To explain the issue: I work with a SCADA system. The main control screen is running on a Windows XP system which is not connected to the internet. We want to keep it that way to avoid viruses and users who get into trouble.
We want to figure out how to allow a user to view the screen of this system remotely (i.e. from an Internet-connected smartphone or PC) without connecting this computer to the internet.
We have another computer running Windows 7 x64 nearby, which IS connected to the internet.
I have tried using IrDA to transfer screenshots from the Windows XP computer to the 7 computer, but the connection is problematic – not reliable.
We need some way of sending screenshots (I have already written a script to capture the screen at defined intervals) between the two computers. This method needs to be possible with a command-line utility, not a GUI, since it needs to be automated.
My ideas so far:
– IrDA (didn’t work, even after spending hours troubleshooting drivers, etc)
– Serial ports (can’t find a command-line utility to transfer files)
– Bluetooth (this may be the way to go but I can’t find a command-line utility unless fsquirt will do)
– Ethernet/Wireless – won’t work – exposes the computer to the internet
– Firewire – same as ethernet
– USB-to-USB – can’t find a command line utility
– Proprietary technology (not found anything yet!)
Am I approaching this in the wrong way? Any suggestions, ideas, insights are greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
OK I just wanted to describe my solution to the problem in the event it benefits someone else.
I decided to try using Bluetooth file transfer since it’s wireless and uses tiny USB dongles which don’t get in the way. Here is how I configured this setup and got everything working.
For this to work, you need to purchase Bluetooth dongles which supports 1) the Microsoft Bluetooth stack, and 2) Object Push (OPP) and FTP profiles.
My choice was the Targus ACB10US1 (http://www.targus.com/US/productdetail.aspx?sku=ACB10US1)
This device is based on a Broadcom chipset which supports both the WIDCOMM (included) and Microsoft Bluetooth stacks.
I wanted to send a screenshot from a Windows XP 32-bit machine to a Windows 7 x64 machine.
On the XP machine (Sender), the following items were installed:
DRIVER!)
installer from http://bluetoothinstaller.com).
(http://bluetoothinstaller.com/bluetooth-command-line-tools/)
On the Windows 7 (Recipient) machine, the following items were installed:
Configure the File Transfer folder to a desired folder where the screenshot will be saved.
Configured to serve the screenshot file that is received from the Sender computer.
When sending the first file, make sure to allow the Receiver to receive all files from Sender without needing to be prompted.
To capture the screenshot on the Sender, I used IrfanView’s command-line mode with a customized i_view32.ini file. This ini file adds the current time/date to the bottom left corner of the screenshot.
Here’s the i_view32.ini file
Here’s the batch file that continuously runs IrfanView on the Sender PC to take screenshots and transfer the file ‘shot1.jpg’ using btftp to the Receiver PC.
This method seems to be working fine, however the transfers are very slow (hence there’s no need for a ‘wait’ loop in the screenshot.bat file.) Each transfer takes upward of 30-45 seconds. I think there’s some sort of timeout in the Bluetooth sending code, rather than it actually taking that long to send an approx. 100kB file.
Optional features:
Create a HTML wrapper file for the raw image on the Receiver PC, with features like auto-refresh, etc. and serve this file with HFS.
I hope this helps someone. If you have questions, let me know.