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yuumei
n00b
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
Posts: 3
Location: UK
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 Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:39 am Post subject: Desktops and window managers |
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Hello!
I'm running gentoo and am a little confused about all the different window managers and desktops. I have a little server and want to be able to use it as a remote desktop - have irc, documents etc running on it and be able to close my connection and go somewhere else and connect back to it again over the internet.
I have X11 and have a very ugly looking window working from my windoze pc that I can just about get a terminal window open with. :/
So:
1: Is this possible? ^^
2: What are the differences between desktop managers (kde, xdm etc) and window managers (fluxbox etc)?
3: Do I need both a desktop manager and window manager?
Thanks loads!
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jho
Apprentice
Joined: 24 May 2007
Posts: 153
Location: Jyväskylä, Finland
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| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:38 pm Post subject: Re: Desktops and window managers |
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| yuumei wrote: | Hello!
I'm running gentoo and am a little confused about all the different window managers and desktops. I have a little server and want to be able to use it as a remote desktop - have irc, documents etc running on it and be able to close my connection and go somewhere else and connect back to it again over the internet.
I have X11 and have a very ugly looking window working from my windoze pc that I can just about get a terminal window open with. :/
So:
1: Is this possible? ^^
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It should be possible with Vnc or other kind of X forwarding.
| Quote: |
2: What are the differences between desktop managers (kde, xdm etc) and window managers (fluxbox etc)?
3: Do I need both a desktop manager and window manager?
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KDE and xdm are totally different. Xdm is a login manager, while KDE is a complete desktop environment, which also includes a login manager called KDM.
A login manager is a program that allows one to login graphically while running X. Wihtout a login manager your computer boots to the text console, and you need to start X after logging in.
A desktop environment often includes a login manager. Desktop environment also includes a window manager, a panel, application to change backgrounds, use desktop icons and so on. It is basically a "all-in-one" package for everything you need to do your everyday chores. The three most widely used desktop environments are KDE, Gnome and XFCE.
A window manager is just a program that manages the placement and appearance of windows. So basically it just shows the windows you want to see, but often doesn't include anything to change desktop backgrounds or panels to see the running programs etc. If you want that kind of functionality with just a window manager, you need to use external third party programs, like feh to change background and fbpanel as a panel.
To run X, the only thing you really need is a window manager. The rest is fully optional. |
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yuumei
n00b
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
Posts: 3
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject: Re: Desktops and window managers |
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| jh` wrote: | | It should be possible with Vnc or other kind of X forwarding. |
I had a look at VNC, but I have read that is in-secure and not to use it over the internet. There are some websites that say to tunnel it, but I'm on windoze so that's going to be impossible (or at least headache inducing) x_x.
I was testing out with XDMCP. One problem I had was that I have enabled public key authentication for logging on, but when I ran XDMCP it showed the normal "username" and "password" fields. There is no way to give my key. Any ideas?
| jh` wrote: | | KDE and xdm are totally different. Xdm is a login manager, while KDE is a complete desktop environment, which also includes a login manager called KDM. |
Aha, I think that's where I'm getting confused. I didn't know there was such a thing as a "login manager".
Thanks!
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jcat
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Joined: 26 May 2006
Posts: 1337
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| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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Either set-up your server as a VPN server that support Microsoft's PPTP and connect using your Win Laptop and VNC, or just tunnel VNC through SSH (connecting to your server from the laptop using Putty or something), or maybe your internet router supports VPN tunnelling and you can connect to your network direct like that.
Tunnelling down ssh is very straight forward (really!), and it's handy to be able to ssh to your server anyway. Just make sure you forward ssh traffic from your internet router to your server, and set same sane/secure sshd security, like only allowing your main user account privileges to log in via ssh (NOT ROOT). Also, there are a number scripts out their to monitor your sshd logs for brute force dictionary attacks and block the IP (using tcpd wrappers or IPTables etc).
If you need any assistance just shout 
Cheers,
jcat |
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Desktop Environments
