Remote access to main computer


carowe
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I just bought a new desktop and two 27” monitors in December and last week signed a contract on a job out of state that will require quite a bit of travel.  I am going to have to get a new laptop but really don’t want to spend a fortune at this point and don’t want to have to buy another license.  Most of my work will be done in my office, but on my trips out there will need to access my CA files, and perhaps work on them. What would be the minimum requirements I would need in order to access my main computer and let it do the heavy lifting on CA?  I use X11 Interiors and will primarily be working on kitchen and bathroom designs for the architect.

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If you are just doing interior kitchens and bathrooms then I really don't see the necessity to have fully remote desktop access. Any half decent laptop should be capable of handling this workload level. Just put your files in the cloud using OneDrive or Dropbox so you can remotely access those and run Chief on your laptop.

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The other thing to consider about Remote Access is that it is not really designed for the purpose of using your desktop from a remote location to run traditional software programs. Remote access was designed to permit IT professionals the ability to control/access remote employee laptops for security purposes and troubleshooting.

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3 hours ago, carowe said:

and don’t want to have to buy another license

 

You won't need to , you just use the Manage License dialog in the Help Menu or in your Digital Locker to switch the license between the Laptop and your Desktop..... ( Chief permits this type of usage , just can't be used on two machines at once)

 

ie: you make it available and then start Chief on the other computer and agree to the new activation.

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Also keep in mind some remote access softwares, such as Remote Desktop Facility (RDF) from Microsoft, have a 'local' display driver which has limitations.  RDF, for example, will not allow you to run Chief Architect, or, more precisely, CA will detect the limited display driver being used by RDF and won't allow running it.

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My plan was to use either Go to My PC or Zoom - I've used before in the past but was on another desktop and it worked extremely well -- so my question is just whether there are specifications I should look for in a laptop and whether anyone has done this?  Just looking for some tips/things to look for in the laptop.  THx

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22 minutes ago, carowe said:

My plan was to use either Go to My PC or Zoom - I've used before in the past but was on another desktop and it worked extremely well -- so my question is just whether there are specifications I should look for in a laptop and whether anyone has done this?  Just looking for some tips/things to look for in the laptop.  THx

 

I'm just wondering why you feel there is a need for that type of setup. Seems like a lot of extra complexity when you can just run Chief directly on the laptop. I think you are underestimating how powerful today's newer laptops are. For about $1,500.00 you could get a Dell XPS 15" , discrete graphics, 16 GB ram, 6 core(12 hyperthreaded) CPU. It's unlikely you would notice the difference between this and your current desktop, especially if you factor in upload/download bandwidth limitations using a remote set-up. Also, what happens if there is a power glitch back at the office and your main desktop shuts down, you can't remotely restart the desktop if this happens.

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OP, if you still look at this thread, the second computer in my signature is my "home office" computer.  It runs x11 just fine.  File loads and saves over the cloud take some time, but work within the program is just fine.  You would be hard pressed to find a laptop less than 10 years old with specs that couldn't run circles around that machine.

 

Also, as I always do in these threads, I recommend Microsoft One-Drive.  It is mappable to your local machine.  You can work right off it with no additional download or sync steps.  I used it before I moved to a VPN into my office server (also a mapped drive).

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