WinUAE running on a network, how?

[AMIBY]

Okay, so I got the .rom files, WinUAE and some freeware games. I bought a NAS and I would like to share all of this on the Internet, so, like from work I can start up WinUAE and play a game.

From that work computer, I would like to have a short cut on my desktop that links directly to my home folder. Don't need any passwords. Then be able to run WinUAE and select a game from the menu in WinUAE.

How do I do that?

I would like to do this with the tools I have...so, would I in the configuration on WinUAE select an IP for the folder and then ip//winuae/game

[roguebeck]

Probably have to use Remote Desktop type app if you run it in Windows or VNC if you use linux.

Of course you can do all types of magical port forwarding and proxies via SSH ;-)

[AMIBY]

So I need to figure out if my NAS has SSH?

[yssing]

I would think that some sort of VPN should do it.

[trip6]

RDP remote desktop is the most reliable, but you would have to expose your desktop to the internet or forward the RDP port to it... VPN may cause problems because IPSEC has to be open where he works...

[motorollin]

This would be so slow tunneling RDP/VNC over VPN across the Internet. Surely it would be much easier and would perform much better if you just put WinUAE, its configuration and all of your games on a USB drive and take it with you?

--
moto

[Piru]

You must run WinUAE locally.

Mount the NAS remotely somehow (smb, sshdrive, ftp whatever rocks your boat, over vpn would be the safest), and have WinUAE configuration files there that use the ADF's on the remote drive.

[AMIBY]

What would give me the fastest transfer rate? FTP?

[Piru]

@AMIBY

What would give me the fastest transfer rate?

Well, if you use it over your home inet connection the limiting factor will be the upload speed of the connection. The protocol doesn't matter much.

[AmigaHeretic]

Here's how I've done it...

The way I've done it is just to run a small FTP server (there are ton of good free ones out there) on my home Windows PC.  Then use a free service like DynDNS which basically just gives you a web address name so you have a way to access you ftp: server.  So something like ftp://miby.dyndns.com   or whatever name you chose.

Once you have it setup so you can see and access your files over FTP:  then what I use on the work PC is program called WEBDRIVE

Webdrive basically lets you mount an FTP site as a Drive letter in Windows.   So you can make your FTP: site with all you Amiga files the H: drive or whatever you want.

From there as far as your work PC is concerned it thinks it's just another HardDrive and you configure WinUAE just as you would just pointing everything to H:/WinUAE/ROMS   etc or whever you put your files.

Works pretty good for me.  Webdrive is pretty cool, but you do have to pay for it.  Haven't found any free alternatives.  Of course on the Amiga we had programs like this for free 10+ years ago with a program called MountFTP.  Amiga was again WAY ahead of it's time in this area.   :-D

EDIT:  Just read the part that said you wanted to do it with the tools you have :-)  Well, anyway, if you don't find an easier way, check out WebDrive.

[AMIBY]

Interesting. Thanks.

[roguebeck]

Whatever you do do, make sure to limit connections via a firewall to allow only your remote (work) IP address to connect to your home network.

There are hackers (and hacker wannabes) out there looking for open services or computers 24 hours a day.

[AMIBY]

I will keep that in mind.

[Trev]

I just spent 40 minutes crafting a nice reply for you and lost it when I clicked submit. Stupid forum. Anyhow, I'll write something up again a bit later. Quick notes until I get a chance to edit this:

1. RDP flexible, but WinUAE most likely uses frame buffer to draw screens, which gives RDP very little room for optimization. Mouse capturing by WinUAE will be a problem as well. VNC would have similar problems, but it may be a better choice for WinUAE. Testing to confirm.
2. Upstream bandwidth important, but if using CIFS/SMB, latency contributing factor as well.
3. Connecting to FTP and HTTP sites in Windows Explorer is possible without third-party tools using Web Folders (WebDAV) and FTP Folders (Internet Explorer "Enable FTP folder view" option, as Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are technically one and the same).
4. Windows uses MTU size of 576 if path MTU discovery is disabled. Can use ping to determine maximum MTU size.
5. Feature-rich, stand-alone, portable WinUAE installation easy to do.

[tokyoracer]

Didn't know this was possible. UAE seems to be an excellent piece of free kit.