Top Requests (so far)
- Copy/paste back and forth
- Copy/paste of images and other media that normally would work
- Sound transmission (for teams etc.)
- Remote CAC control (can I use the CAC on my remote computer to validate my head computer browser?)
- Mobile phone mouse press/better control - Can I use my phone to initiate a teams call on the remote computer via TinyPilot so that I am "in the meeting"
- Keyboard shortcuts (ALT-TAB, Windows-TAB etc.) - Can this be through an installed software that captures the key presses?
- Copy/Paste from one controlled computer to another
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-02-02 02:19:08.962Z
Hi Santosh - thanks for sharing these with us. I’ve addressed each point below.
Copy/paste back and forth
Copy/paste of images and other media that normally would work
Copy/Paste from one controlled computer to anotherTinyPilot is designed as an IP-KVM, which means it emulates a keyboard, mouse and monitor and shares them over an IP connection. Unfortunately, this means there isn’t a communications channel between the connected computer and the TinyPilot device which can be used for sharing a clipboard. It is possible to paste text into TinyPilot by going to Actions then Paste. Your TinyPilot device will then “type” the pasted text into the connected system for you.
Sound transmission (for teams etc.)
Audio support is a popular request and something we’re working on. I don’t have a timeline I can share just yet so I’d recommend following our blog for the latest updates.
Remote CAC control (can I use the CAC on my remote computer to validate my head computer browser?)
Can you please confirm what is meant by CAC in this context?
Mobile phone mouse press/better control - Can I use my phone to initiate a teams call on the remote computer via TinyPilot so that I am "in the meeting"
Touch support is something we’d like to improve and we have a GitHub issue open to track progress which you can subscribe to if you wish.
Keyboard shortcuts (ALT-TAB, Windows-TAB etc.) - Can this be through an installed software that captures the key presses?
Unfortunately, some keyboard shortcuts can’t be intercepted by the browser and so this isn’t something we can support. Some users have had success using TinyPilot as a Chrome app to capture keypresses more reliably but Alt+Tab is still exclusively intercepted by the host operating system.
- WRandy Chapman @wilbur4321
I suspect they may mean HDMI CEC in this context?
On the copy from the controlled computer(s), though .... TinyPilot ought to be able to emulate a serial port alongside it's other USB devices (at least, if the virtual hub isn't full). To get the clipboard data to the TinyPilot, I can think of a few options:
- custom software on the OS (for users who can run that)
- write that as python, for users who have python but can't run other custom executables
- provide a webpage on the kvm that uses the browser's Web Serial support to write to the serial port
- provide that as a standalone .html file for users that can't access the TinyPilot over the network
- heck, command line "echo to serial port" is built in to every OS
Similar functionality could be done using the virtual media as well, but I suspect a lot of us are more limited from our IT department
A custom HID device could do it, too, at least with the browser option. Again, though, that's going to depend upon the IT limits
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-02-25 19:11:29.822Z
Hi Randy, thanks for sharing your comments with us!
Using HDMI-CEC for power control from a KVM is an intriguing idea that I’ve not encountered before. However, HDMI-CEC is normally used to control video displays rather than video sources and I’m not sure if many computer systems would be capable of responding to it. Our existing Wake-On-LAN functionality is likely to be a more reliable option for powering a system on.
We do have some internal tickets open relating to copying from a connected system but they are all at a very early stage. Your suggested approaches are interesting, particularly the serial port idea as I’ve done something similar in a personal project. I’ll share your suggestions with the team for consideration.
- WRandy Chapman @wilbur4321
Yeah, the only thing that I could really see HDMI-CEC being useful for here might be to bring up the TinyPilot from a low-power sleep state, as a typical computer monitor does. Given, though, that I don't believe it's actively decoding hdmi signals if there's no connection, I dunno what would really be saved. Although, if CEC if flexible enough, maybe it could be used for a computer to request a low-level power-cycle of itself, or for the virtual media to be mounted, or things of that sort, when there's not network connectivity between the controlled host and the TinyPilot? I'm not the OP; I don't know here.
Glad you're looking at copy and paste :) That's a big one for me!
- CCharles Hague @cghague2023-02-27 21:18:28.345Z
Thanks for the feedback on HDMI-CEC! It’s indeed possible that @Zantosh was referring to something else, so I think we can set this aside for now.
Glad you're looking at copy and paste :) That's a big one for me!
I’ve successfully copied large amounts of text from a remote system through TinyPilot by taking a screenshot (via the Action menu) and then using Live Text on macOS to copy the text from the image. I understand that Windows has a similar text extractor add-on. Depending on your requirements this might be a viable workaround.
- ZIn reply toZantosh⬆:Santosh Krishnan @Zantosh
Well, to elaborate on what I'm trying to do -
I want to connect multiple computers to a KVM and put them in my basement. From my Surface tablet, I want to be able to connect to them and work on them. Tinypilot lets me do this. However, If a laptop shuts down (by mistake or due to some other reason), then I have no way to restart it unless I know the MAC address. These laptops are usually restricted so I can't modify the settings to enable wake on LAN.
This means that If I set this up and go on a vacation to Europe, then I still have to arrange with my neighbor to help me in case a laptop has some issue and goes into a power down state. That's where I was coming from.
CACs are access cards. They're issued by the government. I have to keep it in the laptop in order to unlock it. However if the card is not in the laptop, then it'll prompt me to enter it into a device - but the question is whether that device can be on my end, connected to my surface tablet. For instance if I were to remote desktop to a VM that requires my CAC, then it successfully reads it from my reader that is technically not connected to the VM. Likewise, I was wondering if it's possible to channel that request for the CAC from the remote system to my tablet through the browser. https://www.cac.mil/common-access-card/
Michael Lynch @michael2023-02-28 09:37:50.627ZLikewise, I was wondering if it's possible to channel that request for the CAC from the remote system to my tablet through the browser.
No, unfortunately that's not possible. We don't have any experience with those cards, so TinyPilot wouldn't forward any information about them from your Surface to the target computer.