Re: [gentoo-user] Remotely working on Gentoo systems

[Jake Moe <jakesaddress@gmail.com>]

On 08/06/10 16:48, J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Tuesday 08 June 2010 02:14:55 Jake Moe wrote:
>   
>> I've got two Gentoo boxes, and would like to run X apps from both on one
>> display.  From reading up on it, it appears that while this is possible,
>> it's also not recommended from a security standpoint, and the few HOWTOs
>> I've found for it seem to be 4-6 years old.  Can anyone tell me:
>>     
> Security: Yes, it is not recommended, however, if you trust everyone who can 
> connect to your network, then it is safe enough.
>
>   
>> a) if this is a good idea in the first place,
>>     
> Depends on what you want to achieve. If you have only one screen and/or one 
> machine with a decent graphics card then it does make sense.
> However, X is a very inefficient protocol. Eg. it can clog the network.
>
>   
>> b) should I be looking at VNC instead of remote X,
>>     
> Maybe, but VNC puts the remote screen in a window.
>
>   
>> c) is there another option I should be looking at, and
>>     
> Yes :)
>
>   
>> d) if there is a good HOWTO on setting up whichever is the best to use
>> on a recent Gentoo system?
>>     
> I use X-tunneling with ssh.
> To get this to work, start with trying the following:
>
> (machineA has screen, machineB is screenless)
> on machineA # ssh -Y machineB
> then, on machineB, start the program you want displaying on machineA, for 
> instance firefox.
>
> This is both easier to implement and also removes the security issues as ssh 
> is encrypted.
>
> HTH,
>
> Joost Roeleveld
>
>   
jmoe@aus10224 ~ $ ssh -Y jhb5970
Password:
Last login: Wed Jun  9 08:05:09 EST 2010 from 192.168.0.114 on pts/0
jmoe@jhb5970 ~ $ firefox
Error: no display specified
jmoe@jhb5970 ~ $ konqueror
konqueror: cannot connect to X server
jmoe@jhb5970 ~ $

Did I not do it right?  jhb5970 is not "screenless", it's a laptop, but
it's easier to use only one pane of glass.  I'll probably only want to
do this when machineA is, say, emerging updates, but I want to do
something CPU-intensive on that computer, so I can utilize the idle
machineB.  Make sense?

Jake Moe