When a native client cannot be used, a browser based client can be used instead. This allows you to connect to a ThinLinc system from computers where you are not allowed to install any software, as well as mobile devices. Some other vendors are instead using special binary browser plugins, often limited to certain combinations of hardware, operating systems and web browsers. Fortunately, the development of the Web has reached a point where you no longer need to extend the browser in order to use it as a Remote Desktop client. ThinLinc Web Access does not require any plugin or extension.
A HTML5 Client is ideal for todays environment where a large number of different devices needs to be supported. It supports Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies. Touch screen tablets can be used. This includes the Apple iPad.
Supported browsers
ThinLinc Web Access is based on the Open Source project noVNC. It uses HTML5 features such as WebSockets and Canvas. We constantly test the latest versions of the following browsers:
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Safari
Hints
On touch devices, you will have a couple of extra icons in the toolbar (open the toolbar by pressing the small handle on the side):
- The “keyboard” icon will bring up the on screen keyboard.
- The “Ctrl”, “Alt”, “Tab”, “Esc” and “Ctrl-Alt-Del” icons represent those keys on a physical keyboard since they are missing from most on-screen keyboards.
A number of touch gestures are also available, read more about these here.
Also note that on iOS and Android devices, you can add an icon to the home screen. For iOS, this is described at http://www.apple.com/ios/add-to-home-screen/. When ThinLinc Web Access is launched from the home screen, it will run in full screen mode.
Security
All previous ThinLinc Clients have relied on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol for encryption. ThinLinc Web Access is the first client which does not – it uses the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol instead. Both solutions allows strong encryption algorithms such as AES-256. However, the TLS protocol relies on PKI certificates to validate server identity.
Bug tracking
Found a bug? Want to suggest a feature? Check out the “Web Access” component of our Bugzilla database, which handles all feature requests and bug reports.