Yeah, the site seems to be some sort of SPA that uses pushState() to change the url. However, the server was poorly configured so if you refresh, you get a 404 (presumably because the SPA is only served at the root).
literally every microsoft page does this, too. hold down the back button and you can see that you need to go back 2 hops. probably because you load the website and then it redirects to the local translation. annoying but not the end of the world.
I've noticed more sites doing this, whether intentionally or not. Just the other day I was on Microsoft.com and I had to right-click the back button to find how many jumps 1 link-click took me through to get back to DDG. The answer was 4, there were 4 random redirects in between DuckDuckGo and the Microsoft page I visited.
Microsoft's web authentication system is...not great.
I get XSS attack warnings from NoScript because of how haphazardly they redirect login info between various domains: azure.com, outlook.com, windows.net, microsoft.com...it's almost comical.
If I buy 25 old tablets, put them on a wall 5x5 and then open on my laptop 25 browser tabs each with different streaming data e.g. webcam views, messengers, news, can i use this software to achieve this?
Then again... could ofcourse then also anydesk to each of them to change whatever they are showing.
Rather than sending 25 video streams from single machine to all those tablets it will probably be easier and much more efficient to just open those webcam streams / websites directly on the tablets, they are able to render it directly.
For remote control just serve a simple iframe + javascript to poll for changes.
PS: Nice idea, seems like something you would see in a stereotypical hacker movie :)
It looks like this requires a physical display adapter (with a dummy plug in it to spoof EDID) to create the display "instance" which Deskreen then copies to the remote device. So no, you don't have 25 video ports to stuff dummy plugs into.
Depending on your host OS, there _may_ be a way to create more displays that don't require physical video ports, but that doesn't seem to be documented or supported here.
Never managed to get this to work on a laptop with an Intel 520 gpu and latest Linux Mint.
Deskreen isn't the problem. It's trying to create a virtual display.
You'll see my comments with my findings on on every github / stackoverflow discussion regarding the matter. There are a few.
Until there is a bullet proof way of creating virtual displays, Deskreen isn't of much use to someone with my use case. Which is a damn shame. I really wanted to use an iPad as 2nd screen.
TCL has a 65" 8k TV for about $2k, 75" for about 500 more. That's enough for 16 1080p streams (4x4) or 36 720p streams (6x6) and you won't be spending days banging your head against limitations on bandwidth, number of outputs, issues, or failure points, power outlets/chargers, image quality, and so on. On the other hand if it's for the fun of it I'm sure you can figure something like that out.
If "whatever is cheap" is what you are after a couple <$300 4k TVs will probably be better quality, cheaper, and easier to set up than 25 tablets.
Can somebody say something about responsiveness? Where are they on the scale of VNC to Stadia/Steamlink or other cloud gaming services?
Reminds me that i am really hoping to see some usable network transparency soon. Last time i looked at something like waypipe it seemed to be still clunky. But cloud gaming showed we should be there
"Deskreen is a desktop app that turns any device with a web browser into a secondary screen for your computer over WiFi."
Any device? Gauntlet thrown. I am very sure that I can find a device with a screen and a wifi dongle to which you cannot connect. Got a smartwatch?
"Available Disk Space: 210MB
RAM: 250MB on average to run app with one screen sharing session. Every new screen sharing session will need upto 100MB of extra memory on average for smooth performance. CPU (Windows): any modern dual core CPU, weaker CPUs may have performance problems. CPU (MacOS): any modern CPU CPU (Linux): any modern CPU"
There it is. It can only connect to "modern" systems, probably limited to those built in the last decade or so. That isn't "any device" in my book. It isn't even every device in my office.
This comment is helpful for places that don't have modern tech. Though the tone is fucked.
"Will Deskreen work on my 1st or 2nd generation IPads? Will Deskreen work on some really old device?
No. At the moment we are looking into solutions on how to add a support for really old screen viewing devices with old and outdated browsers. The problem is that WebRTC is not supported in old outdated web browsers, but we may fix this in the future. In future releases this issue may be fixed. Stay tuned. You can find updates in the following link: https://github.com/pavlobu/deskreen/issues/90"
And long before WebRTC, there've been Java VNC viewers. It doesn't get you the Deskreen UI on the host, and responsiveness may vary, but you can get RFB on some very old devices that way.
I don't mean to complain--actually, yes I do, so never mind that--but do you march into a fast food restaurant that claims to serve "the best burgers in town" and demand to have the manager issue a correction because the other place across the road also advertises the best burgers?
Or do you return a hat that reads "one size fits all" when you find a toddler whose head is too small for it?
I fail to see the need for such pedantry, at least put in such a way that seems very demeaning to the author (who, I note, does not appear to have English as their first language and so might have learned this turn of phrase by reading other advertising). If it bothers you that much, make a pull request to correct the record: https://github.com/pavlobu/deskreen
"Best" is an opinion, not an absolute. "One size fits all" explains states that only one size is available. The marketing of this product is the equivalent of saying "we have shirts in sizes to fit everyone", and then turning away all the short people.
I had a court appearance last year that I needed to attend using software that "works on every device". Not linux. Not older macs. Not the older windows machines in all the small law offices.
I’ll repeat what was already said. You shouldn’t hijack the back button. That is hostile to the user and will not generate sales for you. I think the idea is great and is something I can use, but I’ll pass.
you got to click something like any link. opening the site doesn't allow it by itself to hijack the back as browsers do not allow that without user gesture.
It doesn't hijack anything, there's just a language redirect on the home page. It's not that uncommon, is it? It's not like it's messing around with the history API.
On all back browsers I know, you can just skip the redirect by holding the browser's back button and picking an item from your browsing history if you find this too problematic.
In my case, the back button didn't go back past the root page of the site. It trapped me where I did not want to be. I didn't know about holding the back button down, and I appreciate the tip, but I don't want to need to know it.
The back button not functioning made me:
- feel frustration and distrust
- associate those feelings with the product and its creator
- never want to use the product, despite being interested in it
Clearly, I'm not the only one who felt these kinds of things. It seems to have completely overshadowed the product.
My takeaway is this:
Do not ever alter fundamental UI behaviours of the browser.
If the way they treat a new customer is to arrest control of my browsing experience and prevent me from leaving their site, I have zero trust in them. And trust is everything.
I have never seen a ‘language redirect’ do this. Maybe it is not uncommon to have a language redirect but it doesn’t do this, in this way, very often on the sites I have visited. Unless forced ad sites, I have never seen this. And indeed it makes me doubt the quality of the offered product if this is what they want first impression to be.
> Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—things like article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting.
If it's breaking the experience for users, they should know. It's not a minor annoyance, or minimal UX bug, as many others have stated, it turns them off from wanting to use the product.
Those are guidelines, not rules. Perhaps it is time for HackerNews to put on its big boy pants after 14 years, and introduce a solid ToS, privacy policy, rules et al. Watch how people stop using it.
For the record, that UX is poor in 2022. If something isn't accessibility friendly, by all means, people should be called on it so that they know it is a problem. It isn't like we're saying "it's shit," we're giving constructive criticism.
I use my iPad as a second monitor using Duet Display. It works over wifi as well as tethered with USB. I am not sure how it matches up with Deskreen. It cost some money, maybe $20 for the iPad application.
Shameless plug: I created a pretty similar piece of software: Weylus [1].
Additionally to mirroring the screen touch input is forwarded, so you can use your tablet as graphic tablet for your computer. I only use it on Linux so that's where it works best. It comes as a single (mostly) statically linked binary with a minimal gui (and headless mode via command line) and is written in Rust (do I still get brownie points for that?).
Weylus is awesome. Works really well and pipewire, hardware encoding support are huge bonuses.
The killer feature which sets it apart from deskreen is a way to run it as a service on Linux. Last I checked, it was practically impossible to use deskreen on a headless machine.
"RAM: 250MB on average to run app with one screen sharing session. Every new screen sharing session will need upto 100MB of extra memory on average for smooth performance."
That was one of the epiphany moments in my life: "if a device has a screen and a DVI/DP/HDMI port I want to use it as an external screen". Then started to figure it out and realized it's rather difficult and mostly impossible.
I hate back button hijacking! This is a total No-No for me. As a potential user/customer if I see such dirty play I run away. It resembles scamming, and is a major turn-off...
I am using this because apple discontinued target display mode. I have a 2016 imac with an amazing screen.
I can't stand mac os x, but my wife uses it whenever she can't use her ipad to do things. I tried for ages to use it as a secondary screen, but apple has removed that functionality.
This is a nice workaround that I wish I wouldn't need.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 152 ms ] threadI get XSS attack warnings from NoScript because of how haphazardly they redirect login info between various domains: azure.com, outlook.com, windows.net, microsoft.com...it's almost comical.
Then again... could ofcourse then also anydesk to each of them to change whatever they are showing.
For remote control just serve a simple iframe + javascript to poll for changes.
PS: Nice idea, seems like something you would see in a stereotypical hacker movie :)
Depending on your host OS, there _may_ be a way to create more displays that don't require physical video ports, but that doesn't seem to be documented or supported here.
Edit: OH! It's discussed here: https://github.com/pavlobu/deskreen/discussions/86
Until there is a bullet proof way of creating virtual displays, Deskreen isn't of much use to someone with my use case. Which is a damn shame. I really wanted to use an iPad as 2nd screen.
If "whatever is cheap" is what you are after a couple <$300 4k TVs will probably be better quality, cheaper, and easier to set up than 25 tablets.
Reminds me that i am really hoping to see some usable network transparency soon. Last time i looked at something like waypipe it seemed to be still clunky. But cloud gaming showed we should be there
Any device? Gauntlet thrown. I am very sure that I can find a device with a screen and a wifi dongle to which you cannot connect. Got a smartwatch?
"Available Disk Space: 210MB RAM: 250MB on average to run app with one screen sharing session. Every new screen sharing session will need upto 100MB of extra memory on average for smooth performance. CPU (Windows): any modern dual core CPU, weaker CPUs may have performance problems. CPU (MacOS): any modern CPU CPU (Linux): any modern CPU"
There it is. It can only connect to "modern" systems, probably limited to those built in the last decade or so. That isn't "any device" in my book. It isn't even every device in my office.
"Will Deskreen work on my 1st or 2nd generation IPads? Will Deskreen work on some really old device?
No. At the moment we are looking into solutions on how to add a support for really old screen viewing devices with old and outdated browsers. The problem is that WebRTC is not supported in old outdated web browsers, but we may fix this in the future. In future releases this issue may be fixed. Stay tuned. You can find updates in the following link: https://github.com/pavlobu/deskreen/issues/90"
Or do you return a hat that reads "one size fits all" when you find a toddler whose head is too small for it?
I fail to see the need for such pedantry, at least put in such a way that seems very demeaning to the author (who, I note, does not appear to have English as their first language and so might have learned this turn of phrase by reading other advertising). If it bothers you that much, make a pull request to correct the record: https://github.com/pavlobu/deskreen
I had a court appearance last year that I needed to attend using software that "works on every device". Not linux. Not older macs. Not the older windows machines in all the small law offices.
(And I do mean _a browser_, not _a Chrome_)
> Mozilla Firefox Browser is currently not supported, due performance limitations.
:(
What actions were you taking?
On all back browsers I know, you can just skip the redirect by holding the browser's back button and picking an item from your browsing history if you find this too problematic.
The back button not functioning made me:
- feel frustration and distrust
- associate those feelings with the product and its creator
- never want to use the product, despite being interested in it
Clearly, I'm not the only one who felt these kinds of things. It seems to have completely overshadowed the product.
My takeaway is this:
Do not ever alter fundamental UI behaviours of the browser.
Really? They made a bug on their website and you toss the whole product?
If the way they treat a new customer is to arrest control of my browsing experience and prevent me from leaving their site, I have zero trust in them. And trust is everything.
bugs not as much (unless it's a security product or someone who'd have access to my money).
It's kinda amusing how emotional people get with their back button.
I just don't care. Oh, it doesn't work? It's lame, but let me right click and survive this horror :)
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
For the record, that UX is poor in 2022. If something isn't accessibility friendly, by all means, people should be called on it so that they know it is a problem. It isn't like we're saying "it's shit," we're giving constructive criticism.
Does HN now have a minimum karma requirement to upvote comments?
Firewall prevents opening port 3131. Wonder if there is any other eay to use my iPad as a second monitor...
Additionally to mirroring the screen touch input is forwarded, so you can use your tablet as graphic tablet for your computer. I only use it on Linux so that's where it works best. It comes as a single (mostly) statically linked binary with a minimal gui (and headless mode via command line) and is written in Rust (do I still get brownie points for that?).
[1]: https://github.com/H-M-H/Weylus
This looks awesome. Any chance it’s pressure sensitive?
Edit: Was looking in the wrong place to see if it had pressure sensitivity. The answer is yes it does!
The killer feature which sets it apart from deskreen is a way to run it as a service on Linux. Last I checked, it was practically impossible to use deskreen on a headless machine.
Lots of discussion a year ago with input from the creator:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25820533
I can't stand mac os x, but my wife uses it whenever she can't use her ipad to do things. I tried for ages to use it as a secondary screen, but apple has removed that functionality.
This is a nice workaround that I wish I wouldn't need.