[FREE APP] Remote Launcher - start programs on your pc

Hi!

I just wanted to take the opportunity to tip you guys about my app; Remote Launcher.

Remote Launcher is an easy to use tool that enables you to launch applications remotely on your PC via your Android device with a single click. It can also be used to start your PC up, even if it is turned off, with the built in support for Wake On Lan. It consists of an Android app and a small server program for your PC.

There is also support for Android shortcuts and widgets (size 1x1) available to start programs even quicker.

You can configure Remote Launcher to start any application on your PC, e.g. start your mediacenter (xbmc etc), shutdown/restart the computer or run a custom script.

To use Remote Launcher you need to install the Remote Launcher Server on your PC. Downloads, installation instructions, user guides and examples are available on the project wiki:
http://remotelauncher.owtroid.com

The Remote Launcher server is written in Java so it should work on any pc with the Java Runtime Enviromnment installed (version 1.6 or later), be it Linux, Windows or Mac OS. It has been tested on Ubuntu and Windows 7.

Remote Launcher is a nice alternative to more complex remote control solutions such as vnc or ssh when you just need to start specific programs.

It's also possible to automate Remote Launcher using Android intents or shortcuts. That makes it possible to use it together with tools such as Tasker or Llama to perform tasks at certain events, e.g. "shutdown computer when I leave home" or "send wake on lan packet to computer and start xbmc when I get back home". The imagination really is the limit.

Remote Launcher free is available here
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.owtroid.remotelauncherfree

There is also a paid version without ads here
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.owtroid.remotelauncher

Remote Launcher 0.2.16 is now available in the Market.

This version fixes a bug that prevented Wake On Lan to work when using Honeycomb/Ice cream sandwich and another annoying bug...

Well, if your program can be controlled by issuing a command with different arguments then you can do whatever that specific program support by configuring more launchers. There is no direct mouse or keyboard interaction possible though (although that can be achieved by setting up rules for Auto hotkeys or similar tools to generate specific keyboard/mouse events).

The idea with this app is just to have a simple way to run commands on your pc, there are other more complete remote control solutions availabe (e.g. remote desktop, vnc etc) if there's a need to get good mouse/keyboard/screen interaction. Those are quite overkill if all you want to do is run a quick command e.g. shutdown, restart a service etc and that is the use case I wrote Remote Launcher for. I myself most often use it when I'm in the sofa and don't want to get up and go to the computer to start XBMC if I want to watch a movie (my main computer is also connected to my TV). With Remote Launcher I can just start XBMC with one click on my phone and then I switch over to the official xbmc remote to actually control it once it's started.

0.2.18 is out!

Now the server port is also shown in the server selection dialog to make the servers more easily distringuishable.

A bug that caused the wake on lan widget configuration dialog to crash when the server list is empty has also been fixed.

I haven't used Unified Remote myself so I don't really know. From what I've read I think Unified Remote is more of a complete remote control solution (e.g. control mouse and keyboard and specific applications). I wrote Remote Launcher to have an easy and quick way to start programs on my computer without the hassle of vnc, ssh etc.

For example, with Remote Launcher you can quickly configure a few launchers (e.g. start xbmc, shutdown computer etc) and then put shortcuts to those launchers directly on your android home screen. I don't know if that is possible with Unified Remote or not.

For me, I use it to start xbmc without having to leave the sofa. Then I switch to the Xbmc official remote to actually control it once it's started.

Basically anything you can do on your computer by running a program or a script etc, you can do with Remote Launcher from your android device. Other people use it to start iTunes, control their webcam, start/stop audio recordings etc etc.

Cool, let me know how it goes!

0.2.12 of Remote Launcher Server is out. Minor bugfixes this time. As usual, get it from http://remotelauncher.owtroid.com

0.2.16 of Remote Launcher Server has been released. This release adds the possibility to add/edit/delete launchers directly from clients as well as some other minor features.