch, which is promised to receive upload capabilities in the future). When you click a file link, the “Send File” button after the refresh will only let for e-mailing the given file, not uploading. Other screenshots of the file transfer module: WM5 download 1 2; WM2003SE filelist

1.1.5.2 Problems with LLE

As far as the remote control modules of the desktop client are concerned, they aren’t very fast. They’re constantly using a HTTPS gateway connection, don’t even try to utilize direct connections to speed up the transfer and is definitely slower than any of the four other, strictly Web-based applications. (In this netstat screen, you can also see there’s no direct connection at the client – everything has go through the LapLink server. This may be great for corporate users but not for users that have no or configurable / flexible firewalls but not very good when you could also utilize much faster and more capable direct connections too.) The user remarks here also backup this.

Unfortunately, LLE is the worst remote access software product in server CPU usage too (as with all HTTPS tunnel-based/enabled solutions, it’s in constant connection with the LapLink server): it’s been constantly between 2 and 11% on all the test Windows desktop PC’s I’ve tested it on. No other HTTPS tunnel-based/enabled solutions (or, for that matter, ANY server-side app listening to incoming requests) behaved this bad in my tests - ALL of them remained under 1% CPU usage.

In addition, it’s a REAL memory hog! The cumulative memory usage of all EXE files in \Program Files\Laplink Everywhere\ and another, in cases, as large as 95M (!) memory hog in the Desktop Agent subdirectory take about 120Mbytes in all – it’s an order of magnitude more than most of the alternatives!

Also, unlike ANY of the always-connected, HTTPS-capable alternatives, it’s the only app to generate a LOT of idle bandwidth; about 39kbytes uplink / 50kbytes downlink in five minutes; that is, about 18 kbytes combined traffic a minute. This is plain unacceptable if your remote desktop has an expensive connection (for example, a non-unlimited GPRS / mobile phone-based Internet access).

Furthermore, it doesn’t let for fine-tuning server-side settings either; this means you can’t, for example, fine-tune the color depth it uses.

Finally, a very important warning: the Web login screen is at https://www.ll2go.com. There’s a Web page at http://www.l2go.com/ (with one ‘l’), which displays a HTTP authorization dialog upon connection. DO NOT EVER enter your Laplink password into this box! This may be a username / password phishing service, which takes use of many users’ forgetting to enter two ‘l’’s.

1.1.5.3 Additional information on LLE

Pricing:

One computer, one hour/month access, annual license fee	$44.95

Unlimited access vs one hour / month:	+$50

License for +2 PC:	+$30

Monthly fee (as opposed to annual):	1.38 times more

Example screens of the setup: 1, 2, 3, 4; the desktop client: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; the (VNC) login screen (it’s rendered improperly if you use bigger system fonts as can be seen in here – attention users with for example UXGA(+) screens!)

It, internally, uses three protocols: its proprietary Laplink protocol, the standard RDP and, finally, VNC.

There are differences between the RDP and the Laplink mode (all in, of course, only available in the desktop client version); for example, Remote Control 4 doesn't support clipboard synchronization, while RDP does; the latter doesn't support sound redirection and file copying (not even drive mapping is possible, unlike in real RDP). Remote Control 4 only supports the default 256-color mode; the RDP-based module supports 16 and 24 bits too (high / true color).