3

I am running 11.10 and i need to have a vnc window for the connection to my windows 7 box (booo hiss etc) , i have two screens attached to my pc.

i would like to have a fullscreen dual window VNC window on one of the two workspaces of my ubuntu desktop , currently i can get close to this by manually resizing the vnc window as big as i can on the second workspace when it opens . this is less than ideal as it takes a while and always needs doing when i login . also alt-tab doesn't get handled by windows which is confusing. If i try to fullscreen VNC i get proper alt-tab for windows but only one screen wide and i cannot switch workspace again without turning off fullscreen.

if i manually make the window big enough i still loose a little bit of height because of the ubuntu top bar , this can make window management in windows a little more complex or remove the status bar from maximised windows in windows. This does however allow me to switch workspaces.

i've tried several VNC clients of which ssvnc seemed to behave a little better but non do fullscreen for dual , i just get a single fullscreen with scrollbars (that i cannot use , but thats another story)

So there are several problems here :

fullscreen vnc only working with one desktop width despite both host and guest being dual monitor and this working if i manually size the vnc window.

ubuntu menus getting in the way of manually sized window

vnc windows not remembering their positions

any ideas or suggestions greatefully welcomed :)

update: How to maximise a window across two monitors? has allowed me to get fullscreen vnc across both monitors , however i can't use the shortcut to switch workspaces when in fullscreen mode . the grail is within my grasp !

update2: because fullscreen is now dual window in vnc i can press f9 to get fullscreen win7 or use it in a window , i'd love to find a way to pass CTRL+ALT+UP back to ubuntu then i could achieve my goal. i heard of a trick using numlock but it doesn't seem to work.

Community
  • 1
Amias
  • 5,246
  • Are you physically next to the Windows 7 machine? I was trying to do similar stuff, and ended up just using Synergy to control the Windows machine on it's own monitor(s). It's a little limited, but cut and paste works, and it mostly feels like its one machine. – Kendor Jan 18 '12 at 20:15
  • yes i've seen others do this , i do have spare monitor i could use for that so i might end up doing it that way if there isn't a way to tame vnc. – Amias Jan 19 '12 at 16:03
  • It is preferred if you can post separate questions instead of combining your questions into one. That way, it helps the people answering your question and also others hunting for at least one of your questions. the FAQ on asking questions.Regards, – Ringtail Apr 07 '12 at 05:00

1 Answers1

1

Have you considered using the native Windows Remote Desktop instead? In my experience it's very much superior to VNC.

The rdesktop client has a range of options that suit it being used this way. My setup at home is that my work laptop stays closed on a podium next to my desk and all my interaction with it is via an rdesktop session stretched across both screens of my top-right workspace. Rather than using the full-screen option, I instead set the geometry of the window to be the size of my dual-screen, minus the menu bar at the top, and use the -D option to hide the window decoration. I can continue to switch between workspaces with the shortcut keys, although currently alt-Tab doesn't propagate to Windows, I put up with that.

It also permits you to redirect resources like disk folders and sound, which is very convenient for exchanging files ; my home folder is automatically available on the Windows box at \\tsclient\adrian\

Adrian
  • 5,216