Remote Desktop -> Home Theater

Hello all,

So, I got a new computer recently, and while looking for a use for my older one, I figured I could put it in my living room and use it as part of my home theater system.

The Setup:
Basically my setup right now is, I have my old desktop wirelessly connected to my home network, and my home theater projector and sound system connected to that desktop. I'm trying to avoid needing a separate mouse and keyboard for the old desktop, as that just makes using it a bit more annoying.

My Solution:
Somehow set up the desktop such that my roommates and I can connect to it using remote desktop connection, and have the display go both to the laptop that's using RDC and to the projector. This way I can start a movie on the desktop using the laptop and view it on my projector screen.

My Problem:
To my knowledge, there is no way to actually do this using RDC. Whenever I connect to it using remote desktop connection, the only display that is configurable is the local one, and not the one connected to the desktop. On the projector screen it just shows the Windows login screen.

The Plea:
Does anybody know of any way that I can do this? Most preferably would just be a way of doing it through RDC, so that any old XP or Vista machine can control it, but I am also willing to try alternate software packages that might allow me to do it. I'm not too worried about security, because I'm behind a NAT router, so outside of my network the machine shouldn't be addressable, and besides that, I don't really care about it. Has anybody tried doing this before? Results?


Thanks in advance,

Aaron

VNC should do it. It's a 'meta package', there are different VNC servers/clients out there. You can start with example http://www.tightvnc.com/

With VNC you see the same desktop on both local and over the network, and depend on the settings also the mouse moves on both displays at once.

Cheers From Helsinki

Antti