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Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

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Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#51

Post by Y_Y »

jeroenhd wrote: post #5

This is one thing I'm surprised the open source community hasn't developed a popular alternative for: Teamviewer. The core idea is simple: a video stream from one computer to another, with mouse and keyboard controls sent the other way. Connection negotiation can be done Magic Wormhole style, via basic STUN, encryption can be done in a number of ways. Add some clipboard and P2P file transfer features and you've got m…

This is something I've wanted for a while too. With TeamViewer I can get the client, log in, and then I can see all my other logged in machines and do remote control or exchange files. I don't need to worry about NAT or dynamic IPs etc and it works across Linux and Android and even Windows.

I'd really like to replicate this, even in a really simple CLI way but I haven't found all the right blocks to fit together. Naturally I don't have TeamViewer's account servers to rely on, and ideally I'd not use any centralised/third-party service at all (e.g. Zerotier or Tailscale).

My current idea is to make a GNUnet VPN and then use avahi to discover SSH or VNC servers, then I can use Remmina as a fancy GUI. This will probably be slow and difficult.

There are plenty of FOSS tools that do almost what I want, but none I've found quite gets there yet.

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#52

Post by bflesch »

apankrat wrote: post #50

The NAT traversal logic here is really basic and won't hold up well in practice. A good chunk of NAT devices will pick external port based on [src ip/port, dst ip/port] combo, not just [src ip/port], so "WAN IP/port" you get from STUN will get you nothing useful. Not by itself. STUNs should be used for discovering the pattern in NAT port overloading logic and then using it to predict which port your peer will use tow…

I loved hamachi! May I ask what you are up to nowadays?

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#53

Post by dncornholio »

apankrat wrote: post #50

The NAT traversal logic here is really basic and won't hold up well in practice. A good chunk of NAT devices will pick external port based on [src ip/port, dst ip/port] combo, not just [src ip/port], so "WAN IP/port" you get from STUN will get you nothing useful. Not by itself. STUNs should be used for discovering the pattern in NAT port overloading logic and then using it to predict which port your peer will use tow…

Hamachi letted me play Command and Conquer online with my friends! We used Hamachi all the time to be able to play games online through LAN. Thank you so much for improving my childhoods quality of life :)

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#54

Post by cycomanic »

sneak wrote: post #15
poovamraj wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should check this amazing project - https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk

The server component is not open source: https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk-server/blob/master/id-r...

I noticed that as well just now. I have to say, emphasising open source remote desktop when in fact the server is closed software is a big antipattern and leads me to avoid the software already.

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#55

Post by minetest2048 »

apankrat wrote: post #50

The NAT traversal logic here is really basic and won't hold up well in practice. A good chunk of NAT devices will pick external port based on [src ip/port, dst ip/port] combo, not just [src ip/port], so "WAN IP/port" you get from STUN will get you nothing useful. Not by itself. STUNs should be used for discovering the pattern in NAT port overloading logic and then using it to predict which port your peer will use tow…

Damn Hamachi brings back good memories of playing Borderlands 2 with my friends

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#56

Post by al_be_back »

anhner wrote: post #47
squarefoot wrote: post #41

https://remmina.org/ Also 100% FOSS, but more advanced.

Is this just a client or is it also a server? It's not clear from their site...

It's just a client, written in C/GTK apparently [reddit - About Remmina](https://www.reddit.com/r/Remmina/)

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#57

Post by jacobmischka »

apankrat wrote: post #50

The NAT traversal logic here is really basic and won't hold up well in practice. A good chunk of NAT devices will pick external port based on [src ip/port, dst ip/port] combo, not just [src ip/port], so "WAN IP/port" you get from STUN will get you nothing useful. Not by itself. STUNs should be used for discovering the pattern in NAT port overloading logic and then using it to predict which port your peer will use tow…

Thanks for your work on Hamachi! I used it a few months ago to play a "LAN" game over the internet with friends, still works great (even on Linux)!

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#58

Post by trotFunky »

bronco21016 wrote: post #34
francislavoie wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parsec doesn't support remoting into a Linux machine, so that was the dealbreaker for me.

I’m waiting for someone to make this for the Linux desktop. I would think Steam may push into it with their SteamOS project.

You can already stream games from a Linux machine with Steam and then get to the desktop. It's baked in, but I'm not sure you can directly stream the desktop without launching a game before, but it works pretty well. I managed to play a game running on my Linux desktop in the UK while being in mainland Europe ! Wasn't a bad experience at all.

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#59

Post by Shish2k »

apankrat wrote: post #50

The NAT traversal logic here is really basic and won't hold up well in practice. A good chunk of NAT devices will pick external port based on [src ip/port, dst ip/port] combo, not just [src ip/port], so "WAN IP/port" you get from STUN will get you nothing useful. Not by itself. STUNs should be used for discovering the pattern in NAT port overloading logic and then using it to predict which port your peer will use tow…

Anyone know if there are any open-source libraries which wrap this all into a usable `get_{tcp,udp}_connection(peer_id)` API, preferably with fallback to a relay server? I feel like there really should be, but nearly all the tools I’ve seen with this functionality are closed source, and the few open-source things all do their own custom logic rather than a shared library :/

Re: Show HN: P2P remote desktop – an alternative to TeamViewer / AnyDesk

#60

Post by maccolgan »

not1ofU wrote: post #43

Do you have any plans in case your software becomes famous to scammers? TeamViewer / Anydesk (and the rest) regularly take actions to disable accounts of fake call (scam) centers. For examples of this check out the youtube channels of: Jim Browning / Kitboga / Perogi and lots more

Why would you want censorship in a P2P remote desktop software?
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