Arch Linux

sandstorm

Member

From: Zurich [CH] & Mannheim [DE]

Registered: 2005-08-13

Posts: 169

[solved] X11 and Gnome over Network

Dear archlinux companions,

I have a question regarding "remote sessions" with Gnome/X11. Background is, that I have now two computers. My old computer will be the backup and 32 bit system. My new one is an AMD Phenom II which will serve as the 64 bit system. The new one will be my main computer. The old one will be placed somewhere else, but I want to work with it just as sitting in front of it. Not a simple terminal/ssh session, but a real Gnome/X11 session. So I searched archlinux and the internet.

I just read the article on Wikipedia about X11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System: "Unlike previous display protocols, X was specifically designed to be used over network connections rather than on an integral or attached display device.".

So my main question is: Can I start and display a Gnome session on my new system which is actually executed on my old system? So my new system is just the display/terminal device. If yes, how? Explanations or links are welcome.

Best regards,
Martin

Last edited by sandstorm (2009-06-13 19:43:03)

kowalski

Member

Registered: 2009-05-07

Posts: 82

Re: [solved] X11 and Gnome over Network

Hi there,

I think Xnest is what you are looking for. Here's an excerpt from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xnest:

Alternatively, Xnest can be run on the remote machine while showing its window locally. Like any other X application, this can be done by telling the remote application that the display is a local X server (e.g., setting the DISPLAY environment variable) and making the local X server accepting connections from remote applications (e.g., using xauth); both things are done using ssh, for example using ssh -X other_computer_name to connect from the local to the remote machine. When the server is launched remotely (e.g. startx -- Xnest -geometry 800x600), since the display is forwarded back to the local machine, it will show the program window just like any other remotely launched application.

I have no experience with this but maybe this helps you for further investigation :-)

---

He who says A doesn't have to say B. He can also recognize that A was false.

sandstorm

Member

From: Zurich [CH] & Mannheim [DE]

Registered: 2005-08-13

Posts: 169

Re: [solved] X11 and Gnome over Network

Many thanks kowalski! Sounds like a suitable solution. I am just wondering, if by intention there was another integrated solution of the X11. Is the X11 quote "designed to be used over network connections" related to the X11 system or to xnest or to both?

Best regards,
Martin

Trent

Member

From: Baltimore, MD (US)

Registered: 2009-04-16

Posts: 990

Re: [solved] X11 and Gnome over Network

There is more than one way to do this.  Xnest is one way.  If you don't need the whole GNOME environment running remotely, you can tunnel X clients over ssh (or telnet, which is insecure).  You could do it with something like Vino/Vinagre which is more like a remote desktop solution (you run Vino on the server and Vinagre on the client and can then control the GNOME session remotely).  There is also xrdp/rdesktop which is similar but runs on a new X server rather than integrating with your current GNOME session (that's my understanding anyway).

Which you choose depends on whether you already have an X server running on the host, whether you want to connect to an existing GNOME session, whether you need control over the whole session or just one or two clients, ...  Pick your poison.

It's true that X was designed so that it can be used over a network.  That's how the ssh solution works, it tunnels the X client over the ssh connection.  Xnest is just an X client that happens to run an X server, so if you tunnel Xnest over ssh, you end up with an X server which is running remotely but displays locally.  It sounds complicated, but that's because it is.

sandstorm

Member

From: Zurich [CH] & Mannheim [DE]

Registered: 2005-08-13

Posts: 169

Re: [solved] X11 and Gnome over Network

Ok. Let us say, the server is the computer without the graphic card. This is the one I want to login.
The client is the one which should display the login screen.

On the server I installed gdm. I set the hosts.allow to "gdm: ALL" and I enabled xdmcp. But when I try to start a session at the client via "X -query 192.168.10.10" I get the error (from the server) "config/hal: NewInputDeviceRequest failed".

How can I solve this or this there another possibility to display the login of the server?

Best regards,
Martin

sandstorm

Member

From: Zurich [CH] & Mannheim [DE]

Registered: 2005-08-13

Posts: 169

Re: [solved] X11 and Gnome over Network

Sorry. It works!
The :1 was missing in "X -query 192.168.10.10 :1"

Best regards,
Martin