John
2003-12-20 08:31:17 UTC
Greetings,
I'm a proud new owner of a Roku HD1000. Picked it up
last weekend after researching the different digital
media servers currently available on the market and
reading all the positive reviews on the Roku message
thread at avsforum.com A week later I have no regrets
about my purchase decision. It's so nice to be able
to listen to my MP3 collection through my home stereo
directly from my network shares, and view my digital
photos in 1080i resolution on my Toshiba HDTV. I'm
really looking forward to seeing what new applications
are developed for the Roku over the next several
months. I wish I could contribute to the Roku app
development efforts, but unfortunately my programming
abilities are limited to ASP, VB and other web
technologies in the Windows world.
A couple days ago an idea came to me for a potential
Roku application that I think would really blow people
away and probably help sell a few more Roku HD1000's.
I posted my idea on the Roku message thread at
AVSForum.com. I figured I should post my idea here as
well and get some feedback from developers whether
this can be done. The idea I came up with is to have
a thin client application that will allow the Roku to
remotely "take control" of any PC on your home network
running Windows XP Remote Desktop or Win2K Terminal
Services. The same technology already being used by
many to telecommute from home. Just think what a thin
client app like this would do for the Roku... It
would allow the Roku to remotely run any applications
you already have installed on your home networked
PC's. There'd be no reason to develop a web browser
for the Roku. Just take control of a PC running XP
Pro and run IE or whatever browser you normally use.
Remotely run through the Roku other installed PC apps
like email, chat, DivX, MAME, Windows Media Player 9,
Real Player, etc etc. Not only would the video from
the remote PC get streamed to the Roku, but the sound
as well. Now you've got a device that does A LOT more
than serve digital music, photos and video.
I've done a little bit of research. There's already a
commercial app for Linux called WinConnect that
connects to XP Remote Desktop and Terminal Services.
It's made by ThinSoft.
http://www.thinsoftinc.com/products_winconnect_info.html
WinConnect requires less than 16MB of memory to run.
It uses so little memory, the've even ported this
application to the Sharp Zaurus PDA.
Even better, there's a free solution available, a GNU
Open Source project named rdesktop. They managed to
reverse-engineer the RDP protocol used by XP Remote
Desktop/Term Services and built this app for UNIX.
The source code is available for downloading. Just go
to http://www.rdesktop.org
Rdesktop requires X-Windows, but I'm sure the code
could be ported to the Roku graphics system.
I realize you're going to need a wireless
keyboard/pointing device in order for this to really
work. Perhaps the RS-232 port or USB port could be
used to connect a wired keyboard to the Roku, at least
until an IR wireless keyboard becomes available?
John
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/
I'm a proud new owner of a Roku HD1000. Picked it up
last weekend after researching the different digital
media servers currently available on the market and
reading all the positive reviews on the Roku message
thread at avsforum.com A week later I have no regrets
about my purchase decision. It's so nice to be able
to listen to my MP3 collection through my home stereo
directly from my network shares, and view my digital
photos in 1080i resolution on my Toshiba HDTV. I'm
really looking forward to seeing what new applications
are developed for the Roku over the next several
months. I wish I could contribute to the Roku app
development efforts, but unfortunately my programming
abilities are limited to ASP, VB and other web
technologies in the Windows world.
A couple days ago an idea came to me for a potential
Roku application that I think would really blow people
away and probably help sell a few more Roku HD1000's.
I posted my idea on the Roku message thread at
AVSForum.com. I figured I should post my idea here as
well and get some feedback from developers whether
this can be done. The idea I came up with is to have
a thin client application that will allow the Roku to
remotely "take control" of any PC on your home network
running Windows XP Remote Desktop or Win2K Terminal
Services. The same technology already being used by
many to telecommute from home. Just think what a thin
client app like this would do for the Roku... It
would allow the Roku to remotely run any applications
you already have installed on your home networked
PC's. There'd be no reason to develop a web browser
for the Roku. Just take control of a PC running XP
Pro and run IE or whatever browser you normally use.
Remotely run through the Roku other installed PC apps
like email, chat, DivX, MAME, Windows Media Player 9,
Real Player, etc etc. Not only would the video from
the remote PC get streamed to the Roku, but the sound
as well. Now you've got a device that does A LOT more
than serve digital music, photos and video.
I've done a little bit of research. There's already a
commercial app for Linux called WinConnect that
connects to XP Remote Desktop and Terminal Services.
It's made by ThinSoft.
http://www.thinsoftinc.com/products_winconnect_info.html
WinConnect requires less than 16MB of memory to run.
It uses so little memory, the've even ported this
application to the Sharp Zaurus PDA.
Even better, there's a free solution available, a GNU
Open Source project named rdesktop. They managed to
reverse-engineer the RDP protocol used by XP Remote
Desktop/Term Services and built this app for UNIX.
The source code is available for downloading. Just go
to http://www.rdesktop.org
Rdesktop requires X-Windows, but I'm sure the code
could be ported to the Roku graphics system.
I realize you're going to need a wireless
keyboard/pointing device in order for this to really
work. Perhaps the RS-232 port or USB port could be
used to connect a wired keyboard to the Roku, at least
until an IR wireless keyboard becomes available?
John
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/