14

I just set up my Ubuntu desktop to use our living room TV as a monitor, and I would like to be able to use either my iPhone or Nexus 7 tablet as a mousepad/keyboard for controlling it from the couch. With Mac/Windows there were plenty of apps that did this, what do I need to do this using Ubuntu? And just to be clear I am NOT looking for a Remote Desktop on my phone/tablet, I want to use them as a mouse and keyboard. Thanks!

Improve this question
3
  • Has your desktop bluetooth ? If so, using a HID-keyboard / mouse emulation on your iPhone or Nexus 7 device would be the simpler solution (i.e. nothing to install)...
    – Rémi
    Apr 19, 2013 at 7:29
  • 1
    @Rémi It would be excellent if you can explain in an answer on how to do that
    – Dan
    Apr 19, 2013 at 10:38
  • @Dan ok, I will try...
    – Rémi
    Apr 19, 2013 at 10:43

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
4

I use remotedroid. You just need to install the client on your tablet, and then connect to the local IP of your running server. It sends mouse movements, left and right click and typing. The server doesn't even need installation, is a simple .jar archive. To run it:

java -jar /path/to/RemoteDroidServer.jar

Here you can download the server (the client is in the market):

http://www.remotedroid.net/

Improve this answer
1
  • Link is dead now btw
    – anonymous2
    Feb 10, 2022 at 14:48
2

Now you can try the remote-touchpad, a web service for control of mouse and keyboard from external touchpad devices, without need to install a separate client to connect. To install it from snap-store, run

$ sudo snap install remote-touchpad

To start the service, run $ remote-touchpad, which generates a QR code in the terminal. Scanning it with a smartphone opens the control interface in a webpage.

Improve this answer
3
  • My android phone is not able to open the generated QR code / link for some reason. Tried with both chrome and firefox. Does it need root privileges ?
    – gowthz
    May 23, 2022 at 11:44
  • Works perfectly! Although it is somewhat limited, this is a great tool. It really saved my day when my touchpad broke and I did not have an external mouse with me.
    – tglas
    Aug 31, 2023 at 8:54
  • The easiest way to use a smartphone as a touchpad! No new applications for the phone are required. Any connection issues should be resolved on your router - there should be some firewall or forwarding issues.
    – Sergey Podushkin
    Feb 8 at 21:28
2

There is another option that I use which is GSConnect extension (Basically KDE Connect with better stablity on gnome). It has a lot of other features also as a bonus. You need KDE Connect on your android mobile / tablet also.

Improve this answer
1

AnyRemote
It provide remote control service on Linux through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or just TCP/IP connection.

anyRemote can be used by:
bluetooth connection with Android or J2ME (if cell phone is JSR82 compatible) clients Wi-Fi connection with Android or J2ME clients if phone supports Wi-Fi IR connection with J2ME client if java realization in phone supports access to IR port ordinary TCP/IP connection with Android or J2ME clients, if PC is connectable from internet bluetooth, infrared or cable connection using AT "modem" commands Web interface it has limited support for Bemused clients experimental support for iPhone/iPod Touch with Command Fu sion's iViewer installed

Android devices
Nokia Series40 and Series60
Sony Ericsson
Motorola

Site: http://anyremote.sourceforge.net/

Improve this answer
0

There is an option for iPhone which acts as a trackpad and/or keyboard over Wifi. It is called TouchPad, by Edovia (the same people who made Screens). It works on iPhone and iPad, and while it was designed primarily for Mac, I have confirmed that it works on Ubuntu with only a VNC server (no special server daemon required). It costs AU$5.49 currently.

Improve this answer
0

Another option to the remote control like apps mentioned above, you can connect your phone via connectbot, depending on your phone and distribution flavor there are a vriety of tutorials out there, or more general like this one http://tech.shantanugoel.com/2010/08/02/ssh-tunneling-android.html .

I like this option because I use a droid 2 and it gives me greater functional control over my desktop system that I too have set up with the living room TV. I like not leaving the couch to type anymore. :) Cheers

Improve this answer
0

If the desktop PC has bluetooth connectivity, you can try to emulate a bluetooth mouse and or keyboard with your phone or tablet. This use the bluetooth HID (Human Interface Device), which is a standard bluetooth protocol: any computer having bluez installed (included in default install) is ready !

So, the main issue here is to find an application that runs on your phone or tablet that emulate a bluetooth HID. There is a question about that. On my android phone, I tried BlueputDroid which is free of charge (but has adds). Any pointer to a better app would be welcomed. It require root through, because of restriction in the android API...

So, after you launched the bluetooth HID emulation app on your phone/tablet, you just have to associate (or re-associate) it with your computer. I had to log-out for it to work, but after that any click / mouse movement / keyboard event from your phone go to your desktop PC.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .