My company has switched from using a Cisco VPN to GoToMyPC for remote access. I suspect that GoToMyPC has improved auditing features that appeals to management. No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to get GoToMyPC to work under Linux Mint. I even tried switching to Oracle Java 8. Each case boils down to Java finding that GoToMyPC's universal viewer client is unsafe or insecure. I can only imagine that it isn't appropriately sandboxed -- which also makes me wonder if my company can do some remoting of their own.
I have contacted technical support, who basically told me GoToMyPC isn't supported for Linux and that if their "universal viewer" applet didn't work for me -- then there are no workarounds. At this point I plan to run Windows in a VM just for GoToMyPC client.
Has anyone used GoToMyPC on linux with a recent flavor of Java? Perhaps with Wine? Are there any corporate friendly remote desktop solutions that play well with Linux at home? I'd like to be able to suggest an alternative!
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @09:13PM
As a first step in identifying equivalent apps to those previously used under another OS, I use this boilerplate (modified here for your specific use case).
Linux-compatible apps at AlternativeTo.net [google.com]
Here's the page. [alternativeto.net]
N.B. Sometimes the rankings at that site are useful; sometimes the top listing is not the ideal substitute, with subsequent listings being better.
-- gewg_
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @12:23AM
The main problem isn't finding alternatives. The main issue is that any alternative needs auditing capabilities in order for management to accept it I used RDesktop/FreeRDP very happily before. But they shut that down, in part, because it wasn't easily audited by management.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @09:13AM
It's a confused site... they say/they mean
free / gratis
commercial / proprietary
open source / free software
besides that, if you cherrypick it can be useful
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday July 07 2015, @09:17PM
you are working for PHBs.
You will have an easier time finding a new one if you don't just walk off the job, as is my preference when employed by the ignorant.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:03PM
Yeah, what do they use for tech support, fixmypc.com?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:29PM
Describes the PS. If you can't program then Manage. If you can't Manage then Project Manage. Else work in Architecture.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday July 07 2015, @11:03PM
Teaches at a graduate school.
Incapable of sending or receiving email.
Facebook works for him though.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @12:28AM
Dude, your syllable count is off. Haiku is 5-7-5.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @09:22PM
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=java+how+to+run+untrusted+code [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tynin on Tuesday July 07 2015, @11:15PM
Judging by the search terms in this google search, I suspect you'll find the solution in it. Within the last year Java has turned into something at best challenging to use as any untrusted code has to be explicitly allowed (imagine supporting 15k servers via IPMI where each host has to be explicted added by hand... I gave up and got a security exception for an earlier version of java). I don't recall the version numbers when they by default start blocking all untrusted code and I'm not at work to see what version I current run, but if you can find a version of it from a year+ ago and just run it in a VM, your problems should go away. But again, their might be an answer in that google search too.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Tuesday July 07 2015, @11:37PM
Wouldn't it been easier to simply generate (or get) a code signing certificate and deploy signed JARs across your infrastructure?
I haven't seriously coded in Java in years, but I thought as long as the systems has a root, and the JRE could draw a chain of trust, it would all work.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:09AM
In a word: No.
In a perfect world, maybe. But there is a pointy haired boss involved, who wants it done now.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Wednesday July 08 2015, @10:15AM
Two Words: That Sucks :(
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:26AM
I recall running into something like this back when it first became an issue for some one-off thing, might have been BattleScribe or something, and I do remember finding a solution.
Naturally I don't recall it now and it's not a priority item for me to go looking for to score cheap mod points, but I second the answer being out there somewhere.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 3, Informative) by rts008 on Tuesday July 07 2015, @09:40PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH_NMJ5QRBM/ [youtube.com] : youtube vid on how to use with Firefox(and Palemoon, etc)
https://glenndcitrix.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/gotomypc-and-linux/ [wordpress.com] : two ways to do it-written instructions
In short, it involves Wine, Firefox w/ User Agent Switcher extension, Java 6 runtime, and icedtea java plug-in.
Can't imagine it would be different in other distro's.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @02:51AM
I tried this as it seemed promising. Installed wine, wintricks, exported WINEARCH=win32 because it looks like there is a dotnet dependency... No dice for me: gosetup.exe only gives an option to Uninstall ... a younger poorer version of me might spend more time on this.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @09:55PM
TeamViewer works very well on Linux.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by timbim on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:07PM
Team Viewer is a little too permissive eh?
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Tuesday July 07 2015, @11:26PM
Excellent software. It uses embedded wine of its own to run, but it works great. Good performance too. I strongly recommend it. I use it on Linux myself.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Tuesday July 07 2015, @11:36PM
Works fine as a client, I've had quite a bit of trouble with the server component quitting and not giving any indication as of why. Was very suprised when I noticed it uses WINE though; when it works, it works perfectly.
Still always moving
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday July 08 2015, @09:28AM
Sigh...has NOBODY here EVER worked corporate? You might as well just tell him "Tell your boss to fuck off and support the four freedoms!" for all the good you have just done with this post.
For those that have never had to work corporate (and thank the FSM if you never have had to) let me spell it out real simple like, okay? If its not on the list its shit its really THAT simple. He has to use the GoToMyPC client period the end because THAT IS WHAT IS APPROVED, if he can't get the client to run? Well he might as well have brought in a dumpster dived Win98 laptop for all the good it'll do him because at best they will bar him from using the network until he gets into compliance, if he doesn't get written up and looked at as a security risk!
Look in a situation like this? You can NOT look at this from an engineering perspective because the MBAs (Masters of Being Assholes) really don't have a single fuck to give about your "solution" and whether or not its some marvel of FOSS coding, ALL they will care about is "Is it on the list?" which from TFA its pretty damned obvious there is one and ONLY one approved path, if that doesn't work on your chosen OS? Tough shit get a new OS or start sending out resumes.
And for anybody that thinks I'm being harsh? Well why do you think I quit taking corporate jobs and would rather shovel shit than ever take one again? Its because of shit like this, that's why. In corporate it does not matter if it "works", hell it doesn't even matter if it makes a damned lick of sense or not, all that matters if it it matches up with some bullet points a PHB bought into over a 3 martini lunch. It sucks, its stupid, and it often results in the corp blowing money on dumb shit they don't need or which can even crap all over productivity, but because the bosses say "this is how it is"? Well that is how it is, like it or not.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by dbitter1 on Wednesday July 08 2015, @01:27PM
Well why do you think I quit taking corporate jobs and would rather shovel shit than ever take one again?
(I had a hard time figuring what to summarize your rant as. But I agree. And to the OP, read it carefully!)
I highly recommend (I did) to leave the corporate world and start your own business if you can swing it. Generally, if you know what you are doing as an engineer, you can find some market where complacent crap (like this) can be out-engineered and hence out-sold (note: if you aren't an extrovert, and/or are not good at selling, get a partner who is!). Eventually, if you are successful (e.g. your company survives), you may end up back in the world, but at least it should be on your own terms, more or less, and you get to be the PHB dictating what technology decisions to make.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Subsentient on Wednesday July 08 2015, @08:07PM
From the OP of the article:
Are there any corporate friendly remote desktop solutions that play well with Linux at home? I'd like to be able to suggest an alternative!
I provided him with an alternative to suggest. I think my post was most reasonable indeed.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday July 08 2015, @09:20PM
It may have been reasonable from an engineering perspective but we are talking about a CORPORATE situation, where things like reasonable or even common sense? Have fuck and all with the way things work once you get past the SMB level of corporate bureaucratic crap.
Its obvious you've never had to deal with the insane bullshit that goes on in a large corp because if you had then you'd know that all that matters is what is approved and if some PHB bought into a "security system" that required everyone to run Windows 95 and have a password of 12345? Well you better brush up on your DOS skills because it does NOT matter if its stupid, a waste of resources, clubs productivity like a baby seal all that matters is that is what's approved and that is the end of that. Its no different than dealing with the government, where it doesn't matter if some rule is gonna destroy somebody or make their life a living hell for no benefit to the government because "the rules say it is thus" and that is the end of that, period.
If you have never had to work corporate? Congrats on never having had to deal with that brain sucking joy killing hellpit, I ended up with my boys having staged an intervention to get me to quit because the constant stress of banging my head against a wall dealing with clueless PHBs that would buy some "solution" over lunch and expect us to come in and wave a magic wand and make their BS work? Was literally killing me. I had stress ulcers, looked like a corpse, and considered life nothing but a soul crushing tedium on the way to the grave. the boys sat me down and said "We don't need the latest gadgets, we need our uncle to stay alive. We done lost our parents, we can't lose you too" and that was enough of a wake up call I got the fuck out of that nightmare. Now I don't make a third of what I did but I have customers who actually listen and appreciate my work instead of telling me "just do it", I have my color back, got married to a wonderful gal, life is good now.
So my sarcastic "tell the bosses to fuck off" was probably the best advice anybody could have given him honestly, because even if he manages to make a full FOSS solution run with flawless precision, with 5 9s uptimes while using less resources than a mobilephone card game? He is gonna find out when he brings it in what corporate is REALLY like, they'll take one look and say "it isn't on the approved list" which is obvious that the GoToMyPC rep sold management on a single vendor "turnkey solution" and all his hard work? Will be work exactly jack and shit. Believe me I know EXACTLY how that feels, its stupid, depressing, their "solution" probably cost 5 times what it should and doesn't do half of what they need....but silly rabbit, this is corporate! Common sense and intelligent solutions to problems don't belong here!
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday July 08 2015, @12:45AM
I Have used it.
It seems to work.
Written by Google. Cross platform.
I don't trust it enough to let it run all the time, so I disable the extension when not in use.
You could talk your grandmother through the setup process.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/remote%20desktop?hl=en-US&_category=apps [google.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by number6 on Wednesday July 08 2015, @01:07AM
GoToMyPC is mentioned here amongst many others...
__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software
worth a look...
Chromoting, aka 'Chrome Remote Desktop', allows one to remotely control a distant machine, all from within the Chromium browser.
__https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromotingBuildInstructions
Some other things not mentioned at Wikipedia...
Guacamole - HTML5 Clientless Remote Desktop
__http://sourceforge.net/projects/guacamole/
Java Remote Control - View and control a remote desktop over TCP/IP
__http://code.google.com/p/java-remote-control/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @03:31AM
We are planning migration from windows to Linux variant in the next 5 years and needed a solution that would work with Linux as well as windows after crossloop was bought and shutdown by AVG.
It is self hosted now on a windows server and runs great on windows, Ubuntu, and androids. I have tried it on a few distros without any problems, but not mint yet.
Not Free, But definitely worth it.
https://www.screenconnect.com/ [screenconnect.com]
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:37AM
A few months ago, I accepted what at first appeared to be a very simple job: remove a virus from someone's computer. Given the fact that I owned a PC repair shop (and I still do) and had over 15 years of experience, I was confident that I could complete the job in a timely manner without any complications along the way. Little did I know, however, that accepting this job would spiral my life into a nightmarish den of anguish and uncertainty.
First, I tried booting up the PC. When Windows finally loaded, it became apparent that this was no ordinary virus; it was a merciless monstrosity of a virus that would stop at nothing to ruin your entire life. However, despite this, I bravely pressed on and attempted to combat the virus. "I absolutely will not let a mere virus scare me off!" I thought.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts at removing the virus and after exhausting every single option to combat viruses that I had, I finally realized that the situation was absolutely devoid of hope. This was a virus more fearsome than any other, and it was simply impossible for someone with my abilities (skilled as I was) to fight against it alone. Even reinstalling the operating system completely didn't help. I quickly sank into a pit of depression and despair.
Being that I was extremely stressed due to my numerous failures, I began verbally abusing my wife and kids a few days after I received the job. This situation soon worsened when I began resorting to physical abuse in order to relieve some of my anger. Eventually, after not being able to withstand my daughter's constant moans and whines any longer, I locked her in the basement in order to retain an ounce of my sanity.
That's when I had a stroke of genius: "If I can't fight this nightmare alone, then why don't I call in the World's Greatest Minds?" I immediately contacted the World's Greatest Minds and pleaded that they examine the computer. To my delight, they accepted the proposal, collected the computer, and began their experiments.
After weeks of trial and error, numerous experiments, and many failures, the World's Greatest Minds had at last reached a conclusion. They contacted me by phone and told me that this, being no ordinary virus, called for extreme measures. They quite vehemently recommended the use of MyCleanPC to combat the virus and destroy its very existence once and for all. "MyCleanPC will completely eradicate the virus without a single problem," they enthusiastically told me.
As soon as I got the computer back from the World's Greatest Minds, I installed MyCleanPC, ran a free scan, and then sat back and watched in awe as it totally eliminated the very same virus that I had spent weeks trying to get rid of in mere seconds! MyCleanPC had accomplished a feat that nothing else in existence could have accomplished! I was positively astonished by MyCleanPC's miraculous performance.
What was my daughter's response, you ask? "MyCleanPC is outstanding! My dad's client's computer is running faster than ever! MyCleanPC came through with flying colours where no one else could! I recommend that you use MyCleanPC right this minuteness to fix all of your problems!"
MyCleanPC totally cleaned up my client's system, and increased his speed! As a computer repair professional, I highly recommend that you use MyCleanPC to fix all of your problems. That's not all: The World's Greatest Minds also recommends MyCleanPC for all of your computer repair needs. By using MyCleanPC, you're ensuring that your gigabits will be running faster than ever, that all viruses will vanish off of your computer in seconds, and that you'll be overclocking with the rest of us!
Even if you're not having any visible problems with your computer, I still wholeheartedly recommend that you use MyCleanPC. After all, you could have a dormant/silent virus on your system. Additionally, MyCleanPC will speed up all of your gigabits to levels you could never imagine! You'll be overclocking in no time thanks to MyCleanPC!
MyCleanPC: For a Cleaner, Safer PC.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @05:14AM
With over 15 years of fighting viruses myself, if you could not do it in one day, you should have locked your doors and went to flip hamburgers at McDonalds for a living.
You should also have the ability to educate your clients on what to open and what not to as well as never click on internet ads.
You should have had decent Av Software as well as a regular user account and not admin so the most it could infect would be the user profile.
Bottom line, if you need MyCleanPC you are not a computer technician worth a shit.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @01:29PM
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:01PM
Was the call from Abdullahfarozammarokudammafuckacamel? He's very good, it only cost me $475.00 per year to keep my windows clean. They log in to my PC twice a week while I'm watching porn and show me things.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Wednesday July 08 2015, @08:06PM
I recommend finding some garlic spaghetti sauce and some antifreeze, pissing in it, and smearing it onto your computer using your cat as the sponge. Fixes every computer problem ever.
That's basically what MyCleanPC will do. Pretty sure that's malware in disguise.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 5, Informative) by zeigerpuppy on Wednesday July 08 2015, @06:24AM
For speed and usability,
http://wiki.x2go.org/ [x2go.org] is by far the best remote login I've used.
Really easy to set up too.
For remote access via the web, guacamole is great,
http://guac-dev.org/ [guac-dev.org]
Also relatively easy to set up and you don't need a client apart from a web browser which is nice
(Score: 3, Informative) by zeigerpuppy on Wednesday July 08 2015, @06:27AM
Ps you will need to use a dynamic DNS service if you have a dynamic IP address
Something free like http://www.dnsexit.com/ [dnsexit.com]
Also you'll need to forward port 22 for x2go and port 443 for guacamole (run it with SSL)
(Score: 2) by Pav on Friday July 10 2015, @12:26AM
Seconded for x2go, and it should be mentioned that it can be set up in all kinds of weird and wonderful configurations including to proxy RDP.
Once upon a time I would have recommended SSL-Explorer, though that has since been closed sourced, and the efforts to fork seem to not have gained critical mass. It was a Java-based web desktop app launcher which was capable of much more than clientless remote desktop.
There's UltraVNC SC (ie. Single Click) - it's a preconfigured UltraVNC server which a client clicks on and things automagically work. There's some one-time hand configuration required however. If it suits your workflow you can enable an optional dropdown ieg. choose to connect to "Jake, Fred or Albert" through separate NATed ports or addresses, or you could just have entirely separate bundles configured to connect back to each technician. UltraVNC SC seemed to work fine when I was using it (admittedly a couple of years ago).