Christopher Juckins

Potential programs for Linux:

rdesktop

rdesktop -a 32 -x 0x8F -g 1600x1200 -f HOST -u USERNAME -d DOMAIN

• connects to Windows Vista/7 at 32 bit
  • Note that the "-a" option is not found in the man pages
• the "-x 0x8F" forces font smoothing
• CTRL-ALT-ENTER will toggle full screen mode on/off
• When connecting to Windows7 host, get a black cursor
  • Use http://rpmfind.net to install the following to fix black cursor problem:
    • rdesktop-1.7.0-0.1.el6.rfx.i686.rpm (rpm -Uvh to upgrade default CentOS 6.2 version)
    • rdesktop-1.7.0-0.1.el5.rfx.i386.rpm (rpm -Uvh to upgrade default CentOS 5.7 version)
    • prerequisite is libsndfile-1.0.17-5.el5.i386.rpm
    • prerequisite is libsamplerate-0.1.2-8.el5.i386.rpm
• http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2008/03/10/rdesktop-connect-to-windows-vista-with-cleartype-font-smoothing-enabled/ shows these technical details:
  

#define RDP5_DISABLE_NOTHING    0x00  
#define RDP5_NO_WALLPAPER   0x01  
#define RDP5_NO_FULLWINDOWDRAG  0x02  
#define RDP5_NO_MENUANIMATIONS  0x04  
#define RDP5_NO_THEMING     0x08  
#define RDP5_NO_CURSOR_SHADOW   0x20  
#define RDP5_NO_CURSORSETTINGS  0x40    /* disables cursor blinking */

Summary of workaround settings:

rdesktop -x 0x8F mywinserver   # equals the modem default + font smoothing
rdesktop -x 0x81 mywinserver   # equals the broadband default + font smoothing
rdesktop -x 0x80 mywinserver   # equals the LAN default + font smoothing

KRDC

rdp:/hostname.domain.com

• RHEL5: Applications > Internet > Krdc
• RDP defaults allow you to set screen size
• Control panel at top of Krdc launder allow you to toggle full screen mode on/off, also disconnect
• Suggest turning off Kwallet to store passswords
• When connecting to Windows7 host, get a black cursor

tsclient (Terminal Server Client)

• Just a frontend for rdesktop, vncviewer, wfica, xnest
• After you disconnect your sessions, the program annoyingly asks if you want to reconnect in 30 secs or it will do automatically
• Doesn't appear to be a way to pass arguments to rdesktop for the font-smoothing; also gives black cursor

Remmina (formerly GRDC)

• Not easy to install on RHEL5 from source; many dependencies

Blank Monitor after using Remote Desktop Connection

• http://www.urtech.ca/2014/02/solved-remote-desktop-shows-black-screen-in-windows-7-and-8/
• Best answer is to disable bitmap caching in the Windows Remote Desktop Connection GUI