While browsing the Android Marketplace for new ways to use my Archos I came across Wyse Technology’s beta release of PocketCloud for Android. The description on the marketplace certainly piqued my interest.

Wyse PocketCloud™ enables complete access to your Windows PC, virtual machine or Remote Desktop Services from your mobile device.

Features:

  • Intuitive User Interface
  • High-accuracy Touch Pointer
  • Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP 7)
  • VMware View Support (Pending Certification)
  • Enterprise Security
  • VNC Protocol (Tech Preview)

I have quite a crazy little network setup in my house that consists of four Windows 7 machines (including the Media Center) and two Dell Servers running VMware ESX each with two virtual machines running Ubuntu Server Edition.  To manage the machines I use all three protocols that PocketCloud is targetting so it was the perfect fit for me.  I did not expect to get VMware View support on the tablet but it works like a champ and means I no longer have to search for an SSH client.  I also went ahead and installed the PocketCloud Windows Companion on my primary machine which gives some extra features when the tablet is connected.

Included with Wyse PocketCloud is a Windows client-side companion application that once installed on your remote machine, enables more advanced capabilities such as Thin-Browser™ (an enhanced, server-side browser capability), enabling full access to Web sites with Flash content.

There isn’t much info about the desktop companion that I could find but the major benefit I see is having it automatically open the keyboard when a textbox requests input.  Without the desktop software you have to open the menu and click the keyboard icon any time you need to type something.  Obviously I won’t be doing any major work on my computers from the Archos but if I need to start a download, restart a service, or reboot a machine it works great.  Any more than a few minutes though and I might as well walk to my computer.

In order to install PocketCloud on your Archos you will need access to the Android Marketplace.  This means you will need to install one of the hacked Archos firmware versions that I’ve discussed in the past.  (If you have the technical knowledge I highly recommend the rooted Firmware.)  If you have already hacked your Archos or if you are on a normal Android device then click the marketplace link below to be taken directly to the PocketCloud download.

market://search?q=pname:com.wyse.pocketcloud

The application is very user friendly and while it might not be something I use every single day it is a nice application to add to my Archos 7 toolbelt.

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