A teamviewer alternative for arm64

ARM General ARM Discussion
#1

OK, I get that Teamviewer is not available, and that with “teamviewer host” (armv7) and some magic you can somewhat get the host going.

However, I would like to connect to another computer, and the teamviewer client has no ARM option.
But what options do we have?

Nomachine doesn’t do NAT / firewalling.
AnyDesk costs $ if there is even an ARM client, and quite a few $ per month at that.

Chrome Remote Desktop is no option, because ARM64 and, lets face it: Google.

You could do some RDP and VNC stuff, but then again: NAT and firewalling blocks all that.

Any options?

I’m thinking I could use an SSH server and reverse-tunnel, or use a VPN/Wireguard server and reverse proxy/tunnel, but usability-wise that would be a hard sell for the people I’d like to help remotely. I’d like to help them because they are in fact not computer techs.

I’m not setting up port forwarding because of the same reasons + not really all that secure.

Any ideas how to get a teamviewer-like setup going that handles NAT/firewalls? Just like to help people using Manjaro ARM Linux… And do that from Manjaro ARM Linux as well.

Oh, and finally: Much appreciation for an awesome ARM64 distribution!

#2

Hi,

I use since 2 years krfb and krdc (both kde soft)

easy to configure (port firewall) and user friendly

no problem with the cross platform
windows (ultra vnc) <-> Manjaro x86 and Manjaro ARM (krfb and krdc)
With my smartphone too, android…

2 Likes
#3

Interesting set of tools! Will be looking into that :slight_smile: Thanks.

It does however require me to do port forwarding from the firewall to the desktop computer I want to share, as I don’t see how I can connect over the internet without setting up the router/firewall to port forward internet right to the desktop… Which is tricky if I want to help some people out occasionally. Doing a full time port forwarding setup on someone’s home PC doesn’t feel quite right.

Or am I missing something?

Would be a nice solution combined with an SSH reverse tunnel setup perhaps. Hmm…

Is there a way to perhaps to use WebRTC for this?
Maybe use a turn server as a reverse proxy? Set things up via XMPP or Jitsi Meet or something?

#4

Both Anydesk and RealVNC has been working great for me, can be found in AUR.

#5

Anydesk requires $ which I don’t have.
RealVNC, how does RealVNC handle the Firewall / NAT problem?
I understand VNC on the local network, but how do I bridge VNC over the internet?

#6

I’ve been running Anydesk for free for years, this version on Manjaro. No firewall setup necessary. As for RealVNC you have to create an account and your computer connections are stored online, no fiddling with firewall necessary here either. I’ve found that Anydesk works better when working with Windows remotes whereas RealVNC works best with Linux.

Edit: Forgot to mention that RealVNC consists of a client and a server package, here’s the server package and here’s the viewer.

1 Like
#7

Hmm, imagine that. It seems you can use anydesk without registering an account!?
Nice. It seems to start.
I’m calling this the solution. :slight_smile:

RealVNC, there appears to be a home account type of subscription, which appears to be free. You will have to look for that one carefully, but I can’t find it advertised anywhere.

Anydesk seems to be the easiest solution without registration. Will go and test this some more.

Thanks for sharing your solution!

Update: Nope, does not go on ARM64.

#8

Hi, maybe DWService would be a good alternative too.
https://www.dwservice.net/

Greetings

1 Like
#9

I user always ssh.

Look this: Remote X Apps mini-HOWTO

#10

Yeah, I thought about remote X apps too, but that would not be desktop sharing, where I help fix things for people by looking over their shoulder. You could do SSH and VNC, but then there is a firewall and NAT in the way.

1 Like
#11

Anydesk-bin does not work on ARM64, is x86 only… So, this would not be the solution for Manjaro ARM, I’m afraid.
Anydesk-rpi does not work on ARM64 either, is armhf.
RealVNC is armv7, but not ARM64.
Jitsi Desktop seems to do screen sharing / remote desktop, also not available for ARM64.

I am beginning to see a pattern here. :frowning:

DWService seems to support Arm64! :slight_smile:
But that is registration software. Seems like a possible solution, though this seems to enable remote desktop sharing fulltime. Which is a little iffy, seeing as other people’s PCs aren’t mine.

Still thinking there might be a WebRTC type of solution here somewhere.
Zoom appears to have remote desktop support, but then: Zoom…
Jitsi Meet HAD remote desktop support, but disabled it again as security concern. (So close!!)
It looks like realistically, with the right XMPP desktop client I could get at least remote desktop viewing.

I am inclined to look at adding armhf architecture to Manjaro ARM installs to get Anydesk-rpi going.
Is that an option, realistically speaking?

#12

Well this goes to show you shouldn’t be posting comments when you’re tired. Totally missed the Arm64 bit in your question. Sorry about that. Don’t know if adding armhf would be the way to go but would be very interested to know if you get it working. Not being able to use Anydesk or RealVNC is what’s keeping me from installing Manjaro on my Raspberry Pi.

#13

For network security. And I think there is no other way, is to open port forward on the router to each computer.
You open a port for each particular computer, 22001, 22002, etc.

You can put any service on each port in the ports configured in the router.

If you have a router that accepts script like Microtik or Cisco, it is much easier. Otherwise it can be tedious, but it is safe and perhaps the only alternative.

Services such as TW or AnyDesk, in my opinion, are unreliable, since the information is found on external servers.

#14

Yeah, we are not making things easy with helping people, that is for sure.
And I’m with you on relying on third party services, but TeamViewer really does work well.

Registering and installing agents and such, wouldn’t like that have done to me.
I also rather not set up open ports with port fowarding on people’s computer, because I would not like that happen to me and my PC.

Instead of opening ports to the internet, i’m thinking tunneling and then using the required ports through the tunnel in a reverse proxy kinda way.
I’m thinking maybe setting up a VPS as Wireguard host/server.
Have people Wireguard into the VPS, then help them using VNC, like with krfb and krdc or nomachine.
And that is presuming the Wireguard is able to reverse proxy.
Have to set up a VPN thing and trust people not abusing it… Yeah…

That said, I am really rather hoping that I can set something up with XMPP clients.
Use a (self-hosted) XMPP server as a reverse proxy, and fire up a chat into a desktop sharing kinda thing.

Hmm, not liking the options much on this.
I really really like Manjaro and Manjaro ARM, but this is a bit of a thing, not being able to remotely help people. And people need help when using Linux. So, yeah…

#15

What about reverse VNC where you open ports on your end.

Quick search on ddg came up with this for example:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC/Reverse

1 Like
#16

That idea could totally work! I can manage opening a few ports on my one side, and route that the right way internally.

Reverse VNC, awesome concept.
Many thanks for that one, will have to investigate on that, but seems like an excellent possible solution.
Could even script that on the client side, to make is easy to start.

Excellent!

2 Likes
#17

I can vouch for DWService, been using for 2 years professionally, it’s free but I contribute with donations because I love it.

#18

Nomachine is the best alternative to teamviewer in my perspective.

#19

Well, there is not one answer.

  • It seems the best is to setup some kind of reverse VNC. That requires some infrastructure on your side, but would then allow the people you would like to help to be able to connect through NAT/Firewall. You can then help them, using the VNC protocol. (Mind the security.)
  • Alternatively, if you own the other computers, you could indeed use DWService. Seems fine, requires a preinstalled agent.
  • If you have a VPN or SSH tunnel going already, you could use krfb and krdc, an awesome set of KDE software.
  • It seems one would be able to also use Zoom as basis for remote desktop helping, if you like that service.
  • Jitsi Meet also had this, but disabled it for security reasons.

Thanks everyone!