[ale] how do I get graphical remote access to my linux machine

[JD]

I'll definitely check out the Remmina client for Linux use today. Thanks for
that tip Michael.

Googled for "freenx ubuntu" and found this:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX
That was the how-to I used to configure it. First time server setup, it took
about 10 minutes. After that, 5 minutes.  Extremely stable.  I actually use this
for my main desktop (private cloud desktop) from assorted different client
machines both local and from places overseas.  I KNOW it works on 10.04 and
12.04 machines. I only run LTS.

Installation is not just an apt-get install - after that, manual setup is
needed. Had to grab the install script from somewhere else - it wasn't included
in the package - the how-to should cover it.

If I recall, the last trick was to create the ssh cert for the nx-account and
install that key into any NX client, regardless of the user. This is the
connection/tunnel credential - then I use my normal login password to access my
local account on the machine and manually start the DE I want.  If I'm overseas,
I use a pure WM environment. If I'm in the states, LXDE.  The same ssh-key is
used for other users as well, but each has to use their own userid/password.

Anyway, the How-To explains most of this.

After trying the QtNX client (which was unstable), I've been using the NoMachine
client on Linux and Windows machines.  Recently, it has shown issues dropping
mouse input on the remote display from an MS-Windows client. The fix is to
restart the remote WM, so not really all that tough - doesn't even close any
running windows/apps.

We can show the 10 minutes to setup a freenx server at Thursday's ALE-NW
meeting, if there is interest.


On 05/04/2013 09:48 AM, Neal Rhodes wrote:
> We've used the NX machine client for my wife/partner's desktop for, uh,
> Fedora Core 1, 3, 10, and now Centos 6.  It has worked great on all. 
> 
> It seems to be pretty flexible regarding old client/new server, new
> client/old server, etc. 
> 
> Having recently set it up on a Win7 client to the Centos server, what I
> remember was that it only worked if the connection was encrypted. 
> 
> I'd suggest you give that a smidge more effort.   As I recall, there is
> no startup once you install the NX server, as it gets started from an
> ssh login session.   There is a little bit of setup on the client side,
> as above, don't turn off encryption. 
> 
> Neal Rhodes
> MNOP Ltd
> 
> 
> On Sat, 2013-05-04 at 01:53 -0400, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I moved my linux machine downstairs to make room in my work area 
>> upstairs since I don't have room for 2 desktops.  I need to get 
>> graphical remote access to the downstairs linux machine (Mint 13) using 
>> my Windows 7 machine as the client.  The linux machine is within my 
>> firewall at home, so I don't need super strong security.  A simple login 
>> username and password is sufficient.  I tried to get nxserver from 
>> nomachine running.  It's installed, but I couldn't seem to get it 
>> configured using the text based commands to set it up.  I'd like to be 
>> able to do administration of the user database via gui or, better yet, 
>> just have it use the user database already built into Mint.  NX has a 
>> graphical administration option, but it appears to depend on having 
>> apache installed.  I don't want to do that.  The fewer server processes 
>> I have running, the better it is for security.  Both client and server 
>> will be on the same wifi router using wpa encryption.
>>
>> Can someone tell me an easy way to do this?  I just need one graphical 
>> server and one graphical client.  I'm not stuck on nx if there is a 
>> better solution.  Having the session encrypted would be nice, in case I 
>> decide to access it from outside my house at some point.  In that case, 
>> I'd beef up the login credentials.
>>
>> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>