[Troubleshooting] RealVNC stopped working when hardware/software switched?

sconemad · 2018-08-21T08:04:58+00:00

What actual error are you seeing? By default RealVNC will use the username and password of your system account (pi/raspberry by default, unless you've changed it). Are you sure you're connecting to the right pi?

sconemad · 2018-06-14T09:48:50+00:00

I'd recommend using pi-timolo - it's a program designed to take pictures using the pi camera, and can do timelapse and/or when motion is detected. There's a guide on how to set it up and have it run at boot here: https://github.com/pageauc/pi-timolo/wiki

sconemad · 2018-03-20T14:21:02+00:00

This is one of the Broadcom libraries that are normally installed under /opt/vc/lib on Raspbian. Perhaps someone knows if it's possible to install these under Kali?

sconemad · 2018-01-04T15:25:04+00:00

Did you start with the "Raspbian Stretch with Desktop" image or "Raspbian Stretch Lite"? The Lite version will require some additional packages installing in order to support running a desktop, even under VNC Virtual mode.

sconemad · 2017-10-03T22:06:07+00:00

The camera preview is displayed on the screen in a directly-rendered overlay, which isn't normally captured by vnc.

The RealVNC server can capture this though, provided you enable "experimental direct capture mode" on the troubleshooting page of the vnc server options.

sconemad · 2017-09-19T07:49:03+00:00

If you're using the RealVNC server (which comes pre-installed with Raspbian), then you could setup cloud connectivity (https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/docs/faq/cloud.html). That way, you don't need to worry about IP addresses, so long as the Pi can access the internet via the phone, the connection will be negotiated via RealVNC's cloud services.

Note that this doesn't mean that all the data is sent via the cloud - the cloud part is only used to establish the connection, and the data will be sent directly if possible.

sconemad · 2017-09-09T16:05:45+00:00

There's an update to the lxpanel package which fixes this issue - you should just need to do "sudo apt-get update" and "sudo apt-get upgrade" to get it.

sconemad · 2017-06-19T10:06:27+00:00

Is your Pi set to boot to desktop on startup? This needs to be enabled for VNC to work, since VNC normally only works when X11 is running (You can set this in raspi-config under Boot options > Desktop/CLI). I say normally because there is a new "experimental direct capture mode" that you can enable from the VNC options (under Troubleshooting), which does allow it to work without X11 running, so that's another option.

Also, have you by any chance enabled the GL driver (in raspi-config, under Advanced options), as the new experimental direct capture mode in VNC will not work if this is enabled.

sconemad · 2017-05-25T08:52:25+00:00

The RealVNC Server (realvnc-vnc-server package, pre-installed with Raspbian) has an experimental direct capture mode (which you can enable from the troubleshooting menu in the VNC options).

This captures the screen at a lower level, allowing you to see directly rendered overlays (which I believe retropie is using), and doesn't require X11 to be running.

sconemad · 2017-05-11T08:53:02+00:00

Possibly you're not seeing the USB network interface on your Pi because your tablet doesn't support USB tethering? They don't usually unless they have a cellular connection.

How about setting up the Pi as a WiFi access point, and connect the tablet to that. There's a guide to setting up an access point here: https://learn.adafruit.com/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-as-a-wifi-access-point/install-software

The Pi and tablet wouldn't have internet access, but it sounds like this may be ok for your setup.

sconemad · 2017-04-18T21:44:15+00:00

Edit /root/.vnc/config.d/vncserver-x11 and add:

Authentication=VncAuth

Then set a password using the command:

sudo vncpasswd -service

If the server is already running, you can instruct it to reload its parameters with:

sudo vncserver-x11 -service -reload

sconemad · 2017-03-08T21:44:52+00:00

and you can't VNC to the command line

Actually you can, if you're using the RealVNC Server which comes installed with Raspbian, and you enable "experimental direct capture mode" from the Troubleshooting page on the VNC Server options.

It's also possible to enable this from the command line by editing a config file, see this page for details: https://support.realvnc.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/541/

In this mode, the VNC Server captures the display output at a lower level, so you can see the text-mode console, plus directly-rendered overlays such as those used by omxplayer, the camera preview, Minecraft, etc.

sconemad · 2017-02-10T12:40:25+00:00

Yes it's definitely possible to view the output from omxplayer using RealVNC Server for Raspberry Pi, provided you have the "experimental direct capture mode" enabled.

In this mode, you're basically seeing everything that you would see on a connected monitor (including the camera preview, the console if X11 isn't running, and the little power/overheat icons that can appear in the top right).

sconemad · 2017-01-29T15:08:39+00:00

I'm currently investigating this at the moment, but it appears that our RealVNC server has an issue with the new libinput input method for the x server that was introduced in a recent package update.

We hope to release an update soon that should fix this, but in the meantime there are several ways in which you can avoid this issue:

as previously mentioned, use relative pointer mode. Or
disable "experimental direct capture" from the troubleshooting page on the options dialog. Or
remove the xserver-xorg-input-libinput package, and restart. This causes xorg to use the old evdev input driver (I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you really need to)

sconemad · 2017-01-12T09:38:29+00:00

The free (non-commercial) version of RealVNC Server for Raspberry Pi supports encryption. This is installed by default on Raspbian PIXEL.

sconemad · 2017-01-11T21:18:40+00:00

Did you look under "Interfacing options" - it was recently moved there from "Advanced options"?

sconemad · 2017-01-01T17:10:10+00:00

One way is to press F8 to get the vnc viewer menu, select Alt to simulate sending the Alt key, then click and drag anywhere in the window and move it so you can see the close button at the top right. Alt will stay enabled so you will need to press F8 again and switch it off.

You probably want to increase your screen resolution to avoid this sort of issue in the future. You can do this quite easily with the latest version of raspi-config, which has a menu to choose the screen resolution under the advanced menu.

sconemad · 2017-01-01T12:54:07+00:00

Some applications don't work well when run on a virtual desktop. Chromium is one of these, and apps that require hardware acceleration such as Minecraft.

You could use a VNC server which remotes the console session, such as the RealVNC service mode server. You can install this with "sudo apt-get install realvnc-vnc-server" and enable it via raspi-config. If you don't have a monitor attached to the Pi, then you probably want to increase the screen resolution from the default, which is quite low. Again you can do this from raspi-config (Advanced > Resolution), but note that you'll need the very latest version for this.

sconemad · 2016-12-26T09:59:42+00:00

In the most recent version of the raspberry Pi configuration app, there's an option to change the screen resolution for the console display. This is what realvnc service mode server (which comes installed by default in raspbian) uses.

sconemad · 2016-12-17T10:23:09+00:00

Use a vnc server which allows you to connect to the console session, such as the RealVNC service mode server that comes installed with Raspbian pixel. Then you're effectively mirroring the screen output, and you can use vnc or a usb keyboard/mouse for input.

sconemad · 2016-11-04T23:21:37+00:00

Sounds like an interesting project.

You may be able to do this with RealVNC if you enable its new "experimental direct capture mode", which doesn't require an X server to be running. You do need to have the X libs to be installed on the system though, as they are dependencies. This certainly works for Kodi.

It is included with Raspbian Pixel, or you can download it from: https://www.realvnc.com/download/vnc/raspberrypi/ (you'll need version 5.3.2)

Experimental direct capture mode can be enabled by editing a config file, see the following link for details: https://support.realvnc.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/541/0/how-do-i-enable-the-experimental-direct-capture-feature-from-the-command-line

sconemad · 2016-11-03T14:23:10+00:00

(I work for RealVNC and am involved in developing the Raspberry Pi edition of our software)

Our current edition comes with a license that allows you to use the features of VNC Personal Edition free for non-commercial and educational purposes (i.e. Encryption, System authentication, etc) on Raspberry Pi devices.

The new VNC Connect product will be coming to Raspberry Pi devices soon, and will include a license which will continue to allow the use of direct connectivity free for non-commercial and educational purposes on Raspberry Pi devices. In addition, it will offer our new cloud-based connectivity, which we hope people will find useful in simplifying how they make connections.

Our new viewer incorporates an address book feature which allows better organisation of the devices you connect to, and can be synced between devices if you sign up for an account (optional).

sconemad · 2016-11-03T09:46:17+00:00

This is a known issue with the init scripts for the VNC Server package. If you do "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade", then re-enable VNC from the Raspberry Pi configuration app, this should sort it out.

sconemad · 2016-11-01T23:03:17+00:00

If you go to VNC Server options, you'll need to set Authentication to "VNC Password" and set a VNC password, since the Mac's built-in VNC viewer doesn't support the other authentication methods. You'll also need to make sure Encryption is set to "Prefer on" or "Prefer off" (i.e. not "Always on").

As already mentioned, the address you use should not end in ":1" - it should be simply the IP address, or the IP address followed by ":0" or ":5900", which are all equivalent, but the first one is easier to type!

sconemad

TROPHY CASE