How to use Remote Desktop with Windows 7 and Server 2008 on X1000

Today I wanted to share how I got Remote Desktop (RDesktop) running on the X1000 to connect to Windows 7 Pro 64Bit and Windows Server 2008R2 64 Bit!

Remote Desktop is used to remotely connect and control any number of Windows based computers from another computer, without leaving your current computer. It is restricted to Windows based computers only - This includes Windows 7 Pro, Windows Vista Pro, Windows XP Pro, Windows Server 2008 Standard/Enterprise, Windows Server 2003 Standard/Enterprise, Windows NT4 Server/Workstation, Windows 2000 Server/Workstation and similar.

Below I show Remote Desktop session on the X1000 to a Windows Server 2008 computer:

For other operating systems like MacOS X or Linux, etc, you can use VNC Server installed on those computers with TwinVNC on your X1000 to connect to them remotely. TwinVNC is free and is available on OS4Depot.net. Anyway, a topic for another entry - for now we go back to Remote Desktop!

By default on the X1000 there is no Remote Desktop software installed so I want to show you how to get it up and running.

On OS4Depot.net there is an older version of Remote Desktop called RDesktopGUI from about 2006 but this version doesn't work on the X1000 in my testing. I have seen internet forums of people frustrated by trying to get it to work - and it doesn't support Windows 2008 and Windows 7 anyway...don't bother with using it on the X1000.

I then discovered that an updated version of RDesktop from 2010 is available on the AmigaOS4.1.5 CD that came with the X1000! This looks like it could be the solution!

Assuming you haven't changed your X1000 from the original installation, you should have the FC_41_U5.iso visible in your System: drive if you select to show all files as below:

Just double click the FC_41_U5.iso to mount it on your desktop. You should then see some icons like below appear:

Double click on the Extras Installer icon. You should then see the following window:

Select Remote Desktop Connection on the left hand side (as above). The destination will default to System:Utilities/RDesktop-OS4 and it will add it to the dock for you, which is nice. Click on Install to proceed with the installation. When finished press Done or close the Extras Installer window.

We have finished with the ISO file now, so unmount it by pressing CTRL-ALT-D to bring up the DiskImageGUI. Highlight the ISO file and click on the Eject button (second icon from the left), as below:

Ok, so now we have a new icon on our Dock called RDesktopGUI. Double click it and let's get started configuring!

Initially, you will see the Remote Desktop Connection window below. This works quite similar to the Remote Desktop software in Windows - so to configure it, we need to select the Options >> button.

We start on the General tab, as below:

Here we configure the IP Address or DNS Computer Name we want to connect to, the username, password and domain (if needed). You can choose whether or not to save your credentials. Generally people shouldn't save their password on RDesktop, because there is no user logon on the X1000 to stop other people connecting to the target computer without you knowing. But it's good to save the other details.

After entering the details on each line, press the Enter key. As with some other applications on AmigaOS they don't register the input unless you press Enter.

When we have finished all the setting changes we can click Save As... to save this configuration to a file. We can later then open it from the Open button to save typing in all this information again. It makes sense I think to create a configuration file for each computer you plan to connect to.

Next we need to click on the Display Tab:

First, choose the Remote desktop size you want to use (you can choose full screen if you want). I prefer to run the Remote Desktop sessions in 1024x768 windows (Centered on Screen) on the Amiga's desktop so I can swap between sessions and the AmigaOS applications easier. For the colours, Select 16bit colour (Good quality). Although 24bit Colour is an option, it is not supported by this software when connecting to Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 machines and it will drop back to 16bit on connection anyway.

Next, we click on Resources tab:

Bringing audio to the computer - personal preference but I don't see any point to this so I leave it unchecked. If you want to use it, make sure you specify the correct AHI unit, which should be Unit 0 on the X1000 in it's default configuration.

Now click on Programs Tab:

Here you can choose to run a specific program within the Remote Desktop session once logged in - I have no need to use this so I will keep it blank.

The last area of configuration is to click on the Experience tab:

If you are connecting to a computer over the local network, then select the LAN option and check the Enable Data Cache option. The Use older RDP4 protocol option needs to be checked if connecting to a Windows 2000, Windows NT4 or older type Windows computer. The built-in default RDP5 support is ok to connect to Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 64bit, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2008R2 64Bit computers.

Ok, so if all is ok, go back to the General tab and save the configuration as mentioned before.

I assume if you are using Remote Desktop you are familiar that you need to enable remote desktop connection on the target computer and if you are connecting to Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 computer you also need to lower the remote desktop connection security to support older clients on the Windows computer.

Just in case you need help with this step - here is an example of how to enable this on Windows 7 Pro 64Bit. From the Start Menu, right click on Computer and click Properties, as shown below:

On the next window that comes up (as shown below), click on Remote Settings on the left hand side:

This will bring up the Remote tab on the System Properties, as shown below. Make sure Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure) is selected. If you have multiple users make sure the user you want to use is enabled by clicking select users and selecting the users you want. Then click OK to move forward:

Ok, so let's go back to the X1000 with our completed configuration in RDesktop, now ready to test.

Assuming the previous steps have been done, now click on Connect from RDesktop and hopefully you will get a successful connection like the screenshot below of RDesktop connected to a Windows Server 2008R2 64Bit Server via Remote Desktop:

I then went on to run RDesktop again to connect to a Windows 7 PC at the same time, and so had Windows Server 2008R2 and Windows 7 64Bit running via Remote Desktop on my AmigaOne X1000! (Click to expand)

As with normal Windows Remote Desktop, you need to log off from the start menu or close the window (disconnect) the session, which leaves the Remote Desktop session running on the target computer, which allows you to pick up exactly where you left off the next time you connect.

It is possible also to duplicate the example Computer connection icons in the System:Utilities/Rdesktop-OS4 folder to add tool types that correspond to the configuration options in the RDesktopGUI - this allows you to have separate icons for each computer you want to connect to. Personally I have no need for this - the configuration files that can be opened from the RDesktop GUI is good enough and uses just one icon to launch. It seems like too much fiddling around and would result in multiple icons needing to be places in a new sub dock on the AmigaOS dock to keep everything neat and tidy - but if you want to try it please go ahead!

Anyway, I am pleased to report that RDesktop works well on the X1000!

I am impressed that AmigaOS4 has a lot of useful software on it already, with more to come I am sure!