Recommended VNC Server?

JustGags · n00b Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 32

Good day, all!

I would like to configure a VNC Server on my machine here. I would like to be able to connect to it via TCP from any other computer. Which VNC daemon would you all recommend, doing a search for "VNC" on packages.gentoo.org yielded several potential choices.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

nahpets · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:57 pm Post subject:

I'm also interested to know which is better, "vnc" or "tightvnc".

A quick FYI for you. I found that X-forwarding with "ssh -X -C my.vnc.host.machine" yields better performance than simply doing "vncviewer my.vnc.host.machine :1". I also read that when you give the password through vncviewer, it's in plain text which is a security risk. Better to do it through SSH where everything is encrypted.
_________________
Let me guess, you picked out yet another colorful box with a crank that I'm expected to turn and turn until OOP! big shock, a jack pops out and you laugh and the kids laugh and the dog laughs and I die a little inside.

JustGags · n00b Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 32

Unfortunately, I also will be needing to connect from Windows-based computers. Would X-Forwarding also work in that case?

Alighieri · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 88

I recommend tightvnc. See the '-via' switch to automatically tunnel through ssh or use manual ssh port-forwarding for encryption. Also, x11vnc (alternative to vncserver) will let you attach directly to a currently running X session rather than spawning a new session (use tightvnc's vncviewer to connect).

You cannot display X clients directly on your windows box without running an X server. There are some commercial products available. VNC will work fine however.

catkfr · Guru Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 300

It depends on what you want to do and the bandwidth you have available. X forwarding is nice for one application if you have a lot of bandwidth. VNC servers allow you to have a whole desktop (either a new one or connecting to the current display). If you want to do X-forwarding with windows, you can look at cygwin which has an x-server (and is free). If you want to do vnc with windows, the best solution is to use putty and configure port forwarding and use tight-vnc viewer for example: it's secure and works well.

On the server side: if you use kde or gnome, you have vnc servers already (desktop sharing solutions: vino and krfb). If you don't, you can run x11vnc which works easily. And finally, you can setup vncserver to connect to a new desktop.

For almost all cases, there are howto's somewhere in the forums or on the wiki.

JustGags · n00b Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 32

Ok, I have been able to use VNC by using Applications -> Desktop Preferences -> Remote Desktop on the server machine. I was able to connect fine using TightVNC from a Windows machine.

How can I get it so that when I connect, I am shown the gnome login screen -- so that I can login as any user I want without affecting any users who are physically on the machine?

Thanks!

catkfr · Guru Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 300

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xvnc_terminal_server
If this is not exactly what you want to do, check the link to the original forum post, there's some more info on other methods in there.

It may be possible to do this using vncserver and gdmflexiserver but I've never tried. And once you get everything working the way you want it to, I really suggest you tighten your firewall and use ssh tunnelling.