TightProjector Software
by TightVNC Group

This document corresponds to TightProjector version 1.1.0
Copyright (C) 2007,2008 Vladimir Vologzhanin, TightVNC Group

Contents

• About TightProjector and TightReceiver
• Disclaimer and Licensing Information
• Installation
• Registration
• Getting Started
• Command-Line Options
• Performance
• Feedback, Support and Updates

About TightProjector and TightReceiver

TightProjector is a software that can broadcast the screen of a particular computer to the Local-Area Network (LAN) it is connected to.

Typical usage examples:

• broadcasting a presentation to multiple computers in the LAN;
• showing a class of students operations performed by a teacher.

There are two programs in the distribution:

• TightProjector sends the screen contents to the network;
• TightReceiver shows the data received from TightProjector.

In the traditional client-server model, TightProjector is the server part and TightReceiver is the client program. Normally, there is one active projector in the network, but there may be any number of receivers.

Both programs are very small (about 100 kilobytes each), efficient and very easy to install and use.

TightProjector uses "multicast" UDP packets for sending screen updates. This means that clients do not need to establish connections to the server, and the server sends just one packet even if there are many receivers. This guarantees that the performance would not degrade with increasing the number of clients in the same network.

Disclaimer and Licensing Information

The software is provided "AS IS", without warranty of any kind. The source code is not available. For complete End User License Agreement, see the LICENSE.txt document included within the software distribution. DO NOT use or load this software until you have read the End User License Agreement.

Unlike TightVNC, this is commercial software, available free of charge only for evaluation purposes. It does NOT include any code which is covered by the GNU General Public License and at the same time is not copyrighted by the TightVNC Group.

Installation

To install and run the software, you need:

• one of the following operating systems:
  • Windows 98,
  • Windows ME,
  • Windows 2000,
  • Windows XP,
  • Windows 2003 Server,
  • Windows Vista,
  • Windows 2008 Server,
  • Windows 7;
• 32 megabytes of RAM (64 megabytes recommended);
• 2 megabytes of free disk space;
• a video adapter supporting color depths of 16, 24 or 32 bits;
• a local-area network adapter.

Installation is simple: run the tprsetup-1.1.0.exe file and navigate through the familiar wizard screen. At a result of the installation, a number of icons will be created in the Start/Programs menu, including shortcuts for TightProjector and TightReceiver programs.

To uninstall the software, choose Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select TightProjector in the list of installed software, and press the Add/Remove button.

Registration

Initially, TightProjector's operating time is limited by 20 minutes. To end the evaluation period and switch to the fully-functional mode, you must purchase an activation code and register the software. The registration procedure is simple, unregistered version will offer registration at startup, just read and follow the instructions.

Getting Started

As noted above, the distribution includes two programs: TightProjector which sends the screen contents to the network, and TightReceiver which can show received screen data. Typically, you should run no more than one active TightProjector in a network. If you run several copies of TightProjector, the programs may conflict with each other if not specifically configured to use different UDP port numbers.

When started, both TightProjector and TightReceiver programs show a small icon in the system tray area (usually, lower right corner of the screen). Right-clicking on such an icon would show up a menu that can be used to control the corresponding program.

TightProjector's menu includes the following commands that are pretty self explanatory:

• Start Transmission / Stop Transmission
• Pause Transmission
• Send Full-Screen Update
• Settings...
• About TightProjector...
• Quit

The command Start/Stop Transmission is the default one for the tray menu. That means it would be executed on double-clicking the tray icon. Also, transmission can be started or paused by using a special keyboard combination which is Alt+F12 by default. Another keyboard shortcut can be used for pausing transmission and it is initially set to Alt-F11. Choose Settings... from the menu to configure keyboard hotkeys and other configurable options.

TightReceiver's menu looks like this:

• Full Screen
• Hide Window / Show Window
• Request Refresh
• Settings...
• About TightReceiver...
• Quit

The default command which is activated on double-clicking the tray icon is one that toggles the full-screen mode. To leave the full-screen mode, use the Esc key on your keyboard. Also, there is a keyboard combination which can be used to hide or show the window of TightReceiver, and it is assigned to Ctrl+F12 by default.

Now here is a simple usage example. Let's assume that you have a network of three computers A, B and C, and wish to demonstrate the screen of the computer A to the users of other computers, B and C. In this case you should:

1. Start TightProjector on the computer A. Start TightReceiver on the computers B and C.
2. Double-click the TightProjector icon in the system tray (lower right corner of the screen) so that the icon would start rotating.
3. On the computers B and C, a copy of the screen A will appear in a new window. If you wish, you can expand such a window to full screen by double-clicking the tray icon of TightReceiver.

Command-Line Options

TightProjector (tightprj.exe) supports the following command-line options:

TightReceiver (tightrcv.exe) supports the only command-line option:

Note that both TightProjector and TightReceiver should use the same base port number in order to interoperate properly.

Performance

Capturing screen data may be CPU intensive, so TightProjector can cause high CPU load when capturing and transmission is in progress. Actual CPU utilization depends on the following factors:

• CPU performance;
• video adapter performance;
• efficiency of video display drivers;
• display mode and color depth (16-bit or 32-bit colors);
• level of hardware acceleration set for the video adapter.

Typically, the best performance can be achieved by using a display mode with 16-bit colors and disabling hardware acceleration for video. Setting hardware acceleration to "None" can dramatically improve screen capturing performance of TightProjector, so it's a recommended setting.

Also note that TightProjector may not capture video data correctly with hardware acceleration enabled. This is because video may be rendered in the video card memory, not in the normal system memory, and thus cannot be captured by another application.

TightProjector can disable hardware acceleration automatically on starting the transmission, and restore acceleration level when the transmission is finished. To enable this option, choose Settings... menu command and check "Auto disable graphics hardware acceleration".

In certain cases, you might want to change hardware acceleration setting manually. Here are the steps for doing so in Windows:

1. Right-click in a blank area of the desktop.
2. In Windows XP and 2000, choose Properties → Settings tab → Advanced button → Troubleshoot. The location of the Hardware Acceleration control may differ for your video card driver.
   In Windows 98/ME, choose Properties → Settings → Advanced → Performance.
3. On the Hardware Acceleration slider, move the slider control to the desired position between None and Full.

Feedback, Support and Updates

The primary Web resource of the TightProjector software is located at this URL:

http://www.tightvnc.com/projector/

On that page, you will find up-to-date information on the software, the latest fixes and updates, and instructions on reporting bugs and getting support.

If you have problems with the TightProjector software, or wish to share your thoughts or suggestions, please use this e-mail address:

projector@tightvnc.com

Thank you for choosing TightProjector software!