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I want to show my webbrowser screen to a remote user.

What I want:

  • No installation on the remote pc. Installation on my side are ok
  • My pc runs Ubuntu, remote pc runs windows.
  • Remote pc should be able to see the screen. Video or audio transfer is not needed.
  • It is enough if the remote user can see my webbrowser. It is not needed that the remote site is able to use interact.

Is there a way which solves all features?

BTW, I like open source software very much, but it would be ok to use commercial tools here.

5 Answers 5

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+50

I found this WebRTC implementation that allows you to share a browser screen through the browser via a url. It is free software.

https://www.webrtc-experiment.com/Pluginfree-Screen-Sharing/

It should work in both Chromium and Firefox, but may require you to configure some additional settings in about:config. The observing user should not have to.

If one implementation does not work, there are other options available under the demos page. These are all demos, but the source can be used to create your own solution as well if desired.

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There's an embedded feature in Mozilla Firefox, called Hello. It can be used for sharing your webpage to some other remote user which has Firefox on his side. OS isn't important. We checked it with my colleague, one with Ubuntu and another with Windows (just your case, right?). Absolutely open source solution.
You can chat using your headphones and microphone at the same time.

You'll find the description of this feature here.
If you need help in setup and troubleshooting, use this link.

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  • News on Jul 30: Mozilla plans to remove Hello in Firefox 49, according to this article on Softpedia, which also quoted this bug report. Not sure if this is permanent removal or something else?
    – user37165
    Aug 1, 2016 at 15:39
  • @clearkimura thank you for this hint. I found this statement, which looks official: support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/hello-status
    – guettli
    Aug 2, 2016 at 6:42
  • @guettli I also met some info that Loop (aka Hello) will be excluded from the main code in the future releases of Firefox yet it still be available as a standalone plugin. Its development hasn't stopped and it is available here.
    – whtyger
    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:14
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Heyyo, guettli. I too looked into this recently.

Apache Guacamole claims to be "a clientless remote desktop gateway." Clientless, they say, means no client software or plugins. Guacamole is open source software.

Ajax VNC also claims to be "clientless" & "purely HTTP."

Appear.in requires no software, & is browser-based. Appear.in is my 1st recommendation as it meets your standards! Also, it does not require login or installations on either side. You just need to set up a room. Voice & text chat, private rooms, & connect using link are nice features. Supported browsers are Google Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi, & Opera.

xrdp is an open source remote desktop protocol(rdp) server. It is "capable of accepting connections from rdesktop, FreeRDP, and Microsoft's own terminal server / remote desktop clients."(xrdp.org/). It is based upon FreeRDP & rdesktop, and uses Xvnc or X11rdp for management of the X session. X11rdp-o-Matic will automatically setup X11rdp & xrdp for you. Xrdp is my 2nd recommendation.

If you decide that downloading would actually be okay, then I suggest TeamViewer 11. I personally use TeamViewer to help my cousin resolve computer issues. After getting to know how to use it, I love it! It supports Linux-Windows-Mac OS X. Chrome Remote Desktop would be my other suggestion if you do decide downloads are okay.

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You could use screenleap, to share your desktop/program/tab from browser, an online desktop sharing service.

You (the sharer) will have to create a free account and install on your browser their extension.

After you setup your options you will be given a link to give to the observer so he/she can connect via their browser.

No install or registration required for the observer. It all happens to their browser via the link you provide to them.

Your screen sharing can be public (via link) or private (via link that requires your code). You can also take screenshots while screen-sharing and save them for later (private or public) under screenleap/your-username/screenshots.

The only limitation is that the free account only offers 2-3 hours sharing per 24h.

Here's a tour of how to share your screen with screenleap.

Keep in mind that it requires Java to be able to see the content of the page.

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You can run skype like explained here: Ubuntu Help / Skype, or you can run Microsoft-Windows in a virtual machine running.

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  • Far from open source solution, isn't it? :)
    – whtyger
    Aug 4, 2016 at 18:10
  • This sentence was in the question from the very beginning: "BTW, I like open source software very much, but it would be ok to use commercial tools here."
    – guettli
    Aug 5, 2016 at 10:59

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