[pve-devel] [PATCH docs v5 5/5] added noVNC clipboard documentation

[Friedrich Weber]

I tested this (also discussed off-list, posting here for the record):

Creating a new VM with the default display (no `vga` config entry),
then enabling the "Use noVNC clipboard" option via the Web UI results in
a "vga type is not compatible with clipboard (500)" error. It works if I
explicitly set the display to Standard VGA first.

After that and after installing spice-vdgent in the guest, I can use the
noVNC console to control the guest keyboard -- nice!

Below, my 2 cents regarding docs/naming/GUI:

On 12/04/2023 10:57, Markus Frank wrote:
> +In order to use the clipboard feature, you must first install the
> +spice guest tools. On Debian-based distributions, this can be achieved
> +by installing `spice-vdagent`.

I was initially confused where to install the SPICE tools (but that
might just be me).

Maybe we could also include a link to the SPICE guest tools here?

Nit: "spice" guest tools should probably be "SPICE" guest tools

> +Once you have installed the spice guest tools, you can use the clipboard
> +function in the noVNC console.

For me it wasn't immediately clear what the clipboard function is -- now
I understand it is the additional button in the collapsible sidebar of
the noVNC window. Maybe we could have a few extra words here to make
that clearer?

> However, if you're using SPICE, virtio or virgl,
> +you'll need to choose which clipboard to use. This is because the
> +default *SPICE* clipboard will be replaced by the *noVNC* clipboard,
> +if `clipboard` is set to 1.

To me, `clipboard` sounds like a rather general option not tied to a
specific display driver, but if I understand correctly, `clipboard=1`
actually means "use the noVNC clipboard". I wonder if it would be better
to have an option name that specifically refers to noVNC?

One last thing regarding GUI: I do understand the reasoning for putting
the checkbox to "Options" -- but I do find it a bit counterintuitive
that the Hardware->Display entry now reads "Standard VGA
(std,clipboard=1)" even though I cannot change the `clipboard` setting
by double-clicking the entry. But also here, that might just me.