twiglet - observe or control an RVC-enabled machine's console

twiglet [OPTION]... host-specification

twiglet is a program for controlling another machine's console. It works using the RVC protocol, and an RVC server (such as rvcd(1)) must be running on the machine to be observed.

Using twiglet, the a best effort attempt is made to duplicate the screen contents of the observed machine. If the machine is displaying a virtual text console, the text on the console is rendered in the terminal in which twiglet runs. If the machine is displaying an X session, and the RVC server supports VNC integration, twiglet will open a window that contains the current contents of the X display.

It is also possible to control the observed machine in various ways. With keyboard control enabled (and with support from the RVC server), keys may be sent to the observed machine in text console mode almost as if they were typed from the keyboard. Twiglet also supports switching virtual console on the observed machine. Finally, if VNC integration is available, the X display can be manipulated almost as if the user were at the console.

The intended use for twiglet is in training and teaching environments. The idea is that there are student machines and a control machine (which the trainer or teacher would be using), with a serial line attached to each student machine. The trainer or teacher can then analyse the students' attempts to complete tasks, and help them out (showing them how to finish it) without needed to push them aside to get to the keyboard.

This client is written using ncurses(3).

--help

display a help message and exit successfully

--version

display a version number and exit successfully

-c, --control

control the remote machine rather than just observing it

-e xy, --escape xy

set the escape character and the escape escape character (like screen(1))

The host-specification takes one of the following forms:

host:port

to connect to an RVC server over TCP

tty [host]

to communicate with an RVC server over a tty (for example a serial line); the optional hostname is for VNC integration

I'm sure there are bugs, but I don't know what they are.

Tim Waugh <twaugh@redhat.com>