README.md

   1 ## noVNC: HTML5 VNC Client
   2
   3
   4 ### Description
   5
   6 noVNC is a VNC client implemented using HTML5 technologies,
   7 specifically Canvas and WebSockets (supports 'wss://' encryption).
   8 noVNC is licensed under the
   9 [LGPLv3](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html).
  10
  11 Special thanks to [Sentry Data Systems](http://www.sentryds.com) for
  12 sponsoring ongoing development of this project (and for employing me).
  13
  14 There are many companies/projects that have integrated noVNC into
  15 their products including: [Sentry Data Systems](http://www.sentryds.com), [Ganeti Web Manager](http://code.osuosl.org/projects/ganeti-webmgr), [Archipel](http://archipelproject.org), [openQRM](http://www.openqrm.com/), [OpenNode](http://www.opennodecloud.com/), [OpenStack](http://www.openstack.org), [Broadway (HTML5 GDK/GTK+ backend)](http://blogs.gnome.org/alexl/2011/03/15/gtk-html-backend-update/), [OpenNebula](http://opennebula.org/), [CloudSigma](http://www.cloudsigma.com/), [Zentyal (formerly eBox)](http://www.zentyal.org/), and [SlapOS](http://www.slapos.org). See [this wiki page](https://github.com/kanaka/noVNC/wiki/ProjectsCompanies-using-noVNC) for more info and links.
  16
  17 Notable commits, announcements and news are posted to
  18 @<a href="http://www.twitter.com/noVNC">noVNC</a>
  19
  20
  21 ### Screenshots
  22
  23 Running in Chrome before and after connecting:
  24
  25 <img src="http://kanaka.github.com/noVNC/img/noVNC-5.png" width=400>&nbsp;<img src="http://kanaka.github.com/noVNC/img/noVNC-7.jpg" width=400>
  26
  27 See more screenshots <a href="http://kanaka.github.com/noVNC/screenshots.html">here</a>.
  28
  29
  30 ### Browser Requirements
  31
  32 * HTML5 Canvas (with createImageData): Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, iOS
  33   Safari, Opera 11+, Internet Explorer 9+, etc.
  34
  35 * HTML5 WebSockets: For browsers that do not have builtin
  36   WebSockets support, the project includes
  37   <a href="http://github.com/gimite/web-socket-js">web-socket-js</a>,
  38   a WebSockets emulator using Adobe Flash. iOS 4.2+ has built-in
  39   WebSocket support.
  40
  41 * Fast Javascript Engine: this is not strictly a requirement, but
  42   without a fast Javascript engine, noVNC might be painfully slow.
  43
  44 * I maintain a more detailed browser compatibility list <a
  45   href="https://github.com/kanaka/noVNC/wiki/Browser-support">here</a>.
  46
  47
  48 ### Server Requirements
  49
  50 Unless you are using a VNC server with support for WebSockets
  51 connections (such as [x11vnc/libvncserver](http://libvncserver.sourceforge.net/)),
  52 you need to use a WebSockets to TCP socket proxy. There is
  53 a python proxy included ('websockify'). One advantage of using the
  54 proxy is that it has builtin support for SSL/TLS encryption (i.e.
  55 "wss://").
  56
  57
  58 ### Quick Start
  59
  60 * Use the launch script to start a mini-webserver and the WebSockets
  61   proxy (websockify). The `--vnc` option is used to specify the location of
  62   a running VNC server:
  63
  64     `./utils/launch.sh --vnc localhost:5901`
  65
  66 * Point your browser to the cut-and-paste URL that is output by the
  67   launch script. Enter a password if the VNC server has one
  68   configured. Hit the Connect button and enjoy!
  69
  70
  71 ### Other Pages
  72
  73 * [Advanced Usage](https://github.com/kanaka/noVNC/wiki/Advanced-usage). Generating an SSL
  74   certificate, starting a VNC server, advanced websockify usage, etc.
  75
  76 * [Integrating noVNC](https://github.com/kanaka/noVNC/wiki/Integration) into existing projects.
  77
  78 * [Troubleshooting noVNC](https://github.com/kanaka/noVNC/wiki/Troubleshooting) problems.
  79
  80