From 7a63d5e0b42494c0d2c6d3ece3aa5ce3c5420500 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ben Grande Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2024 18:14:52 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] doc: remote support with Qubes Video Companion --- salt/video-companion/README.md | 56 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 56 insertions(+) diff --git a/salt/video-companion/README.md b/salt/video-companion/README.md index a3cf2299..8778fd8f 100644 --- a/salt/video-companion/README.md +++ b/salt/video-companion/README.md @@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ Stream webcams and share screens in Qubes OS. * [Description](#description) * [Installation](#installation) * [Usage](#usage) + * [Basic usage](#basic-usage) + * [Remote support usage](#remote-support-usage) ## Description @@ -54,6 +56,8 @@ sudo qubesctl --skip-dom0 --targets=QUBE state.apply video-companion.install-rec ## Usage +### Basic usage + The sender has the screen you want to share of the webcam you want to access. The receiver the is client that requests access to the screen of webcam, @@ -80,3 +84,55 @@ cheese Refer to [upstream usage guide](https://github.com/QubesOS/video-companion?tab=readme-ov-file#usage) for more information. + +### Remote support usage + +If you need to give or receive remote support, Qubes Video Companion is an +excellent option for an easy to setup, view-only connection. + +The +[qubes-remote-support](https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-remote-support/tree/main) +is an option where the receiver exposes dom0 desktop to the support +provider, it requires running a lot of code in dom0, such as Wormhole, tor +(with Onion Authentication), an SSH server (with public key) and an X2Go +server. It has some major downsides, network latency is capped by onion +routing, shares the whole dom0 screen and has access to the shell, runs too +many servers in the most privileged domain and Wormhole package was orphaned +from Fedora repositories, meaning it doesn't work at this moment and fixes +requires a maintainer upstream. + +If you need a simple solution that is view-only, from which you can choose +which monitor to share, which qube to share the windows from, which network +chain to establish for the connection by choosing the `netvm`, which +software to use to share the screen to such as pre-installed applications +(Firefox browser), qubes-video-companion is a great option for that. + +Consider the following qube setup on the receiver side: + +* `video-conference`: qube which you will run the conference application +* `broken`: qube which requires assistance + +1. On the qube `video-conference`, start the companion with + `qubes-video-companion screenshare` and choose the `broken` qube. +2. On the qube `video-conference`, start the conference application, can be + from the web browser or a desktop application. Click to allow camera + access, it will instead share the `broken` qube windows. The camera can + appear mirrored/inverted for you, don't worry, the person on the other end + will see the video correctly. +3. From the qube where you communicate with your remote support provider, + share the necessary information for them to connect to the call. + +The remote support provider only needs to connect to the call with the same +application used by the client, which can be a web or desktop application. The +intended use case is for visual diagnostics and instructional based support +where the remote support recipient does the actions and the provider guides +them. + +There are also downsides to this method. The remote support provider can't do +any tasks that requires write capabilities. The readability of the video might +be low, depending on how many monitors are connected (the few, the better to +set the correct resolution automatically without the user having to configure +it), the font size. In case the receiver disconnects the screenshare or +connects to the call before the starting the screenshare, they might need to +exit and enter the call, reload the web page or disable and enable the camera +permissions for the conference software to detect the camera.