M2Remote
M2Remote Control Suite (M2RC) is a set of programs that will allow one
computer to act as a remote mouse/keyboard of another computer through a typical
ethernet network. It is designed with WiFi networks in mind so you can achieve
remote control via an incredible distance and not need line of sight to do it.
This program is still in BETA, in fact the .Net Compact
Framework is still in BETA. Don't try it out unless you know what that means.
This documentation is BETA.. :P If you don't know how to find your PPC's IP
Address or your notebook/desktop's IP Address, then this is NOT for you.
What Can I Do With It?
Here are some suggestions on how to use this program.
- Remotely control a system that is locked within a cabinet, or generally
out of convinient reach. WiFi can punch through some boundries so it's better
than IR solutions.
- Remotely control a system from a long long way out. I have no idea what
the max range is on WiFi in the open area... but I'm pretty sure it's quite
far!
Downloads
Before you can run the program you first need to make sure the .Net runtime
is installed on your computer. And you'll also need the .Net Compact Framework
runtime for your PocketPC 2002 to run the client side of the program.
Once you have the runtimes you can then download the following file to your
system and PPC.
Installation
Installation is simple enough just unzip the files into seperate directories
and you're done. For the PPC2k2 version please make sure that you've copied
3 files in total, 1 .EXE and 2 .DLL files onto your PPC or it
won't run.
Usage
M2RCHost
This is the host program, you run this program on the computer which you want
others to take control of.
Upon startup this is what you'll see, with the exception that the button reads
START instead of stop, and the checkbox isn't visible. Enter the port
number for other clients to connect to and press START to start listening
for commands, both the host and the client must be using the same port number.
If you don't know what a port is for, don't change it!
When the program is running you'll also see a tray icon indicating so, the
icon on the left is when the host is not listening for commands, while the one
on the right is when it is active and listening for commands.
Clicking on the Use Allow List checkbox will filter out unwanted commands
from systems which are not authorised to send commands to the host. To edit
the list click on the menus Setup->Edit IP Allow List.
Editing the list is simple enough to add a new address, type it into the top
text box and click Add, to remove an IP double click on it, or click
on the IP and click the Remove IP button. You'll need to restart the
program for the list to come in effect.
M2RCClient
Both clients almost look the same, and of course perform the same function
connect to a host running M2RCHost and allow the client to remote control
the host.
To connect to a host is simple, just enter the host's IP address and press
Connect. Now if the host program is running on the host system you can
start trying it out. You can even run the client and host on the same system
for the sake of testing by connecting to IP address 127.0.0.1. You will NOT
recieve any indication that you have connected to a computer which does not
have the service running. This is because due to the need for speed of connection
and also the need to be able to connect back quickly when a PPC goes into standby
mode, I've choose UDP as it doesn't need any sort of connection verification.
Anyway once you've setup where to send the commands to you can now try out
the controls.
Mouse
The mouse is controlled by the red and blue diagramic pattern, click and hold
(or tap and hold on the PPC2k2) in any square other than the center one and
the cursor on the host machine will move in that direction, you can move the
mouse further out to accelerate the movement. When the mouse is in the inner
region (1 square away from the center) the cursor on the host PC moves 5 pixels
a time, when it's in the outer region the cursor moves 12 pixels a time.
To control the mouse buttons, use the buttons on top of the cursor control
diagram. The one at 11'O Clock position clicks the left mouse button, 1'O Clock
clicks the right mouse button. The ones at 10'O clock and 2'O clock double clicks
the left and right mouse respectively. The double click buttons are not on the
PPC version because I found out the transmission speed is good enough for you
to just double tap the click button to get a double click. YOU CANNOT HOLD
THE MOUSE BUTTON DOWN!
Keys
The current BETA version only has a few key presses built in. These are
the Left and Right arrow keys, and the Escape button.
With this little sampling of remote control capabilities, you should be able
to run through a Power Point presentation and do well... some cool stuff I guess.
Just let me know how you feel about this program.
Upcoming Features
Here's a list of features which I hope to incorporate into the program when
I release version 1.0.
- Remote keyboard support :- Able to fully emulate a remote keyboard, so you
can hold a key down, press Ctrl-S and other stuff like that.
- Full mouse support :- You'll be able to drag to your hearts content.
- Design Your Own Remote :- Something I truly want, a way to design and layout
your own remote control with any type of mouse buttons, keys, etc. etc.
- App Launch :- Launch applications on the host.
Price!!!
Well... I'd love to say this piece of software will be free... but how about
this? If you find this software helping you some how, why don't you send me
some stuff? Any stuff! Widgets, Gadgets, Toys, Tech-Gear (Which is very much
wanted) Any thing that can be sent through post legally I'll take it! Of
course if you want to send me money, that's fine too. ;)
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