ARD and Universal Control (Windows RDM to Mac server)
Hello folks,
I was wondering if anyone has found a way to get RDM connecting to a Mac over ARD to work with Universal Control (MacOS's ability to control an iPad from a desktop/laptop).
On a local session, you would set up Universal Control and then move your mouse to edge of the screen and the keyboard/mouse control would move to the iPad. In a Remote session, when I move the mouse to the edge of the screen, the mouse exits the RDM window and continues to my next monitor. Even without another monitor connected, the mouse control doesn't exit to the iPad.
This would be a cool (but admittedly low priority) feature if this doesn't exist, but it's quite possible I'm missing a setting or something that would get this work. Any help would be appreciated.
All Comments (4)
Hello
I don't think this can work, fundamentally Universal Control works by establishing a peer-to-peer network (either Wifi or Bluetooth) between the devices sharing input events, and then streams input events over that network (presumably part of the Handoff protocol, but I can't find documentation for that). Even if the devices were in close physical proximity, Universal Control sends raw HID events to the nearby device; but screen sharing doesn't work with HID events; it just transmits interactions (a "higher level" concept than HID, which is closer to the actual device driver).
If this is something you'd like to see, I'd recommend experimenting with "Universal Control-like" solutions that might work over a regular network connection: perhaps Synergy or Barrier (I haven't tried this myself).
Please, let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions
Kind regards,
Richard Markievicz
Hello
I don't think this can work, fundamentally Universal Control works by establishing a peer-to-peer network (either Wifi or Bluetooth) between the devices sharing input events, and then streams input events over that network (presumably part of the Handoff protocol, but I can't find documentation for that). Even if the devices were in close physical proximity, Universal Control sends raw HID events to the nearby device; but screen sharing doesn't work with HID events; it just transmits interactions (a "higher level" concept than HID, which is closer to the actual device driver).
If this is something you'd like to see, I'd recommend experimenting with "Universal Control-like" solutions that might work over a regular network connection: perhaps Synergy or Barrier (I haven't tried this myself).
Please, let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions
Kind regards,
Hi Richard. Thanks for the quick answer. I'm not 100% sure you got the problem correct. Let me try again just in case.
Windows PC (running RDM) connects over ARD to Mac Mini. Mac Mini has Universal Control enabled and is connected to the iPad.
If I take control of the Mac Mini locally (via its plugged in keyboard and mouse) and move the cursor to the edge of the Mac's display, my mouse cursor moves over to the iPad.
If on the Windows PC, if I move my mouse to the edge of the ARD window, my mouse stays in the Windows PC context. I _think_ that if the mouse was focused / grabbed by the ARD session, it might work....
If that was your understanding of the problem then thanks for the answer and I'll live. If the above clarifies, let me know what you think
Hi
I do understand, and maybe my explanation was not great; but yes - unfortunately it's not that simple. Universal Control is not documented at the technical level, but we can make some educated assumptions about how it works. It's forwarding HID events (something close to what is received directly from the mouse or keyboard, normally processed in the kernel before being dispatched to user space - i.e. applications) over the local peer-to-peer network (presumably using Handoff).
Screen sharing works at a higher level; it doesn't have knowledge of HID; events are handled on the server directly in userspace and arrive directly at the window server.
Essentially, they're two fundamentally incompatible technologies; I expect you'll get the same result if you try this from a Mac using Apple's official Screen Sharing client instead of RDM.
Please let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions!
Kind regards,
Richard Markievicz
Hi
I do understand, and maybe my explanation was not great; but yes - unfortunately it's not that simple. Universal Control is not documented at the technical level, but we can make some educated assumptions about how it works. It's forwarding HID events (something close to what is received directly from the mouse or keyboard, normally processed in the kernel before being dispatched to user space - i.e. applications) over the local peer-to-peer network (presumably using Handoff).
Screen sharing works at a higher level; it doesn't have knowledge of HID; events are handled on the server directly in userspace and arrive directly at the window server.
Essentially, they're two fundamentally incompatible technologies; I expect you'll get the same result if you try this from a Mac using Apple's official Screen Sharing client instead of RDM.
Please let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions!
Kind regards,
Got it. Thanks for the time and explanation, Richard.