App Python Server Setup

For this application to communicate with your Linux desktop, you must set up the Python server. The necessary code is just a single Python file; it doesn't need any additional configuration on your end.

You can download the server script from the ZIP file linked above, or from the GitHub repository directly. Below is the file that you need from the app repository.

Once you have the server script, simply run it on your desktop. We'll breakdown the command components below. The below command assumes that your Terminal instance is already navigated to the directory which the Python file is located in.

Other than the python command for the script itself, we are using --port 8080 to specify the port for connection. The Linux Desktop Monitor app uses 8080 as the default port; you can use any other port you need. The --files-root ~/Documents is important. If you were to run only python3 desktop_monitor_server.py --port 8080, then the Linux Desktop Monitor app will have access to all your desktop's files. If you don't want this, and want the app to have access only to a certain directory, make sure you are specifying that in that portion of the command.

There are also instructions on the app on how you can utilize a token as well for additional security if you like.

[Update] Remote Desktop Control

As of release 1.0.2, users can view their desktop remotely, and do some simple actions: clicking, typing, etc.

This requires additional setup for the Python server. If you don't want to set up a Python virtual environment, you can use the below command to install the dependencies.

Feel free to use the above approach, but the better option is to set up a Python virtual environment. Below are the necessary steps.

Just remember that you're going to need to tune into this virtual environment any time you want to run this script in the future.

Connecting From the App

If our Python server is running on our desktop, we're ready to connect from our Ubuntu Touch device. Below are instructions on how to do this.

1. You need to know your desktops IP address. You can do this by using hostname -I in your Terminal. I believe in most cases, the first address to show in the row on the left is what you're looking for.
2. On the app main page, type in the IP address in the first field at the top. That should be all your need; unless you specified a different port, or are using an auth token.
3. Tap on "Connect", and you should see your desktop details displayed.

Features

Now that your Ubuntu Touch device is connected to you Linux desktop, below are the current list of features available to you (as of current release).

1. Display of system information where you can see your desktop's hostname, uptime, CPU usage, RAM usage, and CPU temperature. If any of these fields are not being displayed, this could be a bug from our end; as we may not be correctly fetching that information from your Linux desktop.
2. Remotely shut down your desktop.
3. Browse your desktop files.
4. You can see all the files in the directory that you previously specified when running your Python script. If you didn't specify any directory, then it'll be the root (/) directory by default. What you see are files/folders on your desktop.
5. Tapping on any of the files will give you the option to download/copy that file to your Ubuntu Touch device.
6. If you want to download/copy a file from your Ubuntu Touch device to your desktop, tap on the plus (+) sign on the top right of the File Browser page. Due to the current limitation of app permissions, you may only be able to copy files on your Ubuntu Touch device that are located in your app folder.
7. Remotely view and control your desktop from your Ubuntu Touch device. The app currently supports simple operations: clicking, right clicking, and basic keyboard entries.