Endless Paradigm

so, i have my ghetto computer and have found a use for it. but , i don't have a spare monitor and swapping my monitor back and forth between my main rig and my ghetto rig is a bit of a hassle. so i got a copy of tightVNC off the interwebs and I've installed it on both computers, but I'm having troubles connecting and taking control of the ghetto rig from the main rig.

I'm using a LAN crossover cable to link the two computers. i transferred a few files and things last night just to make sure everything was working and it was. I'm able to use tightVNC to take control of the ghetto rig if i put the main rig into listening mode and then go over to the ghetto rig and initiate an outgoing connection (add new client). but that's difficult because i have no monitor on the ghetto rig to see what I'm doing as i initiate an outgoing connection. so what i need is a way of taking control of the ghetto rig without any physical input from it apart from turning it on. i know this is possible because I've read in the instructions how to do it. the instructions say to go to open VNCviewer on the computer you want to view from (my main rig) and enter the I.P. of the computer you wnat to connect to. When i try i get a message saying connection initiated and then a warning saying 'failed to connect to server'. I've made sure that the password it set at the server end (ghetto rig) and made sure it will accept incoming connections.


If you want me to clarify on anything just ask. most of nwhat I've just written probably makes no sense at all.

epigs and rep to whoever solves the problem!

why not use logmein its simple leave your "ghetto" rig running and leave log me on all the time and there you go.

* PSPkiller google's logmein

it don't need to access the ghetto rig over the internet. i just need to be able to control it over a simple LAN network. I'm currently planning the network in my head. the ghetto rig will be the gateway to the internet (through a usb asdl modem). the ghetto rig will then connect to a simple LAN switch. all the other computers will then connect to the LAN switch so they are able to access the internet and each other's resources.

the problem is, i don't have a spare monitor for the ghetto rig. if i have any problems or any settings need changing i on the ghetto rig i can't see what I'm doing. so I'm trying to use VNC to remote-control the ghetto rig over the network. ATM the ghetto rig is directly connected to my main rig with a crossover LAN cable (i havn't bought the switch yet).

I think i may have worked out the problem though. as well as needing the IP adress of the ghetto rig VNC needs to port number that the VNC server on the ghetto rig is using. I've had a look around the interwebs and found a program called Nmap. its basically looks for open ports on computers over a network and displays their purpose. it can find out other things as well about target computers like their OS, services, MAC address and other things. all in all a very 'useful' piece of software. I havn't tried using it yet on my ghetto rig but i had a go with it on my brother's computer and found out some interesting things...

Oh i see. Erm well i will keep an eye out for you. I know my school has software that does that. but its only for school is think, its called classlink 7 also check this out http://www.ezlan.net/vnc.html

wee use that at school too. wee even have a thing setup so that if a teacher is teaching a class in a computer and wants the kids' attention he can put a message on everyone's screens. it reminds me of the time wee were having a massive unrealtournament deathmatch in one of the computer rooms (35 players i think). then the server crashed and 'Connection failed came up on every monitor in the room. priceless!

isn't there a pices of hardware that connects up to both computers and then has a port to which you connect your monitor and then all you do is press button 1 for pc1 and button 2 for pc2.
i used to have one but forgot what they were called, its easy to set up.

EDIT: just googled, you can gets omething like this http://www.belkin.com/uk/switch2/
it lets you control both pc's with the same keyboard and mouse too, all you do is click the button.
the one above is pretty much the same as what i had but i imagine it may be a bit pricey so you don't have to go for a belkin one, a cheap one will do the job you want it to do. the only downside is that you have to have both computers pretty close to each other, id say betwen 1-2m apart.

EDIT2: if you want to look for some on ebay on other stores, i believe they are called KVM switches.

yes I've heard of them. but the whole point of this computer is to be transparent (maybe putting it in a carboard box was a bad idea lol). I'm trying to keep everything as simple and as cheap as possible preferrably free. I'm not going to need to use the ghetto rig much so i can just control it over vnc if i need to.

by the way, I've worked it out now. i needed the port number as well as the ip adress. i found out the port that vnc was using by scanning the network with nmap (see previous post). it found  quite a few open ports that will need to be dealt with. i scanned my brother's computer as well. i can now take control of it remotely. when he gets home from school tonight the first thing he will want to do i play unrealtournament. i think I'll watch him play for a play and then intervene with VNC and cause a bit of havoc. all in good psirits of course ;)