Re: [gentoo-amd64] Can I run a complete desktop remotely?

["Mark Knecht" <markknecht@gmail.com>]

On 5/26/07, Olivier Crête <tester@gentoo.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> You have two choice, you can use Xvnc (its a pure-vnc X server). Or you
> can use something like Xdmcp.
>
> On Sat, 2007-26-05 at 12:07 -0700, Mark Knecht wrote:
> > Hi,
> >    Is it possible to run a complete Gnome desktop from a remote
> > location through ssh? I'm not talking about using vnc to watch a
> > remote desktop but actually run one remotely and only have it
> > displayed here.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mark
> --

Olivier and all others who responded:

Thanks for the info. As always I appreciate it. I have looked at the
links everyone provided but I think they are way over my head. I'm
looking for an end-user sort of solution here. Thanks in advance for
helping me.

The issue here, for me, is not running X apps on the remote machine. I
do that already. My dad, who is now 78 and happily running Gentoo
Linux for over 4 years now, gets by when he has an application problem
by asking me to log in and fix things with the app. For instance, when
I update Evolution or when he changed ISPs recently I often need to go
fix individual configuration items. I do that just running the app
over an SSH tunnel with X forwarding turned on. No problems other than
the speed.

The case I'm looking at now is that either he or my mom will tell me
something about what they are seeing their desktop, like a Gnome
launcher or some other thing, which isn't working correctly. I want to
see what they are seeing. Keep in mind I don't know which account this
is until they send me an email.

I understand I could do this with VNC. I've done that in the past with
my dad sitting at the machine. Unfortunately neither of them seems
comfortable starting applications like VNC and often I'm working on
this machine when they are not around or have gone to bed. What I want
to do is actually log in as one of them, start a Gnome session and see
their desktop as they would see it but displayed here 350 miles away
in a window on my machine.

I'm not *overly* worried about display speed. I understand it will be
slow. (Very slow...) I've dealt with that for years now. However I've
never been able to fix desktop launchers or configure the Gnome panel
for them without them running VNC which just doesn't work.

What I'm hoping to find is a simple, end user type description of how
to set up to run a remote session like this. I don't currently
understand all the technical aspect of these different technologies,
like XDMCP, etc., but I figure I'll learn as I go along. (As I always
have...) It didn't seem to me that any of the links so far addressed
this, or at least at a level that someone like me would understand.
However maybe I'm just not understanding the technologies well enough
yet to see the answer staring me in the face.

Anyway, the simpler the better for me.

Thanks,
Mark
--
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