By Fredrik Brattstig @virtualbrat
10 March 2021 – Citrix just released the ‘Citrix Workspace App (CWA) 2103 for Linux’, on the same day, IGEL releases a new private build where it is included. And IGEL made a few other nice addons.
The new features of the CWA 2103 release can be found in the Citrix documentation here
When it comes to the IGEL OS enhancements, except for ‘Day One’ release are a new function, that previously was introduced on IGEL OS for Arm( RPi4) a few weeks ago. The ‘Automatic HDX webcam configuration” enabling you a way easier interface to configure your Webcam settings to function in optimal way for your users.
As shown, you have the option to select between six different levels, which impacts user experience, but it also impacts network utilization and server side resource utilization. The less you chose in ‘Resolution Grade’ the less quality, but also less stress to the backend systems. You will find the configuration options in the IGEL Setup on the local device @ Sessions->Citrix->Citrix Global->HDX Multimedia. Here is though the tricky part. There will have to be a UMS update to allow you to build profiles with those setting, but hey, if you, in the UMS profile, set the ‘based on’ to 11.05.112 firmware you can still configure this setting by going to
System-Registry->ica->igel_hdxwebcam->enabled (which is default set)
and @ System-Registry->ica->igel_hdxwebcam->quality you can set the level you want to provide, this one is set to ‘Normal’ by default. This will allow you to push these settings of your choice to all your users!
As you maybe already figured out, the ‘normal’ level will automatically be enabled for your devices that are on the 11.05.112 firmware, so you wont even have to configure it 😎
Addition to that, you can now enable h264 encoding of your webcam in HDX Webcam redirection scenarios. And if you are lucky to have a Webcam with a built in h264 encoder, IGEL added a switch to enable utilization of that one too!
The settings can be found in the registry @
System-Registry->ica->wfclient->hdxh264inputenabled and
System-Registry->ica->wfclient->hdxh264enablenative (which requires hdxh264inputenabled to be set first)
When should HDX webcam redirection be used then? Basically HDX Webcam redirection allows any 32-Bit application running on your VDI or Session Hosts to access the Webcam, this allows you to use the camera for applications that doesn’t have the benefit of a complete optimization type2. You can use your webcam in Goto Meeting, Google hangouts, or any other application or browser based application.
That’s it for today! And, oh, if you want to get your hands dirty with this release, fill out the form below and I’ll send the download link to you!
Stay Well!
/Fred
VirtualBrat 