HTML5 Console instead of java?

[Jon Lachmann]

Have you looked into the possibilities of integrating a HTML5 based console/vnc-client instead of the java one?

I find that using java is causing problems (buggy on ubuntu etc..), and it forces me to install a huge software package on every computer i want to use as a client.

A HTML5 solution on the other hand would give me instant access if i have a modern browser at hand... of course the java client could be a fallback for those stuck with older browsers. A quick googleing gave me these examples of HTML5 vnc clients:

http://guac-dev.org/
http://kanaka.github.com/noVNC/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/thinvnc/

What do you think?

Best regards!

 

[dietmar]

What do you think?

We think the java based solution works best (that is why we use it).

 

[Jon Lachmann]

That sounds reasonable, but what do you see in the future if HTML5 becomes more available and the VNC clients built with it more developed and better working?

When using proxmox 1.9 with ubuntu and firefox i experienced problems that caused the console to only open the first time i tried to open it, HTML5 would make it more platform agnostic.

 

[dietmar]

That sounds reasonable, but what do you see in the future if HTML5 becomes more available and the VNC clients built with it more developed and better working?

We can re-evaluate that in future. But current HTML5 VNC clients are not usable. And I guess we will use spice in future (not VNC).

 

[xlnt]

+1 for spice. It works great.

 

[el_gringo]

We think the java based solution works best (that is why we use it).

It is totally unusable on non Windows systems, plugins are pain in the ass to install on Linux ! I finally could install icedtea plugin, but it only worked only once. Then it crash my browser.

That would be great to have the choice between HTML5 and Java !

 

[m.ardito]

there is also the SPICE choice, nowadays...

Marco

 

[el_gringo]

Cool, I didn't know what exactly spice was and I did not activated it. Now everything works, thanks !

The java console was unusable, its keyboard mapping seems like it come from Mars ?!!

 

[nullone]

It is totally unusable on non Windows systems, plugins are pain in the ass to install on Linux ! I finally could install icedtea plugin, but it only worked only once. Then it crash my browser.

For 4 years on Linux ( Debian or Ubuntu), I had never met any problem on all major browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Chromium and Opera.
It started from the Proxmox 1.x days.


To be a competent administrator, it is better to learn to handle the basics, and not just cry like a normal picky end user which will not earn your reputation.

 

[MACscr]

Id love to see novnc support as well. novnc is used by some pretty large projects (much larger than proxmox) and with large corporate backing. Using something that requires a client other than a browser pretty much makes it a no go on portable devices and chromebooks (like the one I am typing on now). Also, with the horrible record the past few years with java, its definitely not recommended for most users to have installed. As far as spice, it doesnt work to well on osx and definitely isnt an option on chromebooks either. Java is also very clunky and troublesome to support.

 

[mmenaz]

You should understand that there are people that value their freedom and want to use Free software, OracleJava is not one of them and OpenJDK did not worked until very recent release of icedtea part, that in any case not many stable distro have so is still a problem.
Also, many "competent administrator" here have/had problems with Java, this is just a fact that every competent administrator faces, strangely except you...

 

[wrale]

+1 for NoVNC.

See: http://www.ovirt.org/Features/noVNC_console#Benefit_to_oVirt

 

[Patschi]

An HTML5 client would be really awesome, Java is mostly just annoying.