MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan Developer Documentation Develop for the Nokia N9

Launching remote connections with VNC

One of the tools that become available when you activate the developer mode is the Virtual Network Computing (VNC) connection. It is installed along with the SDK Connectivity tool, and you can access it from that application. When installed, the SDK Connectivity tool contains a button for launching a VNC server that listens to VNC connections from the selected connection type (USB or WLAN).

In MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan, VNC can be used to, for example, share the device screen view to your host workstation for remote management or application debugging purposes. After you have a USB or WLAN connection running, you can establish a VNC connection as follows:

  1. Start the SDK Connectivity tool on the device and select the correct connection type.
  2. Tap the VNC button in the Connectivity Details view.
  3. Activate the VNC server toggle switch to start the VNC server.
  4. Launch a VNC client application on your host work station. The recommended software are:
  5. Type the IP address displayed on the SDK Connectivity tool into the VNC client application.
  6. When prompted for a password, enter the one displayed by the SDK Connectivity tool.
A shared display window containing the device screen contents is then opened on your host workstation.

When using a VNC connection on the device, take the following considerations into account:

  • In Harmattan development, use VNC connections primarily for debugging applications, for example, with issues related to the screen layout or rotation. VNC duplicates the shared display pixel by pixel, which makes it inconvenient for shell management in comparison to SSH.
  • Blank spaces cannot be used in the VNC connection password. The password is only prompted from PR 1.2 onwards.
  • When using VNC over WLAN, the number of connections is not limited. The VNC server supports multiple connections from multiple sources.
  • Chicken of the VNC client on Mac OS X has some slight issues with rotation. You may need to resize the view window manually when changing between portrait and landscape modes.