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by p4bl0 1007 days ago
Is there a way to do the reverse, i.e., seeing the computer screen on an Android device?

Specifically I would love a way to use my Android device as a remote controller for PDF presentation. For now I can do this with KDE Connect but the remote controller is blind, I have no way to see the current slide on the Android device, much less to use it to annotate the slides in live.

Does that exist?

11 comments

Use a vnc client on your android device and setup a virtual monitor on your desktop that is really a vnc server.

I know how to do that with Sway and swayvnc on wayland, as well as with xorg.

https://superuser.com/questions/1434779/using-a-tablet-as-a-...

https://www.reddit.com/r/swaywm/comments/k1zl41/thank_you_de...

This is particularly helpful to people using asahi linux and wanting to connect an external monitor. That can be done with something as simple as a raspberry pi.

EDIT: apparently this project help achieving the same thing on different OS but using webRTC and a browser:

https://github.com/pavlobu/deskreen

This is a bit out of left field, but if you're a web developer you can use Browsersync to control a web page across multiple browsers (even on different devices). So really you "just" need a good PDF viewer on that web page.
I've had a great experience with AnyDesk.

You'd install the client on your computer:

Windows: https://anydesk.com/en/downloads/windows

Mac: https://anydesk.com/en/downloads/mac-os

and then on your phone:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.anydesk.an...

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anydesk/id1176131273

I've been thinking a lot about this kind of use case, and I'm more and more convinced we just need better ways of handling web content on the LAN.

Like, no matter what, the UX will probably be meh just trying to mirror screens. Instead the presentation app could give you a QR code with a TLS cert in it, and you could scan it and get a secure connection to it's mobile optimized web remote UI.

We are really nowhere near using the full potential of all the devices and connectivity we have.

There are many remote view/control apps but they're mostly built for remote support and screen sharing.

But I share your want of an quick and easy way to use my phone as a keyboard and mouse for a "remote" computer in the same room as me

This one was usable but not very polished IMO https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panda_nood...

Google slides used to be able to do that (and office365 too if memory serves right) but this is definitely not self-hosted/managed.
Chrome Remote Desktop has worked for me in the past. Not very ergonomic on the phone, though.
They updated it like a couple months ago I think. It is a bit better now
Nomachine,xpra,x2go and vnc
VNC client?
Parsec could work