TurboVNC - Connecting to Computers Remotely With VNC
TurboVNC is a free application that lets you connect to computers remotely using VNC. It is an open-source program and is compatible with most major desktop operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It also supports the standard X11 protocol and provides a number of advanced features, such as rudimentary collaboration capabilities.
VNC is a client-server application that allows you to connect to graphical applications on remote machines such as Research Computing clusters and use them as if they were running in your local window manager. It is commonly used for a variety of tasks, such as working with 3D models and performing simulations.
To do this, the VNC server sends "framebuffer updates" to any connected viewers. Each update contains a number of "rectangles" that have changed on the screen. TurboVNC translates each rectangle into a colormap by first determining whether any pixels are solid (SOLID subencoding) or filled with a solid color (Paletted subencoding). Then it encodes the entire image using the most efficient combination of subencoding methods and colors based on the amount of change. This method is a significant improvement over TightVNC's and TigerVNC's encoding methods, especially on full-screen workloads.
Another important feature is lossless refresh. When enabled, TurboVNC will automatically send a mathematically lossless copy of the current frame to the viewer on demand. This can be triggered by a hotkey, or the VNC server can be configured to send it when the user stops interacting with an application for a certain period of time.