[SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

Cadeyrn · 2015-02-23 18:30:45

I'm trying to turn a Raspberry Pi into the portable, automatic computer part of a Wii-mote digital theremin. It's for a school project, so I have to use Pure Data, which I recently discovered has no real way to read Wii-mote input. So, I have to use xwiimote to have the Wii-mote emulate a mouse and then read cursor data.

You can imagine how impossible this is to Google. I'm aware of ssh -X or -Y. That's not what I want. I want to have to SSH into it and activate a script that runs X on it the exact same way X would run if I had a monitor and keyboard plugged into the Pi directly. I want do to that over SSH because I want my Pi to still be used for other things, so I don't want it to automatically start X every time it starts up. I then want said X server to be reading mouse data from my Wii-mote that I just connected through bluetoothctl, and automatically launch PD with a desired patch. That way, once I activate its "Wii-mote mode" over SSH, I can disconnect from SSH and, without a monitor, plug it into a speaker and use my Wii-mote as an instrument. I'd also like to be able to hook it up with a host computer's PD, maybe through stdout on the SSH session or something.

So, I need to know how to run a completely normal SSH-free startx from SSH, how to get some kind of channel of data between a program in said X session and another computer (probably the one SSHing in), and whether connecting a Wii-mote through bluetoothctl before starting X would still give me full mouse cursor functionality once X is started (assuming a completely functional Wii-mote driver for X is installed). Those other two things are simpler, though. I could probably figure something out right now for them.

Last edited by Cadeyrn (2015-03-10 19:16:28)

whoops · 2015-03-03 21:01:25

Not sure what you're trying to do, but did you take a look at xf86-video-dummy?

Once you get your xserver running, you should be able to start your x-compatible programs in there by setting the DISPLAY environment variable before you use them.

Cadeyrn · 2015-03-03 21:14:56

I don't think a dummy driver would be what I want. I need the Pi to legitimately run X, with a mouse cursor and everything. Let me explain this more simply:

Imagine what happens when you have an average Arch Linux computer with all the right X packages installed, and you type in "startx" to start X. I want to do exactly that to a Pi, over SSH.

The Infinity · 2015-03-04 00:23:37

I think I didn't get what you're trying to achive.
Would be the use of a VNC server solve your problem. You can start the server using SSH if not already running. That's what I usually do to use graphical applications on a remote computer.

Cadeyrn · 2015-03-04 01:22:18

Nope, VNC is not an option. I specifically need the X server to run on the Pi and ONLY on the Pi, so that it can accept input from a Wii-mote connected to it via Bluetooth.

whoops · 2015-03-04 08:50:24

Cadeyrn wrote:

I need the Pi to legitimately run X, with a mouse cursor and everything.

...but on a headless machine. Isn't that exactly what xf86-video-dummy is for? I suggested this, because I *think* I remember having briefly seen a build script on AUR that made extensive use of the mouse with xautomation so the program would generate enough profiling data inside its headless X. Might have been firefox-pgo or something like that, some years ago... not entirely sure it really used this method though, so you could be right.

GloW_on_dub · 2015-03-04 09:49:38

on your pi , edit/create /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config and add :

allowed_users=anybody

from you computer :

ssh pi
DISPLAY=:0.0 startx

Cadeyrn · 2015-03-04 16:29:30

whoops wrote:

Cadeyrn wrote:
I need the Pi to legitimately run X, with a mouse cursor and everything.
...but on a headless machine. Isn't that exactly what xf86-video-dummy is for? I suggested this, because I *think* I remember having briefly seen a build script on AUR that made extensive use of the mouse with xautomation so the program would generate enough profiling data inside its headless X. Might have been firefox-pgo or something like that, some years ago... not entirely sure it really used this method though, so you could be right.

Is it? I figured that a "dummy driver" and "dummy monitor" were two separate things. After looking this up (it was hard to look up last time because using the actual package name clutters up the results with packages and no guides), it looks like no, "dummy driver" and "dummy monitor" are the exact same thing in this context.

GloW_on_dub wrote:

on your pi , edit/create /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config and add :
allowed_users=anybody
from you computer :
ssh pi
DISPLAY=:0.0 startx

That gave me these errors:

/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 51: twm: command not found
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 52: xclock: command not found
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 53: xterm: command not found
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 55: exec: xterm: not found
xinit: connection to X server lost

waiting for X server to shut down (II) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.

I doubt those first 4 lines actually have anything to do with X failing to launch, but I included them anyway because they're the first errors in the log. I had already installed xf86-video-dummy when I tried this and got that output. Thanks to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1832456 , I think I'm supposed to edit my Xorg config with those options that make it stop being so desperate for a real monitor, but now that xorg.conf isn't used anymore, I'm not sure how I'd add those options.

Last edited by Cadeyrn (2015-03-04 16:29:49)

GloW_on_dub · 2015-03-04 17:08:35

install xterm.

Here is what was needed on my pi, the DISPLAY trick is not even necessary.

ssh pi
sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xf86-video-fbdev xterm
echo "allowed_users=anybody" > /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config
startx

progandy · 2015-03-04 17:35:11

By the way, did you try pd-wiimote with cwiid? It is old, but maybe it still works:
https://github.com/umlaeute/pd-wiimote

If you want to run an xorg server without screen, you might want to look into Xvfb.
Edit: If you want to use xorg with the dummy driver, you might find this helpful:
http://xpra.org/trac/wiki/Xdummy#Xdummystandlone
http://cosmolinux.no-ip.org/raconetlinu … vidia.html
Edit2: You will have to create you own xinintrc for the user that uses startx. currently you are using the default xinitrc from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc which wants to start some example applications you don't have.

Last edited by progandy (2015-03-04 17:46:23)

Cadeyrn · 2015-03-04 17:55:19

Ah, I see. Cool. I should be able to get it all working from here, then.

progandy wrote:

By the way, did you try pd-wiimote with cwiid? It is old, but maybe it still works:
https://github.com/umlaeute/pd-wiimote

I did a while ago. It's so old that it thinks pd still provides all those C headers at the top of the .c file, but it doesn't. Now, in a debian-based OS, you need to get the dev package to have those headers. On Arch, I have no idea, because I can't find any sort of dev package for pd.

GloW_on_dub · 2015-03-04 17:58:03

so to be sure, was it indeed the "allowed_users=anybody" that did the trick ?

Cadeyrn · 2015-03-04 18:07:53

I'm sure it helped, but it didn't do the entire trick. I won't have a chance to try again until Friday, but the errors I just got happened AFTER setting allowed_users=anybody. I'm thinking that installing xterm and/or changing the xinitrc file will fix it.

Cadeyrn · 2015-03-10 19:15:41

Yeah, it's definitely fixed. The problem was twofold: I had to make sure xinitrc only had programs I can actually run (I understand how xinit works a lot more now), and I had to realize I made a typo, so that my allowed_users=anybody file was /etc/X11/wrapper.conf INSTEAD of /etc/X11/Xwrapper.conf.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-02-23 18:30:45

[SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#2 2015-03-03 21:01:25

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#3 2015-03-03 21:14:56

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#4 2015-03-04 00:23:37

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#5 2015-03-04 01:22:18

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#6 2015-03-04 08:50:24

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#7 2015-03-04 09:49:38

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#8 2015-03-04 16:29:30

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#9 2015-03-04 17:08:35

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#10 2015-03-04 17:35:11

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#11 2015-03-04 17:55:19

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#12 2015-03-04 17:58:03

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#13 2015-03-04 18:07:53

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

#14 2015-03-10 19:15:41

Re: [SOLVED] xinit/startx through SSH?

Board footer