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Enable Remote Touch

The Remote Touch feature allows touch operation of applications running on Windows computers that are sharing their screen with MT Canvus.

Example

A team is using MT Canvus to plan a new product. A team member is running a touch-enabled spreadsheet on her Windows laptop and shares her screen with MT Canvus. The team leader stands in front of the video wall and can update the spreadsheet directly from MT Canvus by using hand gestures.

Remote Touch Setup Procedure

The following steps outline the setup procedure for Remote Touch:

  1. Specify the network interface and port numbers used by Remote Touch.
  2. Install the Cornerstone software on the user's laptop.
  3. Confirm that the MT Canvus application computer and user's computer are on the same network.
  4. Share the user's computer screen with MT Canvus.
  5. Obtain the Remote Touch port number assigned to the user's computer.
  6. Configure the user's computer to receive touch data from MT Canvus.
  7. Pin the Shared Screen widget in MT Canvus.

These steps are described in detail in the following sections.

Specify the Network Connection

If you installed MT Canvus from a preconfigured disk image, the correct network interface and port are already configured in mt-canvus.ini. You can skip this task.

To enable data transfer on Ubuntu application computers, open a remote touch server for a specific network interface and port. For Windows application computers, specify the port for screen-sharing devices and the IP address of the relevant network interface card (NIC).

# Ubuntu application computers
[remote-touch]
interface=<interface ID>
port=<port number>

# Windows application computers
[remote-touch]
server-ip=<NIC IP address>
port=<port number>

Where:

  • interface specifies the name or ID of the external network interface (Ubuntu only).
  • server-ip specifies the IP address of the NIC card on the application computer (Windows only).
  • port specifies the initial port number for screen-sharing devices (default is 5010).

Install Cornerstone Software

Each user who wants to share their screen with MT Canvus must install the following items on their Windows computer or laptop:

Follow these steps:

  1. Log on to the user\'s computer as an administrator.
  2. Browse to the folder C:\Cornerstone-<ver>\Win7Driver.
  3. Right-click the install.bat file and select \'Run as administrator\'.
  4. Reboot the user\'s computer.
  5. Verify the driver installation in Device Manager.
  6. Start MTWin7.exe from the Cornerstone runtime.

Confirm the Network Connection

Confirm that the MT Canvus application computer and the user's computer are connected to the same network.

Share the User\'s Computer Screen

The user must now share their computer screen with MT Canvus. For instructions on how to use the screen share feature, see Share your Screen.

Obtain the Remote Touch Port Number

To enable Remote Touch, MT Canvus assigns a unique port number to each screen-sharing instance. Follow these steps to discover the assigned port:

  1. In MT Canvus, open the Screen Share menu and tap the shared screen.
  2. In the Screen Share widget, tap the Remote Control Info button.

  1. Make a note of the IP address and port number. You will need to enter these details in config.txt in the next section.

Note

In the example above, the IP address and port are 10.36.0.70 and 5010. (Note that 5010 is the default port number.)

Configure the User\'s Computer

You must configure the user's Windows computer to identify the application computer and the port number assigned to the user's screen-sharing instance.

Follow these steps:

  1. Locate config.txt on the user's computer (usually in %APPDATA%\MultiTouch).

  2. Edit config.txt to include the following NetBridge block:

    For example, if the IP address of the application computer is 10.36.0.70 and the port assigned to this screen-sharing instance is 5010, add the following to config.txt

NetBridge {
  host = "10.36.0.70"
  port = "5010"
}

For full details about config.txt, see configure-input-mapping

Start the WindowsTouchProxy.exe program.

On the user's Windows computer, start the WindowsTouchProxy.exe program. While this program is running, any application on the user's computer that supports Windows Touch can use the touch data received from MT Canvus.

Important

You must start WindowsTouchProxy.exe after specifying the network interface and port.

Note

WindowsTouchProxy.exe is included with the Cornerstone runtime. We recommend you add WindowsTouchProxy.exe to the list of Startup programs to ensure it is always running when needed by an application that supports Windows Touch.

Pin the Shared Screen Widget

In MT Canvus, wait for the Remote Control Info button to turn blue, indicating that Remote Touch is enabled.

Then pin the Shared Screen widget to ensure that touch data is transmitted to the receiving application.

Note

Pinning a widget enables MT Canvus to correctly interpret a user's hand and finger gestures as inputs to the application running in the widget instead of attempts to move or resize widget.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A user is unable to share their screen with MT Canvus despite being able to do so in a previous screen-sharing session.

Solution: This problem can arise if a different port number has been assigned to the user's computer in the current screen-sharing session.

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:

  1. Discover the Remote Touch port number currently assigned to the user's computer.
  2. On the user's device, update the NetBridge block in config.txt with the new port number.
  3. Restart WindowsTouchProxy.exe on the user's computer.
  4. In MT Canvus, pin the Shared Screen widget.