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RDP program for Win7 ?

spinedoc77

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
I've searched and browsed thru the forums on the various RDP programs some of you guys are using and am ready to purchase one. The problem is that there are no trials, so I can't see specifically which one would fit my needs.

I would like the RDP solution that most closely emulates the feel of actually having Win7 on my ipad. With that in mind here are things I am looking for:

Mouse control: I'd like wherever I press my finger on the ipad screen to directly relate to a mouse click on the Win7 machine. I do NOT like how I've seen Logmein behave in reviews where the mouse cursor is a couple inches away from your finger and you have to scroll it around, that's just horrible. I'm currently experimenting with RDP lite (free) and it behaves correctly, ie: wherever I hit my finger it treats it as a click in the Win7 environment.

Audio: From what I understand Logmein has no streaming audio, or rather you have to pay extra for it I believe. Can you guys comment on whether the other RDP solutions do stream audio? I'd love to simply RDP into my setup and stream some video and/or audio.

Scrolling: I don't see many comments on this either way. How does scrolling a scrollbar in lets say firefox work? In RDP lite it doesn't at all.

So far I'm in a tie between desktop connect, itap RDP and Jump Desktop, they all seem decent but don't answer my questions. I'd purchase Logmein in a heartbeat but HATE the way the mouse works in it, and don't understand why they omitted audio.

Any comments?
 
Wyse PocketCloud Remote allows you to use either an offset mouse or to click directly with your finger, can stream audio (although it breaks up badly if the connection isn't fast), and lets you scroll windows vertically without hunting for the scroll bars, but only if you are using the offset mouse pointer.

It also seems to be on sale this week (I should have waited before buying a copy for testing with one of our servers...)
 
For video streaming I would consider AirVideo. I use to have to re-rip my 1080p MKV's to play on my iPad but with AirVideo, it plays all my MKV's on my iPad flawlessly. I hear they are working on streaming music in there next revision.
 
im using Jump desktop on Win7 x64 works flawless.

Audio works....you can either select play on ipad play on computer or disable.
the mouse cursor does the thing you dont like but the only time i use it is when im scrolling a scroll bar. if you just double click on something with your finger it activates. so its a mixture of both moving the cursor and just touching.
 
I use winadmin and the only thing it does that you need is the scrolling...you can mark this one off the list of potentials!
 
Jump works excellent, it does have the mouse circle that is a little ways from the cursor... But for any type of scrolling or dragging it's a must because otherwise your finger obscures the pointer. With that said you can double click without using the circle and it will work as you described, best of both worlds in my opinion. Audio streaming works very well and it connect over the Internet much faster then my desktop machine. Every one that's seen it and uses rdp is amazed how fast and smooth it is. Biggest complaint is the black bar at the top that requires you to move the screen around but the developer has said this will be fixed in a soon to be released version. Updates/improvements have come every few days.
 
spinedoc77 said:
I know I read thru that as well, but they did not discuss the specific issues I wanted to address. Other than the mouse/audio stuff all the programs seem to do what I want, so I wanted to ask specifically about them.
Click to expand...

I'm still following along here because you have specific requests :D
 
Bought Jump last night after much reading of reviews etc. So far, very happy with my purchase. I had wanted VNC support as well so was considering Desktop Connect but it sounds like it may be more buggy. In the end I decided to go with a separate VNC solution. I am using Mocha VNC (free version) for now.
 
supermanx said:
Jump works excellent, it does have the mouse circle that is a little ways from the cursor... But for any type of scrolling or dragging it's a must because otherwise your finger obscures the pointer. With that said you can double click without using the circle and it will work as you described, best of both worlds in my opinion. Audio streaming works very well and it connect over the Internet much faster then my desktop machine. Every one that's seen it and uses rdp is amazed how fast and smooth it is. Biggest complaint is the black bar at the top that requires you to move the screen around but the developer has said this will be fixed in a soon to be released version. Updates/improvements have come every few days.
Click to expand...

oooh if they fix that itll be perfect. I was saying to myself I wish when you maximize an app you shouldnt have to move anything around it should be snapped full screen.
 
DoFoT9 said:
had you considered any VNC programs?
Click to expand...

Yes I played around with mochVNC a bit and tightVNC on my Windows machine, I can't say I liked it very much. I like the RDP solution much better, you don't need to install any server or software on your PC and it seems a bit easier to set up.

One question for you guys, when setting up RDP when I have multiple PC's on the network, I'm currently forwarding the 3389 port to the IP address of the PC I want to RDP into. Is there any way to select which PC on the network I want to RDP into short of having to edit the port forwarding? I'd love to be on the road and RDP into either my laptop or my desktop.
 
spinedoc77 said:
Yes I played around with mochVNC a bit and tightVNC on my Windows machine, I can't say I liked it very much. I like the RDP solution much better, you don't need to install any server or software on your PC and it seems a bit easier to set up.

One question for you guys, when setting up RDP when I have multiple PC's on the network, I'm currently forwarding the 3389 port to the IP address of the PC I want to RDP into. Is there any way to select which PC on the network I want to RDP into short of having to edit the port forwarding? I'd love to be on the road and RDP into either my laptop or my desktop.
Click to expand...

Id like an answer to this as well. as I have another desktop and a laptop and was wondering about it. right now i basicly just go thru the network on the comp ive rdped into to get to the other computers.
 
Jump desktop is awesome. It has a great circle for moving the mouse but also registers a mouse click exactly where you tap your finger. It works surprisingly well. So if you tap the X in the top right the window closes, if you tap start or click a link, it selects, just like a mouse click or a regular tap on the iPad.

I can almost guarantee you will not be disappointed with jump desktop
 
Desktop Connect does audio and the mouse works the way you want. You don't have to drag the mouse around.
 
The more I play with RDP on the ipad the more I wish it was a true RDP experience like I would get if I used another PC instead of the ipad. When I use a PC to RDP into another PC it pretty much feels as if I'm at that PC, the mouse works the same way as if I was in front of the remote PC, I can scroll scrollbars, etc etc. There is really no need to have the goofy offset mouse cursors that it seems like it takes forever to get it set up in the right spot to click an x or scroll (plus what about drag and drop, etc?). It just seems very tedious.

Also tedious is being able to drag the desktop around. I'd much rather just have the desktop anchored to solidify the illusion of having Win7 on my ipad.

Overall it seems like the RDP is half baked on these programs and doesn't truly give you the feeling of the remote desktop taking over the ipad. I'm also not seeing much that is worth buying over the free RDP lite.

I'm still holding out hope though. The programs are cool, but I was just hoping for something to really give me the feel that I had Win7 on the ipad. I have a feeling it will be about limitations from Apple and what can be controlled, etc.
 
spinedoc77 said:
One question for you guys, when setting up RDP when I have multiple PC's on the network, I'm currently forwarding the 3389 port to the IP address of the PC I want to RDP into. Is there any way to select which PC on the network I want to RDP into short of having to edit the port forwarding? I'd love to be on the road and RDP into either my laptop or my desktop.
Click to expand...

Jump allows you to (optionally) install a small agent app on each PC which eliminates the need for any port forwarding. It also can cache passwords. So with literally one touch you have the desktop of any PC on your iPad, either on the LAN or over the Internet. Very slick.
 
spinedoc77 said:
Yes I played around with mochVNC a bit and tightVNC on my Windows machine, I can't say I liked it very much. I like the RDP solution much better, you don't need to install any server or software on your PC and it seems a bit easier to set up.
Click to expand...
ok, fair call. VNC just seems much more "open" - but yea, there are some real limitations (sound, optimisation etc).

One question for you guys, when setting up RDP when I have multiple PC's on the network, I'm currently forwarding the 3389 port to the IP address of the PC I want to RDP into. Is there any way to select which PC on the network I want to RDP into short of having to edit the port forwarding? I'd love to be on the road and RDP into either my laptop or my desktop.
Click to expand...
hehe i believe i can answer this question - as i do this for VNC! its the same principles. (principals? :confused).

the router can handle anything that you want it to do really.. i make the router do all the work for me. using my VNC program, i can say, http://website:5900.com, http://website.com:5901, or http://website.com:5902. my modem has a NAT table setup, if port 5900 comes in - its told to rout the packets to a certain IP address on the internal network. similar instances with the other two port numbers.

does that help at all lol?
 
spinedoc77 said:
............

One question for you guys, when setting up RDP when I have multiple PC's on the network, I'm currently forwarding the 3389 port to the IP address of the PC I want to RDP into. Is there any way to select which PC on the network I want to RDP into short of having to edit the port forwarding? I'd love to be on the road and RDP into either my laptop or my desktop.
Click to expand...

You set up another port forward to the computer's internal IP through the router but you have to change the RDP listening port (to 3390 for example) on that computer.

for Windows: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759
 
Since audio as a feature is mentioned here, is there any other way to do audio from a Win 7 Home Premium without resorting to an anytime upgrade to professional just for RDP?

Logmein has audio with a pro account, but the yearly cost is the same as a single upgrade to Professional.

If I did upgrade to pro for RDP, and say got Jump Desktop, is there much of a delay in the audio?
 
I enjoy winadmin a lot, no audio support right now, but supposedly coming.

I use it to connect to my windows 7 machine at the office and my 2003 servers and xp clients.

it works a lot like having your desktop set to 1024x768 no scrolling around on the screen, but zooming in is supported.

to drag windows and scrollbars around, double tap and hold on the screen and just drag your finger.

It's not perfect, but it is quite serviceable.

edit -

I don't think streaming video is really feasible on any RDP solution.. air video is almost certainly a better bet for that..
 
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