I suddenly thought about how to access files on my home PC when I’m outside, and that naturally led to: how to remotely control the host.
This problem can be split into two parts:
1 how to power on/off remotely
2 how to remotely control the host
How To Power On/Off Remotely
I searched online and the neatest solution I saw was: buy a Wi-Fi smart plug, and set the PC BIOS to auto-power-on when electricity is restored.
Simple, convenient, and safe.
Ref: 软硬兼施之远程控制开关机
How To Remotely Control The Host
There are already many solutions.
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Option 1: mature commercial software like TeamViewer / 向日葵
These are mature and feature-complete. TeamViewer also has a free personal version.
Pros: simple, low effort
Cons: security concerns (as for other issues, I haven’t tried yet) -
Option 2: Microsoft Remote Desktop
This is Windows 10’s built-in remote desktop solution. Microsoft’s guide: Remote Desktop - Allow access to your PC
Following the tutorial step by step, I was able to control the desktop from my phone.
But this only works within the local network. It can’t connect to your home PC from outside, so you’d need something like NAT traversal / reverse proxy.
I found some tutorials. Leaving them here for later when I actually need it: -
Option 3: use a Linux-like server system
I recently watchedCG Geek’s video Windows Vs Linux - Every Blender user needs to see this! which says Blender on Linux can be 50% faster than Windows. Very tempting. I want to switch to Linux, but for various reasons (too little skillno skill) I still haven’t acted.
A Linux-like system seems very suitable for this. Maybe I’ll try it someday.
2019/11/09 update
V2Ray can do NAT traversal / reverse proxy. Haven’t studied it yet. Leaving the docs here:
反向代理 - Project V 官方网站
反向代理 - 新 V2Ray 白话文指南