Subject: Re: [plug] remote X-windows for Linux
From: Rick Moen <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 15:58:28 -0800

Quoting gp ([email-masked]):

> What software can be used to remotely access a Linux server in a GUI
> form.  We Hummingbird Exceed from Win2k to access Solaris servers but
> I don't [know] if this will work on Linux machines too. 

Yes, it will -- after you loosen Linux security measures designed to
prevent you from hurting yourself (see section #2, below).

I consider the opposite task more interesting (getting graphical
access to a Win32 machine's applications remotely from a nice Linux
desktop).  I mean, why would you voluntarily use a boring, inflexible,
unstable, sluggish Microsoft desktop load if you don't have to?  It's
smarter to use the Linux desktop of your choice locally, and run
whatever legacy Win32 apps you need via mechanisms like Windows Terminal   
Services/RDP and VNC/RFB.

(1) In any event, here's a list of software and protocols to do
cross-platform graphical access between Linux and other platforms.  Many
of them will work the "wrong" way, the way you have in mind:
http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/vnc-and-alternatives

(2) And yes, of course you can use X11 software such as Hummingbird   
Exceed for Win32 to get to Linux, if you wish.  That would be a bit
network-bandwidth-intensive compared to VNC  So, it would be nice to get
LBX (low-bandwidth X11) implemented on your Win32 end:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/LBX.html  And on Solaris, too.

Also, be aware that, for security reasons, modern Linux distributions
start up their X11 servers (graphics engines) with the "-nolisten tcp"
startup option.  The intention is that, ordinarily, you would do remote
X11 tunnelled over SSH rather than connecting directly to a TCP socket.
So, by default, connecting directly from Exceed and the like doesn't
work.

However, if you're using MS-Windows machines, presumably you don't
really care about network security, so you might as well remove the
"-nolisten tcp" from the Linux box's X11 startup script (either
/etc/X11/xdm/xservers, /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf, the similar file for kdm,
/etc/X11/xinit/xservrrc, or wherever it's hiding on your Linux system,
and then restart the X11 server / display manager / whatever.  (Having
X11 traffic exposed to sniffing and session-hijacking is bad network
security, but you're already doing that with your Solaris boxes, so
doing it with Linux as well is no worse.)

-- 
Cheers,                        Open-source SourceForge retakes the lead:        
Rick Moen                      http://gforge.org/  Thank you, Tim Perdue.       
[email-masked]