Comparison: VNC Clients capabilities including Alt Gr characters on Ubuntu Linux

published May 12, 2009 08:27   by admin ( last modified May 12, 2009 08:27 )

I have tested a number of VNC clients and servers to see which ones handle Alt Gr characters, Copy/Paste and full screen toggle.

With many keyboards it's not possible to type a pipe "|", a backslash "\", curly brackets "{}", square brackets "[]" a commercial at sign "@" or  a tilde "~" without Alt Gr.

The capabilities of the clients vary a lot, also depending on the client/server combination. All clients have been tested with their default settings.

Comparison table

Client Key

GR = Gnome-RDP 0.2.2 MWSnap008 2009-05-13-16_56_33.png

XT = xtightvncviewer 1.2.9 MWSnap012 2009-05-13-16_59_02.png

TC = Terminal Server Client 0.150 MWSnap005 2009-05-13-16_55_48.png

VN = vncviewer 4.1.1 MWSnap010 2009-05-13-16_57_02.png

RD = Remote desktop viewer 0.5.1 MWSnap006 2009-05-13-16_56_09.png

KD = Krdc 4.0.3 MWSnap007 2009-05-13-16_56_19.png

TJ =tightvncviewer (Java applet) 1.3.10 

VW = vncviewer Windows xp 4.1.2 MWSnap010 2009-05-13-16_57_02.png

Status

Y = Works

O = Does not work

? = Untested

Servers running on CentOS 5.2, Clients on Ubuntu 8.04

 

  GR XT TC VN RD KD TJ vw
  MWSnap008 2009-05-13-16_56_33.png MWSnap012 2009-05-13-16_59_02.png MWSnap005 2009-05-13-16_55_48.png MWSnap010 2009-05-13-16_57_02.png MWSnap006 2009-05-13-16_56_09.png MWSnap007 2009-05-13-16_56_19.png     MWSnap010 2009-05-13-16_57_02.png
Full Screen toggle  O  O Y  Y  Y  Y  O Y
vnc server 4.1.2.1 (CentOS Linux 5.2):                
View Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Copy/Paste server->client O O Y Y Y Y O Y
Copy/Paste client->server Y Y O O ? ?  ? Y
Control (Edit) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Alt Gr ([,],{,},@) Y Y Y Y O O Y Y
Alt Gr + space (^, ~) Y Y Y Y O O O Y
Krfb 3.5.4 server (CentOS Linux 5.2):                
View Y Y O O Y Y ? Y
Copy/Paste server->client O O O O Y Y ? Y
Copy/Paste client->server  ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Y

Control (Edit)

 O Y O O Y Y ? Y
Alt Gr ([,],{,},@) Y Y O O O O ? Y
Alt Gr + space (^, ~) Y Y O O O O  ? Y
vnc server 4.1.2.(Windows XP):                
View Y Y Y Y Y Y ? Y
Copy/Paste server->client O O Y Y Y Y ? Y
Copy/Paste client->server  ? ? ? ?  ?  ? ? Y
Control (Edit) Y Y Y Y Y Y ? Y
Alt Gr ([,],{,},@) Y Y Y Y O Y ? Y
Alt Gr + space (^, ~) O O Y O O O ? Y

 

 

Summary: In the Ubuntu repositories for 8.04, Gnome-RDP does the job out of the box.  Terminal Server Client can do it if you manually set the keyboard language, see further down in the text on how to do this. With Remote Desktop Viewer and Krdc I could not find a way.

I recommend:

  • Terminal Server Client, it has both Alt Gr and copy/paste support, and you can toggle between full screen and windowed mode with F8.
  • Or you can just directly use the vncviewer command line program that Terminal Server Client relies upon. However it does not work with some Alt Gr characters against a Windows VNC server.
  • If you need to access KDE Desktop sharing, use xtightvncviewer.
  • If however you are using Windows on the client machine, you're in luck, because It Just Works (tm) across all servers and capabilities

A comparison of VNC Clients on Ubuntu Linux regarding Alt Gr, Copy/Paste and full screen toggle support

I control a CentOS box (vnc-server-4.1.2-14.el5_3.1) with VNC , sometimes from Windows XP and sometimes from Ubuntu 8.04. With Windows there are no problems, but with Ubuntu the VNC clients have a tendency to ignore the Alt Gr key on my Swedish keyboard, which means there is no way among other things to type a pipe "|", a backslash "\", curly brackets "{}", square brackets "[]" a commercial at sign "@" or  a tilde "~". 

For those unfamiliar with the Alt Gr key, the right Alt key is replaced with the Alt Gr key on many keyboard layouts where more characters need to be typable than in English.

I decided to install all vnc clients I could find in the Ubuntu repositories set up on my machine and see which ones did work and which did not with Alt Gr. It's the ones that are checked in this screen shot:

My VNC server also runs the VNC Config program (vncconfig) for Copy/Paste integration:

To see if it is important what kind of VNC server you are running, I also test out the clients with KDEs Desktop sharing server, krfb (KDE 3.5.4):

With Krfb as a server, Terminal Server Client and vncviewer completely fail on my setup. Use xtightvncviewer with the Krfb server if you want Alt Gr functionality.

I also threw in a VNC server on Windows. No client on Ubuntu of the ones tested, can handle all servers with all capabilities intact.

 

MWSnap008 2009-05-13-16_56_33.png Gnome-RDP 0.2.2

Gnome-RDP does the job although its GUI is a bit barebones with the server dialog turning up near the top left of the screen. It seems to rely on TightVNC as its viewer component. It is called xtightvncviewer. You are supposed to be able to switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

However Full Screen does not work. F8 also brings up copy/paste support. It works client to server, but not server to client, which is the reverse of the vncviewer based clients.

Do note that Gnome-RDP uses the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:3 means host port 5903.

Test: Gnome-RDP types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server: Gnome-RDP cannot control the server even when remote user is allowed to control the keyboard and mouse.

 

MWSnap012 2009-05-13-16_59_02.png xtightvncviewer 1.2.9

xtightvncviewer does the job but needs to be invoked from the command line.  You are supposed to be able to switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

However Full Screen does not work. F8 also brings up copy/paste support. It works client to server, but not server to client, which is the reverse of the vncviewer based clients.

xtightvncviewer uses the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:3 means host port 5903.

Test: xtightvncviewer types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server: Same functionality as with the VNC server.

 

MWSnap005 2009-05-13-16_55_48.png Terminal Server Client 0.150

Terminal Server Client is a Gnome program that can do VNC among other things. With VNC servers, it is actually just a front end to the vncviewer command line program. It can do Alt Gr characters if you go into preferences under "Local resources" and type the language code of your Alt Gr keyboard (in my case "sv").

Incidentally, if you use vncviewer directly from the command line it just works without having to specify a keyboard layout.

You can switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

Do note that Terminal Server Client does not use the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:5903 means host vnc port 3. Copy/paste does work server to client, but not client to server, which is the reverse of the tightvncviewer based clients.

Test: Terminal Server Client types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): Terminal Server Client crashes when trying to access the server "Rect too big".

MWSnap010 2009-05-13-16_57_02.png vncviewer 4.1.1

vncviewer is a command line program.

You can switch on the fly between full screen and windowed mode with F8:

vncviewer uses the VNC convention for ports, e.g. host:3 means host port 5903. Copy/paste does work server to client, but not client to server, which is the reverse of the tightvncviewer based clients.

Test: vncviewer types "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" just fine with my Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): vncviewer crashes when trying to access the server "Rect too big".

MWSnap006 2009-05-13-16_56_09.png Remote Desktop Viewer

Remote Desktop Viewer is a Gnome program also called Vinaigre in the Ubuntu repository description for it. Remote Desktop Viewer allows you to switch between windowed and fullscreen mode with F11. However it does not work with the Alt Gr key, and there seems to be no way of enabling it.

 

Test: Remote Desktop Viewer fails to type "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" and instead types the key as if the Alt Gr key was not depressed, which renders "<", "+" and "'" (single quote) respectively on my Swedish Alt Gr-dependent keyboard

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): Same as with the vnc server. Copy/paste works. Alt Gr does not work.

 

MWSnap007 2009-05-13-16_56_19.png Krdc on Ubuntu 8.04

Krdc is a KDE program that looks very nice and allows you to switch easily between windowed and fullscreen mode with a very nice semi transparent tool bar that comes down when you reach the center of the top edge of the screen with the pointer when in full screen mode.

However Krdc does not work with the Alt Gr key, and there seems to be no way of enabling it:

There is a special keys dialog:

 

But either the Alt Gr keys are too special or not special enough, because it does not type them.

Test: Krdc ignores "|",  backslash "\" and  tilde "~" and instead types nothing with my Swedish Alt Gr-dependent keyboard.

Notes for the KDE rfb server (desktop sharing): Same as with the vnc server.

MWSnap007 2009-05-13-16_56_19.png Krdc on CentOS 5.2

On CentOS Linux 5.2, however Alt Gr keys work and Copy/Paste works in both directions connecting to CentOS 5.2 based server.

Tightvncviewer as Java applet

Tightvncviewer is also available as a Java applet. Copy/paste does not work. There is no F8 menu but a couple of buttons. There is no full screen mode in the Java applet.

Test: Tightvncviewer (Java applet) corectly types "|",  backslash "\" but fails on  tilde "~" and caret "^",  both characters where you need to type a space after, to get the character stand alone.

MWSnap010 2009-05-13-16_57_02.png Vncviewer Windows xp 4.1.2

Everything works across all servers.

 

Summary

I was going to write that you either get an Alt Gr-compatible VNC client or you get the ability to switch between full screen and windowed mode on the fly. However the underlying components to Terminal Server client (vncviewer) and Gnome-RDP (xtightvncviewer) do have full screen toggle functionality via F8, it just not documented in Terminal Server client or Gnome-RDP. However in the xtightvncviewer and by extension Gnome-RDP the Clipboard and full screen functions in the F8 menu do not work on my setup.

I wondered if the clients would work differently if i used a different vnc server, so I also tried the KDE desktop sharing and a Windows VNC server. The results vary quite a lot. No client handles all servers. I believe changing settings in the clients as to change compression and other quality paramters may give improvements in compatibility, but I tried every client in its default setting. What seems to work is:.

 

  • This post started out as a test of Linux clients, but it turns out that the only client that handles all servers and all capabilities is Vncviewer or Windows... Having said that, on Linux:
  • Terminal Server Client, since it has both Alt Gr and copy/paste support, and you can toggle between full screen and windowed mode with F8.
  • Or you can just directly use the vncviewer command line program that Terminal Server Client relies upon. You will have no bookmarks (actuall session files) though as you get with Terminal Server Client. However it does not work with some Alt Gr characters against a Windows VNC server.
  • Gnome-RDP, or xtightvncviewer directly if you can live without Copy/Paste and Full Screen support since it has  Alt Gr support.
  • xtightvncviewer is the only one of the clients that does Alt Gr and works with KDE desktop sharing on my setup