FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS December 2016 INTRODUCTION WHAT IS TGX? TGX is the highest performing, most efficient remote desktop application on the market. TGX allows a user to connect to and interact with a remote workstation in real time as if the user were sitting directly at the machine. The workstation s desktop and applications are displayed on the user s local display and keyboard and mouse input is sent to the remote machine. This allows the vast resources of a centralized IT architecture to be available to a user through a lightweight device (such as a laptop, thin client, or Microsoft Surface ). WHAT IS A SENDER AND RECEIVER? TGX requires two computers, a Sender and a Receiver. The Sender is the remote workstation whose desktop and applications are shared by TGX. The Receiver is the local computer that interacts with the remote desktop of the Sender via TGX. HOW DOES TGX WORK? TGX utilizes advanced algorithms and hardware acceleration to capture and compress the desktop display and audio at the Sender into a stream which is decoded at the Receiver. With optimal hardware and network conditions, the latency and visual artifacts experienced by the user are imperceptible, such that the user feels as though they are sitting directly at the remote workstation. WHAT OPERATING SYSTEMS AND HARDWARE ARE SUPPORTED? The TGX Sender and Receiver run on Windows and Linux operating systems. The Receiver additionally runs on Mac OS X. Both the Sender and Receiver require modern NVIDIA or Intel graphics cards for optimal performance, though software only video decode is available. Support for AMD graphics cards and mobile devices is forthcoming. See the System Requirements section for details.

2 WHAT S NEW IN TGX 1.7? TGX 1.7 adds support for Linux and Mac OS X Receivers and NVIDIA GeForce GTX Sender on Windows and Linux. Additionally, collaboration mode, in which multiple Receivers connect to a single Sender, is supported on all Sender hardware. For more information see the Release Notes. PURCHASING AND LICENSING HOW IS TGX LICENSED? The TGX Sender must have a license. The license is perpetual and can be node-locked or floating. One year of maintenance is included with the original sale. Additional years of maintenance can be purchased at any time. If you are under maintenance you receive all updates, both minor and major releases of the product. Full details of the terms and conditions are available on the website. TGX Receivers require no license. HOW CAN I PURCHASE TGX? To purchase TGX, contact software@mechdyne.com CAN I TRY TGX BEFORE PURCHASING? Trial licenses are available; contact software@mechdyne.com TECHNICAL SUPPORT WHERE CAN I FIND HELP INSTALLING OR USING TGX? Read the Install Guide and User Guide provided with the TGX software. For additional help, visit or contact software_support@mechdyne.com IS SUPPORT PROVIDED WITH A LICENSE PURCHASE? One year of support is included in the original sale, additional years can be purchased at any time. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS WHAT OPERATING SYSTEMS DOES TGX SUPPORT? Microsoft Windows Linux Apple Mac OS X TGX Sender 7, 8, 8.1, 10, RHEL 6 & 7, Ubuntu 16 Unsupported Server 2008R2, 2012 and derivatives TGX Receiver 7, 8, 8.1, 10 RHEL 6 & 7, Ubuntu 16 and derivatives El Capitan (10.11) and up 2

3 DOES TGX SUPPORT MOBILE DEVICES? Not currently, but an ios and Android TGX Receiver are planned. DOES TGX SUPPORT SPECIALIZED USB DEVICES (TABLETS, 3D MICE, ETC.)? Not currently, but generic support for USB forwarding is under development. WHAT HARDWARE DOES TGX REQUIRE? TGX Sender TGX Receiver Windows Linux Mac OS X NVIDIA Quadro NVIDIA Quadro Unsupported NVIDIA GRID (pass-thru and vgpu) NVIDIA GRID (pass-thru) NVIDIA GeForce GTX NVIDIA GeForce GTX Intel HD, Iris, Iris Pro NVIDIA Quadro NVIDIA GeForce GTX Intel HD, Iris, Iris Pro Software decode Intel HD, Iris, Iris Pro DOES TGX SUPPORT AMD GRAPHICS CARDS? TGX currently uses software decoding on AMD graphics cards; hardware decoding is under development. IS ADDITIONAL HARDWARE SUPPORT BEING DEVELOPED? Yes, TGX is being developed to use all available hardware on all platforms. DOES TGX SUPPORT 4K DISPLAYS? Yes, TGX can deliver 4K desktops and higher on modern NVIDIA and Intel hardware. Optimal performance requires an NVIDIA Quadro (Kepler, Maxwell or Pascal) graphics processor in the Sender and modern NVIDIA or Intel hardware in the Receiver. DOES TGX REQUIRE A SPECIFIC DRIVER VERSION? For NVIDIA cards, TGX requires R346 or above. The recommended driver version is 354.xx. WHAT NETWORKING CONFIGURATION IS REQUIRED? TGX requires access to ports on the Sender machine. Configure the network firewall or VPN access accordingly. DOES TGX SUPPORT STEREO 3D? This feature is currently in planning. DOES TGX SUPPORT MULTIPLE GPUS? Not at this time. 3

4 DOES TGX SUPPORT REMOTE AUDIO? Currently, sound can only be provided by the Windows Sender. Linux Sender support is in development. All Receivers provide playback support. TGX encodes and plays in 44.1 khz stereo. Sound is only provided one way, from Sender to Receiver. CAN TGX DISPLAY HDCP PROTECTED CONTENT? No, TGX cannot display HDCP content. Any window with HDCP content will display as a black box. PERFORMANCE HOW DOES TGX DELIVER SUCH HIGH PERFORMANCE? We have configured the best in class algorithms to maximize the efficiency of frame buffer capture, encoding, decoding, mouse capture, and network management. We leverage hardware and software optimizations available on NVIDIA Kepler, Maxwell and Pascal GPUs (Quadro and GTX) and Intel GPUs. As a result, TGX delivers maximum frame rate with minimal latency and bandwidth consumption. WHAT KIND OF LAG OR LATENCY WOULD A USER EXPECT WITH TGX? Every network exhibits an inherent latency. The hardware upon which TGX runs can also affect latency. TGX minimizes additional latency due to optimized encoding and decoding. The experience is as close to sitting at the remote computer as possible. The base latency is approximately the network latency plus 1 to 2 frame periods. e.g. With 20ms of network latency and a frame rate of 48Hz the latency should be approximately 40 to 60ms. WHAT COMPRESSION ALGORITHM DOES TGX SUPPORT? TGX uses H.264 compression for all video encoding and AAC compression for all audio encoding. H.265 compression is under development. WHAT COLORSPACE DOES TGX SUPPORT? Currently, TGX supports 4:2:0 color. 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 color are currently in planning. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMAGE QUALITY, FRAME RATE, AND BANDWIDTH? Bandwidth (Mbit/s) is the product of the per frame compressed image size (Mbit) and the framerate (FPS or Hz). The size of a single frame depends on the image quality setting and the number of pixels changing between sequential frames. A static desktop requires very little bandwidth because no pixels are changing, while a full screen movie results in nearly all pixels changing between frames. Upon connecting to a TGX Sender, the user can set the desired image quality to control bandwidth consumption. After connecting, a peak framerate can be selected from the TGX toolbar. 4

5 WHAT IS THE MINIMUM BANDWIDTH REQUIREMENT FOR TGX? TGX uses variable bit rate encoding to reduce the bandwidth requirement as much as possible. This means that if there is no change in the image being sent then the bandwidth will be very low, generally < 1Mbit/s. For full screen video or applications where much of the screen is changing, the table below shows expected bitrates. Desktop Size Image Quality Average Bandwidth HD Minimum 2.3 Mbit/s HD Default 35 Mbit/s 4K Minimum 3 Mbit/s 4K Default 45 Mbit/s In general, larger displays, higher frame rates, and higher image qualities require more bandwidth. In comparison with several competitive products, TGX uses 50% to 70% less bandwidth while delivering a higher image quality at faster frame rates. CAN TGX SUPPORT BLU-RAY QUALITY VIDEO? Yes, the maximum of the Image Quality slider in the TGX connection UI approximates Blu-ray quality. WHAT LIMITATIONS DOES A NVIDIA GTX GRAPHICS CARD IMPOSE? A NVIDIA GTX Sender is limited to two displays. If remoting two displays, then collaborators and desktop owners must share encoders (i.e. run at the slowest collaborator rate). With a single display, the collaborators and desktop owner will receive separate encoders ensuring that the desktop owner receives the best possible performance. WHAT LIMITATIONS DOES A NVIDIA GRID VGPU GRAPHICS CARD IMPOSE? Collaborators and owners must share encoders (i.e. run at the slowest collaborator rate). USER EXPERIENCE WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF EFFORT FOR MY USERS TO LEARN TGX? Very little; TGX is designed to be simple and intuitive to use. HOW DO YOU MEASURE IMAGE QUALITY? Image quality is subjective. Other remote desktops sacrifice image quality when they send less information in an effort to achieve a target bandwidth consumption. Less information results in poor image quality characterized by fuzziness, image tears with motion, and inaccurate color representation. TGX optimizes bandwidth consumption and eliminates the need for image quality reduction under most conditions. 5

6 HOW DOES TGX MANAGE DIFFERENT DISPLAY RESOLUTIONS AT THE SENDER AND RECEIVER? TGX enables full control of scaling, preserving Sender aspect ratio. From the TGX menu a user can select full resolution. This will display the full resolution of the Sender. To avoid the need for scroll bars, TGX uses a mini map to navigate around the pixel space. For example a user that would like to see full resolution of a 4K display on a HD laptop has the ability to navigate around the 4K desktop with the use of a simple mini map. A user can also select scaled mode. This will maintain the aspect ratio of the Sender and show the entire desktop on the Receiver. WHAT DISPLAY CONFIGURATIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY TGX? TGX can support up to 4 monitors. Upon connecting to a remote workstation, the user can choose to leave the remote display configuration as is, or reconfigure the remote display to match any one or all of the locally connected displays. The user can then choose to view the remote desktop in Full Desktop mode (Windows only currently) spanning the entire space of the multiple monitors. HOW MANY RECEIVERS CAN CONNECT TO A SENDER? Up to 4 Receivers can connect to a single Sender in collaboration mode. The desktop owner, typically the first user to login to the sender either directly through the Sender console or via a TGX connection, can then choose to enable or disable keyboard or mouse input or kick individual collaborators. CAN A CLIENT CONNECT TO MULTIPLE SENDERS? A client can run multiple TGX Receivers concurrently connecting to multiple Senders. DOES THE CLIPBOARD WORK ACROSS DIFFERENT PLATFORMS? Yes, TGX can copy text and images between Senders and Receivers running different operating systems. DOES TGX SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL KEYBOARDS? Yes, TGX supports international keyboards. For proper keyboard functionality, ensure that both the Sender and Receiver are set to the same locale. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISCONNECTING AND LOGGING OUT OF A SESSION? Disconnecting from a TGX session stops all communication between the Sender and Receiver and the remote desktop is locked. All open applications remain open, and will be resumed at the next TGX connection. Logging out of a TGX session causes all applications to close (applications may prompt to save any unsaved data) and the remote desktop returns to the login screen. The next TGX connection will result in an entirely new desktop session. 6

7 VIRTUAL, GRID, AND CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURES DOES TGX WORK ON VIRTUAL MACHINES? Yes, TGX is compatible with Citrix Xen, VMWare ESX, and KVM implementations of virtual machines. We are open to working with other VM stacks. TGX Sender does not currently work on Hyper-V. DOES TGX SUPPORT SHARING OF GPUS ON VIRTUAL MACHINES? Yes, TGX supports GPU pass-thru and virtualized GPUs on appropriate NVIDIA hardware. In addition, TGX supports collaboration on these platforms. IT MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY HOW DO I SET THE TGX USERNAME AND PASSWORD? A TGX user must authenticate to a TGX Sender using a local account on the Sender or with a domain account (Active Directory). For local accounts, when connecting with the TGX Receiver, prefix the username with.\ to indicate that the account is not on the domain. ARE THERE ANY NETWORK SECURITY OR FIREWALL ISSUES TO CONSIDER WITH TGX? TGX senders require open ports in the firewall for the Receiver to connect. Mechdyne will work with customers to ensure all security requirements are met. TGX Senders require ports be open for incoming TCP connections. DOES TGX SUPPORT CONNECTION BROKERS? Yes, TGX supports LeoStream and LiveQuest brokers. TGX also provides a connection file interface to customize TGX for use with other brokers. HOW DOES TGX ACCOMPLISH DATA SECURITY? TGX encrypts all network traffic using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. This protection ensures the privacy of display, keyboard, mouse, and audio information between the Sender and Receiver. Transient (in-memory) copies of credentials (domain, username, and password) are hashed with 256-bit AES in all TGX applications. Any inter-process communication between TGX applications (over the network or on the same computer) are also 256-bit AES hashed. By default, all TGX network traffic uses SSL (4096-bit RSA) for encryption. There are no differences in encryption between Windows, Linux and Mac. When TGX is used with a broker, the connection file uses 4096-bit RSA public/private key encryption for the password field (domain and username are plain text). For best security, no one should keep a TGX file with any form of password (plain or encrypted) on disk. 7