Optimizing RDP for casual use
A revisit of my 2011 RDP guide, updated for RDP 8.x: what to tweak on client and server for less bandwidth, higher throughput and adaptive transfers — the short story and the dirty details.
7 articles in the notebook
Networking.
Battlefield Heroes Rcon .Net library
I rented a Battlefield Heroes server and discovered the admin tooling wanted an app running 24/7 on my PC — so I wrote a .NET library for the Rcon protocol instead. Protocol details and source inside.
Async/await HTTP server in C#
There are plenty of C# web servers already, but I wanted to play with TPL and async/await — so here is a minimal HTTP server built around them. Downloadable code included.
Optimizing RDP for casual use (Windows 7 SP1, RemoteFX)
I have worked over RDP since around 2000, and bandwidth is usually the bottleneck. Concrete tweaks for RDP on Windows 7 SP1 with RemoteFX to squeeze a smoother desktop out of a slow line.
Setting up Debian with Varnish as internet proxy
Varnish claims to be "10 times faster than squid" but isn't built to be a general internet proxy — so I chained it with Squid on a Debian box for my cable modem. The full setup, step by step.
Tip: Never use IP addresses
Hardcoded IP addresses are never actually required — DNS names or a hosts-file entry always work, cost nothing extra, and save you from hunting down every stale reference when a server moves.
Communication
Notes on the protocol between region and script server: region initiates, a custom binary protocol streams async function calls in both directions, and replies are matched by ID. TCP client/server is already up.