Hello,

as the title says, I need to find a remote desktop viewer which supports sound forwarding and can run on a CentOS 5.6 system (on the server side). The client side will be running a current Linux (probably Debian 10).

Unfortunately, upgrading the CentOS system is NOT possible.

Using Xrdp did not work for sound - I think the old Xrdp version available on CentOS 5 does not support it.

NoMachine did not work for sound either - the logs did not give me any helpful information.

Pulseaudio does not seem to be supported by a system this old.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

With the absence of any suggestions so far, perhaps you need to reconsider your definition of "not possible".

Given that CentOS 5 is two or three major releases behind and over four years past its extended support, you're unlikely to find many people willing to support it.

Also, what is the reason for the machine still being on Centos 5.6 - why was it not at least upgraded through to to 5.11?


Alternatively, find another way to solve whatever the overall problem is here - why do you need sound from an old server?

1 members found this post helpful.

Bolded a line above for emphasis only. The suggestion is to upgrade the system, period. There are a LOT of threads here that always claim that it is 'not possible' to upgrade, but that is never true. And the simple reason is that, at some point, that system will FAIL. What are you going to do then? Buy old, used hardware at a flea market, to get your business running again?? And even if you can, how long do you think that'll work?

Sorry, no...it's just not true; you CAN upgrade the system, and will be forced to at some point. Putting it off because it may be difficult, or that you'll have to learn another application (that does the same thing) is pointless. Not to mention the fact of how far behind you are from a security standpoint, along with how far behind you are on bugfixes, feature enhancements, etc. You're seeing the tip of the iceberg with the sound problem.

And all that aside...why do you need sound on a remote server, or even a GUI?? Most servers are managed via SSH and X forwarding...just no need for a full desktop at all.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hmm... Wonder how your system owner justifies this with the Information security auditors?

1st thing, forget about remote - does the sound work locally?

1 members found this post helpful.

The system I am working on consists of multiple servers running proprietary software which processes data and provides a custom display to the end users (yes, with sound). The proprietary software WILL NOT run on anything newer than CentOS 5. Upgrading the application is currently not possible due to time and cost considerations. Because the hardware is already failing, we intend to virtualize the whole thing to GAIN TIME until we can replace the system.

The simple fact is, not all business sectors can keep up with the current update cycles - why do you think some of the old and really old hardware is still being sold at premium prizes??

Cost. And the system is isolated. Some business sectors simply have update cycles which are not compatible with modern operating systems . . .

Yes, locally it works.

So it was already working, but now something has changed which resulted in it ceasing to work? What specifically changed?


Hopefully that lesson is being emphasized to the relevant people - proprietary software is by its nature limiting.


Again, "not possible" is often an opinion/perspective - one that is frequently forced to change when the facts are presented.


Upgrading is a pain, especially when it's excessively frequent and increasingly taken for granted, but - when a business is still running on a 14 year old OS that was superseded 10 years ago and then that version was superseded 7 years ago, with a 3 year window before the 14 year old version stopped being supported - you will find people have far less sympathy for any for-profit entity that chooses not to update.


Wikipedia has a comparison of remote desktop software with a "Features" table indicating audio support - your best bet is likely to go through those, identify which of them work on Linux, and hope you can find a version capable of running on both CentOS 5 and Debian 10.

Because people keep saying this same thing over and over: "We can't upgrade because it'll take time and cost money!!" You'll STILL wind up spending the time and money later, so why put it off?

And it's hard to believe that software which is business/mission critical isn't kept up to date. If you purchased the software, it's hard to imagine why a company (whose business is selling software), wouldn't have updated it. And if your company wrote it, you have developers that can move it to a current system. And if sound already doesn't work on CentOS 5, why would virtualizing the system fix this issue?? Same CentOS...same libraries, kernel, etc....still won't get you sound.

You're obviously doing without the sound now, since it doesn't work, so why the impetus to get it going? You still don't tell us what the name of this software is or what it does, and haven't told us whether or not sound works locally.

But you have posted the answer to your own question in your first post when you said that sound isn't supported on what you're currently running. Won't be supported if you virtualize either.

Because we do not have neither the time nor the money to do it now. We have other systems to upgrade and install - replacing the whole thing takes more resources and time than we have now!

I do not know where you are working but not all sectors function the same way . . .

I never said sound wasn't working - I actually said it works. I "just" need it to work remotely (to "get it out" of the VM)!

And, not to be insulting, but if you do not know how to solve the problem, just say so! I do know that upgrading would be the best option - but it simply not an option available at this time!

Unfortunately, software update cycles and hardware lifetime was not really taken into account when installing this and other systems. As we cannot do all at once, we need an intermediate solution . . .

Thanks. I went through the list but in most cases you cannot find any packages for such an old OS.

...and virtualization isn't it, since you're STILL running the same OS with the same limitations, which won't get you sound. So you're going to spend time and money doing all this work to virtualize, and be right back where you started.

Or you can spend time and money to move FORWARD, and have your problem solved for many years to come. And you STILL don't tell us what this software is called, what it does, etc.
...which brings us back to, "Spend the time and money to upgrade and your problem is then solved."

Well you don't need most, you only need one.

And if there's GPL or BSD licensed software that used to support CentOS 5, there might not be a package, but you can still try building it from source.

No I don't. Sorry, but this is not a private project. Therefore, as much as I would like to, I simply cannot discuss it in public. What I can say is, that it's specialized custom built software not easily available on the free market. And, no, there exists no open source solution!

This is a purely theoretical solution to a real-world problem. We simply do not have the manpower to upgrade this system now - no, hiring people would not help in the short/medium term. Furthermore, the system running currently is scheduled for replacement in the coming ~5 years and we simply would not get the OK to spend money on upgrading the software/OS now and anyway, there are other systems we will have to handle before that. Lastly, you do realize that you are not discussing this with the people who would be allowed to make that kind of decision?

Consider this scenario: some company buys a very expensive piece of machinery to produce some items. This machinery comes with software running on standard server hardware to monitor and control the production process. The software also has a GUI which employees use to supervise and manage the production process, including acoustic alarms in case of problems. All works fine, but after ~10 years the standard server hardware starts failing and it gets harder and harder to maintain it. Replacing only the software and the standard servers would take about 80% of the working time and 50% of the cost when compared to replacing the complete machinery, which is planned in ~5 years. Good luck convincing anyone, that upgrading the software is the way to go.

This is not exactly my situation but pretty close.

Now, can we please stop arguing about this? When I said, upgrading is not an option I meant it. At this time I simply CANNOT upgrade the OS!

And I am not asking for anyone to solve my problem. I was simply hoping that someone would know some remote desktop program with sound support which might still work with this ancient OS. I can take the rest from there . . .

1 members found this post helpful.

I know. But it's a huge list .

I was hoping someone would remember using some remote desktop viewer program with sound support back in the day. I was looking for a starting point so to speak. However, I will try your suggestion. Thanks.

So as said before; if you paid someone to build it (or bought it outright), then pay them to UPDATE IT. Simple. And if you cannot discuss it in public (which I find very hard to believe), then why post on a public forum?
Again, you aren't paying attention to what you've asked or been told. No matter WHAT YOU DO, sound isn't going to work over remote desktop on what you're using. Real server, virtual, whatever...not going to work. Your original problem remains.

Still haven't said ANYTHING about the software, or how you're dealing with this now, or why this has SUDDENLY become an issue after so many years. And lastly, if you're not the one making a decision you are certainly WORKING for those people, to whom you need to give advice. And if it's going to be about five years before this replacement, you will have ZERO CHOICE but to live with no sound for five years.
So you purchased the system; pay for maintenance on it and have them solve the problem. If it's this 'secret' production system that you paid top dollar for, the company that developed it will be happy to solve your issues...have you actually contacted them?

And since this is all 'secret', and you're planning on replacing all of this anyway, you must already have some ideas on who else to purchase from. Have you asked THEM? Because they want to make a sale....and will probably bend over backwards for a big opportunity. Either way, your problem is solved.
No one is arguing about it...you have been told plainly, several times, that what you're after WILL NOT WORK with what you have. That's it....simple answer. You were also asked why sound is suddenly an issue after so many years, but haven't answered. When you provide zero information, you will get close to that back in answers; there may well be workaround, but without knowing anything about what you have/are doing now, we can't even suggest anything past "Run a long speaker wire from the server".