Introduction
Key Features
Licence
Usage
Troubleshooting
Tips
History
Contact

VNC is a family of servers and clients that provide remote access to your Windows, Mac, or UNIX workstation over any TCP/IP connection such as an Internet connection. (For more information on VNC, see the VNC homepage.)

PalmVNC is the VNC client for the Palm OS® platform. It was originally written by Vladimir Minenko, providing black-and-white access to your PC from the original Palm Pilot platforms (Palm OS® versions 1.0 to 3.1). Harakan Software later took over the development of the program, to exploit the functionality of newer Palm models such as the Palm IIIc and Palm V series. (For more information, see the PalmVNC homepage.)

PalmVNC 2.0 is the latest evolution of PalmVNC. It adds support for the improved screen resolutions of the latest models from Sony and Palm™, and Palm OS® 5 compatibility.

• Ultra-thin client, uses only a few Kb of RAM.
• VNC servers available for a wide variety of platforms
• High resolution display on Palm OS® 5 and Sony Clié™ devices
• Compatible with the virtual silkscreen of Sony NR and NX series for a display area of up to 320x450!
• Desktop displayed in 256 colors on color devices, in greyscale on B&W devices
• Supports server-side scaling to reduce bandwidth (*)
• Full source code available under GNU GPL.

The following Palm OS® platforms and resolutions are supported:

PalmVNC 2.0 is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence (GPL). The full terms of this licence can be found here.

Basically, the GPL entitles you to use the software free of charge, to have access to its source code, and to make any further developments based on this source code, provided that the results are also distributed under the terms of the GPL.

However, if you use PalmVNC 2.0 and find it useful, you are kindly asked to register for a small fee.

Connecting to a Server

To connect to a server, click the menu button (the lower left button on the silkscreen area, or the equivalent key if you have a keyboard) and then select Connect... from the Server menu.

If it is the first time you use PalmVNC, the Connection Properties will open, otherwise the list of available connections will be displayed.

To configure a connection, you must provide the following information:

• Name: the name displayed in the list
• Server address: the host name or IP address of the target server
• Display: the display (screen) number. Usually 0 for a WinVNC server, 1 for a UNIX server.
• Server password: press the button to set the password to use for this connection. If you don't provide a password here, you will be prompted for a password each time you connect to this server.

By clicking on the Advanced button, you can access advanced properties:

• Begin at X, Y: the initial coordinates of the top left corner of the PalmVNC window
• Scale: the default scale factor. Values other than 1 require the server to support server-side scaling.
• NT user name / password: used for the NT Login function in the Send menu.
• Base port: the base port used for network connection. Note that the actual port used is the base port + the screen number.
• Enable desktop sharing: allows more than 1 VNC client to connect to the server.

To connect, select the connection you want to use, the press the Connect button.

When you have finished, use Disconnect to stop the VNC session, or Hang Up to stop the session and disconnect the modem.

Once you have connected to the server, you will be able to see a portion of the desktop. To see more of the desktop, use the stylus to drag the black scoller box along the horizontal or vertical scrollbar.

You can also use the following buttons:

Use the View menu to scale the desktop. This requires a VNC server that supports the scaling extensions (see the FAQ).

When using the Whole Desktop scale, tapping on the screen will zoom in on that point.

The stylus works like the left mouse button. Tap the stylus on the screen to single click. You can also double-click by tapping twice in rapid succession, or drag the stylus across the screen.

Pressing the PhoneBook button (button 2) will cause the stylus to act as the right mouse button. Press the DateBook button (button 1) for the middle mouse button.

Note: it may be necessary to wait a few seconds after using the stylus before the screen is updated.

The Graffiti area may be used to enter text in the normal way, including the shift and shift-lock strokes. No shift state icon will be shown on the screen.

If you have a keyboard, you should be able to use it as well.

The Send menu allows certain special functions to be performed.

• Palm Clipboard will transfer the contents of the Palm clipboard into the server's clipboard buffer.
• Ctrl-Alt-Del will send the 'three key salute' to the server. This is only supported for Windows NT servers running WinVNC as a service.
• Alt-F4 can be used to close applications running on Windows servers.
• NT login will send the username and password specified in the Preferences dialog to the server. Logout, lock and reboot will perform the appropriate function on the server. You should send Ctrl-Alt-Del before using these commands. NOTE: this will only work on English-language versions of Windows NT

The "Special Keys" keyboard is a pop-up keyboard that will remain in the bottom-left of the screen, and allows keyboard controls to be used that are otherwise unavailable on the Palm. To show the "Special Keys" keyboard, either use Special Keys on the View menu or tap the "abc" or "123" dots on the Graffiti area. Repeating this will hide the keyboard again.

The special keys work as follows:

• ESC: This is the "Escape" key on a normal keyboard. Tapping this button will send the Escape keycode to the remote server immediately.
• SHIFT/CTRL/ALT: These keys simulate the shift, control, and alt keys. A single tap will depress the key, and it will remain latched until the key is tapped again. NOTE: The shift key will NOT modify numbers or punctuation characters, as these vary depending upon the keyboard layout used. Lower-case letters will be converted into upper-case, however.
• FN: This key behaves in a similar manner to the SHIFT/CTRL/ALT keys. However, when this key is pressed, writing the numbers 1 through 0 on the Graffiti area will send the function keys (F1 through F10) to the remote server.

All special keys will automatically be disabled when the keyboard is hidden, and re-enabled when the keyboard is shown again.

 

Connection problems

Usage problems

My server does not have a fixed IP address; how do I set up VNC to access it?

This is typical with DSL connections, where you get a different IP address each time you connect. The best way to work around this is to subscribe to a dynamic IP publishing service. Many of them have a free basic service.

1. Register for the IP publishing service; you will be asked to choose a hostname for your PC (within predefined top-level domains).
2. Download and install the appropriate updater software from the IP publishing service web site. It's a small utility that will run in the background, and update the published IP address associated to your hostname whenever it changes.
3. Configure PalmVNC to use the hostname you chose at step 1 in the "Server address" field of the connection properties. The hostname will be dynamically resolved at connection-time to the current IP address of your server.

Some sites that offer such service are:

• No-IP.com
• Dynu
• DynDNS.org

• July 2003 - PalmVNC 2.0.2 is now bundled with state-of-the-art Ultr@VNC server
• December 2002 - PalmVNC 2.0 adds support for high-resolution and Palm OS 5
• January 2001 - PalmVNC 1.40 released, adding improved performance and conenction handling, multiple server support, and a full installation package.
• July 2000 - PalmVNC 1.3f released, adding enhanced keyboard control and navigation, and various bug fixes.
• January 2000 - Harakan Software began development of PalmVNC 1.3 to support 16-shade greyscale.
• 1998 - Vladimir Minenko released PalmVNC 1.1

Questions, comments, feedback: olivier@palmattitude.org