remote control of computer

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gatorwayne

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Apr 11, 2012
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I’ve been reading TFP to help figure out how to get music from a computer to a receiver to speakers out by the pool. I want to control the computer remotely from an old phone or similar device so I don’t have puddles in front of where the computer and receiver are stored inside the house. Tonight I discovered a great free program that works on Apple and Android devices to control an Apple, Windows, or Linux computer. I searched the forums and there is only one mention of it so I thought I would post. I’m not too familiar with Linux or Apple so I plan on using it on Windows.

The program is called teamviewer. You install the app on your remote device and your computer. Start the program on both the remote device and the computer. The computer gives a user number and password which you enter on the remote device. It connects via wifi and your remote device displays your computer monitor given you control of your computer. You move the cursor by dragging your finger across the remote device and tap to left click, two finger tap to right click, pinch to shrink, and other methods of controlling the computer.
The one mention of teamviewer was in a topic about intellitouch and I think this would allow a person with an android device.

I haven’t tried it yet as I just discovered it tonight.
 
I use Teamviewer on a regular basis and it is a good product. We pay a fee for commercial use but it is free for home use.
I'm not sure how it would work running from a small screen client like a phone against a larger screen on a PC, but it should be easy to try. One thing to know... TeamViewer does not run peer to peer over your WiFi LAN but is running from a teamviewer server out on the Internet - eg you must have an Internet connection for it to run. Your PC access and data are encrypted and safe, but you are passing your info through a third party.

I will be setting up a similar system at some point and had thought about a TeamViewer solution, I may still do that. I was thinking of trying VNC first though. VNC will run within your LAN but is not quite as easy to set up as TV.
 
I worked an overnight shift last night and was way too wired from caffeine when I got home so I loaded it on my wife’s iPad and a netbook I may use to hold the music. Setup was very easy and I was controlling the netbook within 5 minutes. I think since the screen sizes are similar it was pretty easy using the iPad. I played a few music files and then logged into Pandora. Pretty much I will need the remote control to start and stop a web browser and select from a list of preprogrammed internet radio stations, start and stop Pandora, play music via single file selections or more likely playlists.

I didn’t even think about the information passing through the TV servers. Not that I mind. I’ve got another 10 hour overnight shift and I plan on reading up on VNC. Sadly for as much as I know about computers, I have never learned anything about remote connecting until last night.
 
You might want to look into RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol. Comes built in on Windows OS, and there are numerious free apps for both Apple phones/ipads and Android phone/tablets. This system does not need a connection to the internet to work.
 
Wow, so many choices to consider now. The old iPhone I have is a 3g and most apps I'm finding want at least a 3gs with 4.3 iOS. Probably doesn't matter anyway since i was goofing around with redsn0w and the phone is now stuck in a loop of recovery and I managed to kill bluetooth, wifi, and cellular on it. With teamviewer having a lan only option it is probably what we'll use. It will certainly work with a Droid 3 I've got taped to the bedroom window taking time lapse photos of my build. I'm going to try test TV on my Kindle Fire later but since it is an app on Amazon I'm fairly certain it is going to work. It's free and it works. Now to order the speakers and volume control.
 
Mmonaco said:
Team viewer also has a lan only mode that does not go through their servers. I am not too concerned about security, but it will be faster in lan mode.
Click to expand...

wow, I learned something today... I'll be looking for that LAN mode. I agree though, there is really zero concern about security with this. And, in fact, the performance is usually very good. I just don't like the added complexity for no actual benefit. I feel the same way about my iAqualink.
 
Actually, there are several ways to do this. If you use iTunes, there are apps for Android and iOS for controlling a remote iTunes server. That would probably be the best way to go. In my setup, I use Squeezebox receivers to power the outdoor sound system. Sony and Samsung both make BluRay players that can also act as media servers to play your music library or internet radio (e.g. Pandora), both providing Android/iOS apps for remote control.
 
CraigMW said:
Actually, there are several ways to do this. If you use iTunes, there are apps for Android and iOS for controlling a remote iTunes server. That would probably be the best way to go. In my setup, I use Squeezebox receivers to power the outdoor sound system. Sony and Samsung both make BluRay players that can also act as media servers to play your music library or internet radio (e.g. Pandora), both providing Android/iOS apps for remote control.
Click to expand...

Good call Craig. Sonos is pretty good solution as well a little spendy but well worth the money. Another thing you could do is get a NAS hard drive & put all your music there you just wouldn't have Pandora and would have to use something else. This idea has got my wheels spinning in what I can do by my pool. I have a raspberry pi w/ xbmc that has airplay streaming built in. Might be another side project by the pool.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
 

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I read quite a bit about raspberry pi and it may be a future project of mine. I've pretty much finalized my pool's sound system. I have an HP Mini Netbook that was not really being used. 140GB of space available and can be expanded with flash memory or external hard drives. It will output digital audio through a USB sound card that has SPDIF. My receiver is an Onkyo HTR-530. The receiver will connect to a volume control located outside near the main entrance for the pool. From the volume control I will connect it to 8 speakers, 4 per channel, and alternating channels to hopefully produce a fairly standard sound field across the backyard. I'll know soon as all the equipment should be here by the end of the week and I plan on hooking it up prior to running wires. Teamviewer will be used to control the netbook with a few shortcuts to make things simple.
 
Speakers are from outdoor speaker depot. 3 pairs of RX540 rock speakers, 2 each on west, north, and east side. 1 pair of AP520 which will hang from the eaves of our house. I hope it sounds good. I'll know by the end of the week.
 
gatorwayne said:
Speakers are from outdoor speaker depot. 3 pairs of RX540 rock speakers, 2 each on west, north, and east side. 1 pair of AP520 which will hang from the eaves of our house. I hope it sounds good. I'll know by the end of the week.
Click to expand...
Gator thanks for the info. My wheels are spinning on developing my new sounds system by pool.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
 
I have all the pieces and decided to hook it all up last night. It was a HP netbook, Syba USB soundcard with spdif output, Onkyo HTR-530, Outdoor Speaker Depot 1 set of AP520s and 3 sets of RX540. I have a volume control but did not use it. I wired it series / parallel using 16 gauge wire that was 6' long.

I tuned up Ozzy's Diary of a Madman and turned on the receiver. I stood in the middle of the speakers and they sounded really good. I'm very happy with it for now. I am going to use 12 gauge wire when I install the gear outside.

I will use Teamviewer for remote access. It definitely does what I need for the sound system and I can use it to access my pool's automation system when we are out by the pool or away from home. It will be nice to heat up the spa when out to dinner.
 
jkurl mentioned Sonos, that's what I have.

I installed a JBL marine radio head in a post-mounted "birdhouse" enclosure out by the pool patio. In the same enclosure is an inverter to power it, as well a a Sonos module so it can communicate with the wireless network in my house. The JBL powers four Yamaha speakers. The pool area is pretty large, the speakers easily fill the 60' by 80' space.

Controlled via a Sonos wireless remote or an itouch/smartphone via the Sonos app, Sonos provides fingertip access to our iTunes library and NAS stored tunes, as well as Rhapsody and Pandora, internet radio, etc.

The black cable you can see in the recess goes into the JBL's AUX port, it's for connecting guest's ipods if they want to play their own ipod music, etc. There's a shelf on the bottom that pulls out for holding an ipod or smart phone, etc.

DSC_3714.jpg


The copper roof lifts off to show the innards. The black cable coming out of the hole on the left is the AUX cable for ipods I mentioned earlier. The mesh-covered box on the right is the inverter.

DSC_3717.jpg
 
That is awesome. I think I might go the sonos route but not sure yet. I have a raspberry pi w/ raspbmc installed on it. It has airplay support so I can just hook that into my network. Just need to get speakers and hook them in.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I use an airport express with airplay which is connected to my receiver that powers my outdoor speakers. Lots of new receivers have airplay built in but I had the airport express. So anyone that can connect to my wifi network can play anything from there own ios devices ie spotify, pandora, our iTunes library. We have found this to be pretty great for parties!
 
Another option is Subsonic. I use it as a media streamer to my remote devices, but it can also be used to play music directly from the hosting computer, called Jukebox Mode in the app. It's free on the PC but a very small donation makes you registered. Android client is free, iPod/iPad/iPhone client requires a small fee.
 
You have several choices...
XBMC.org is useful for music as well ( not just video )
Buy a cheap Onkyo Receiver that supports networking and you can stream to that ( store music on old phone or even ipod )
I use my android phone to control my XBMC machine and my receiver.
 

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