Testing applications in someone else's computer through VNC

[rarsa]

Flash Wrote:

could someone who was developing a program invite people to try it out on his computer via VNC?

That would save a lot of uploading and downloading, and give the developer faster, better feedback. It could be particularly useful to a developer with a slow internet connection.

Definetively yes, but with some caveats:

It works like this:
If you want them to test independent of one another you start-up as many non shared desktops as concurrent users you are expecting and assign each one a different port.

If you are inviting a few known people to test this should work fine.

Of course you could have shared desktops, but I don't see it as advisable for testing applications, That one is more for a conference call type of interaction.

Actually for what you are proposing, it may be better to use X over SSH, although Puppy does not have the ssh server. (Nice idea for my next project).

If I see you on IRC tonight you can try connecting to my puppy if you want.

Hey, I got an idea for another thread.

[papaschtroumpf]

... Puppy does not have the ssh server. (Nice idea for my next project).

go for it, I was thinking about it myself. At least we got a client!

[Flash]

Oh my, no, I never had in mind to allow just any passing stranger to use the computer. Definitely invitation only, which would be easy to implement.

I was thinking of a 'session,' during which the developer watches and takes notes while a 'new user' attempts to learn to use his software. However, your idea of collaborators developing software, such as DotPups for instance, on a shared computer seems such an obvious use for remote computing, I don't know why I didn't think of it. The only limitation I can think of is that it couldn't be used to test for compatibility with other hardware configurations.

I used VNC as a generic term for remote computing. SSH or LTSP may be better. I'm only just discovering the subject. As with most other Linux software, the names are not descriptive. (In contrast with Windows applications such as www.logonmypc.com ) I just have to wait to find out what a cryptic name is about, until I stumble across a description. Linux people are not salesmen, that's for sure.

It seems to me that sharing a remote computer would certainly be very useful for writing manuals, or developing a GUI front end. It might make for a more thorough job and a more consistent interface.