| VNC server runs on Pocket PCs |
Jan. 27, 2004
 Wolfgang Beer, a staff member at the Institute for Software of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, has created a VNC server that runs on devices running Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. Development of "PocketVNC" is still in process, but a "preliminary demo" version is currently available for download from the project's website.
Beer decided to develop PocketVNC while working on a research project relating to context-aware and pervasive computing, in which he needed to develop and test software on a number of mobile devices. "Especially for presentations, it is really hard to show the visual output of several different devices on one projector," explained Beer. "So my colleague and I decided to implement tools in order to view the visual output of a Pocket PC device on different platforms. My colleague is working on Linux and he joined the SynCE project which implemented a very smart sync mechanism for Pocket PC devices in combination with Linux desktop PCs. I decided to implement a spin-off and to add the VNC protocol, because I think that VNC is a really handy tool for remote administration."
 Beer says he started developing the program in December 2003, and that it is already running in a "quite stable" manner. "So far, I have implemented Raw and Hextile encoding. Raw is naturally very slow, but Hextile, which I think is a smart encoding for mobile devices with small displays, works smoothly. I would like to add some features and remove some weaknesses, like the fact that the config is stored in the root folder, and the keyboard tab is not shown." He also plans to add password functionality and write an installer for the program.
The most difficult challenge was the encoding decision, according to Beer. "As mobile devices do not offer massive CPU power, it is not useful to implement complicated encoding mechanisms. I had to find the right mixture of CPU power usage and picture size," he said.
PocketVNC is still in development and will be released soon, Beer says. In the mean time, a "preview demo" version is available for download from the PocketVNC webpage, where exe files are provided for ARM, SH3, and MIPS processors. "Just copy the exe [to] your [device] and start it," reads a comment on the website. "The VNC client has to be configured to read HEXTILE encoding without CopyRect encoding, or RAW data!" But beware, the software is still under development: "I give absolute no guaranty," the website cautions.
PocketVNC is written in C and C++, and was developed without making use of existing code from the VNC group, according to Beer, who is planning to publish it as "some sort of shareware."
(Click here for further information)
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