digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Remote Desktop for Linux

blog.lxpages.com — This article lists free remote desktop applications that are available on Linux that can be used to connect from Windows to Linux or Linux to Linux desktop environment. Similar to Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on Windows.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • justnick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Good article. Will have to give 2X Terminal Server a try, but there is already remote desktop sharing and remote desktop connecting apps called krfb and krdc. Both use the VNC technology. Always room for more though.
    • ojk007, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Windows to Linux. Awesome.
    • bmartin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13There's a better client. See the NX Client program at nomachine.com. The server runs on Linux or Solaris; the client works for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Solaris. It's quite fast; faster than VNC in my experience. I've never tried krfb/krdc. One downside: it's proprietary.
    • Hydraulix, on 10/12/2007, -11/+7Finally, a Linux article without the word Ubuntu in it.
    • oringo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8bmartin: 2x is derived frorm NX. It's meant to be the GPL'd evolution of NX.
    • habbofresh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@hydraulix

      and you blew it by typing the "U" word ;)
    • sir1real, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Instead of guiding you through the installation of FreeNX in this article, you can visit the following URLs that’ll guide you
      through the installation on Ubuntu:"

    • DrDabbles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2VNC is, quite possibly, the WORST protocol ever invented. It's slow, there are umpteen-billion versions and extensions to it (some for JPEG compression, some for Zlib compression, etc.), and it's processor intensive. There's got to be a better way. And, as much as I hate to hand _anything_ to microsoft...they did a good job of ripping Citrix off with RDP. It's fast over even slow remote connections, has the ability to connect devices including printers, audio, drives, etc. It's just simpler.

      I've used NX before with limited success. It works, it's secured over SSH, and it's quick. But, you can't share console :1, you can't do things like VNC where I can see what you're doing and vice-versa, and it wasn't included into distros by default because development seemed to halt for a while.

      So, here's to remote control. The bane of my existence, and a needed evil in the world.
  • dschep, on 10/12/2007, -10/+16Are people too lazy to use ssh with X tunneling now a days? I use ssh (with and with out X tunneling) on a very regular basis for personal and work use.
    • damndj, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Provide a method for Windows users to do this, please?
    • lebe0024, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8That wont work for Linux to Windows. In fact, you can't really even do it easily from Windows to Linux because a free X server is impossible to find. Xcygwin seems to be a PITA to set up.
    • iamshades, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3PuTTY @ damndj
    • NerveBand, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Can you care to elaborate? And please don't give me the ***** Google It Statement.
    • iamshades, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4elaboration for nerveband: use PuTTY.
    • onineko, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5@NerveBand
      New internet acronym: FGI!
      http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
      PuTTY is a popular SSH client. Figure out what "ssh -ND 5900 @remote.server.com" would be in putty and then go from there. Replace 5900 with port of choice.

      @everyone else
      WageSlave commented (on the blog):
      "VNC in linux is very slow and can be a major pain in the but to setup and run. Pretty much every linux distro out there has either a FreeNX packaage or has ditro’ed www.nomachine.com ’s now free NX server.

      It runs fast, can be set to use only ssh for both the port it needs and to do full encryption.

      VNC on linux is a square peg for a round hole."
    • Eclipse19, on 11/13/2007, -0/+19Are people too lazy to use ssh with X tunneling now a days?

      If we weren't lazy, we wouldn't need remote desktop!
    • linuxlion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7For Windows users, I recommend PuTTY: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ and Xming: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming

      Xming gives you a full blown X server with just a tray icon. It even does GLX OpenGL for you scientists out there. Log into your remote linux/unix machines setting the X forwarding option and have at it.
    • xdrone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0xwin32 is a remote X client that supports ssh. it's been around forever.
      http://www.starnet.com/products/xwin32/
    • TehDoctor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Before I switched to Linux, I used putty+xming. They're painless to set up. I would just run kicker, and have a floating taskbar, but if the connection was really fast, I would run startkde and have the whole desktop.

      X11 forwarding is way faster, but AFAIK, going win32--Linux only works one way.
    • alphamerik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@lebe0024:
      "Xcygwin seems to be a PITA to set up."

      Really? Yeah, because clicking install on x-startup-menu-items is such a PITA.
    • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@damndj

      The best way to pull this off on Windows is to install Cygwin for both SSH and the X server. As I like to tell people (because X can be confusing if you come from the Windows world) think of an X server as a virtual video monitor with a ton of inputs. Then think of the X clients (web browsers, OpenOffice, or even an entire desktop environment like GNOME or KDE) as virtual video sources that you're connecting to the X server. With that in mind, you can think of OpenSSH as a giant virtual coaxial cable that carries all of the stuff from the X clients on the remote side to the X server (virtual video monitor) running on your PC in front of you.

      So the process would be something like this:

      1. Install Cygwin OpenSSH client on your Windows workstation and make sure it works to connect to the remote side (at home while you're at work for example)
      2. Install Cygwin X on your Windows workstation and make sure it gets configured properly and is set as a startup application if you want it to always be ready to accept connections
      3. Establish your SSH connection to home with the SSH client and enable X forwarding with the -X option. (Also need to make sure your SSH server at home allows X Forwarding. Try looking for the sshd_config file: 'find / -name sshd_config' and editing it.
      4. Type the name of the command on the remote *nix box that you want to have displayed on the Windows box in front of you. say... 'firefox'. After a bit of a delay depending on the speed of your connection, you should see a firefox window displayed on your Windows box with all processing and internet access happening back at home (ie. no filtering if your employer filters the net).

      My only problem with this is that I've never found OpenSSH's compression to be all that great so X is slow regardless of how tightly you compress. Even with my 384k link at home, X is very slow using SSH compression. Sigh... I miss the old 'lbxproxy' which seemed to do a much better job of compressing X but was sadly removed from X sometime in the XFree86 4.x series.
    • takeda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Lazy? Maybe some just don't have time to install Cygwin...

      Anyway, I would still prefer to use XDMCP, unfortunately is harder to set up, and there's problem with tunnelling UDP...

      Is any of those programs listed in the article able tu simulate how the program "screen" works? I mean Can I connect, start some applications, disconnect and make sure those programs are still working?

      I don't think it's possible (or at least I didn't figured out how to do it) using XDMCP...
    • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@takeda

      It's possible if you tell your display manager to run Xvnc instead of X. That's what I do. I use gdm, so I edited, /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf (back in RedHat 9 anyway) and replaced the standard X server command 'X' with 'Xvnc' plus a few useful options. This results in a stateful session that can easily be connected to and disconnected with all apps running the whole time.

      I should mention that work is being done in Xorg to provide a "proxy" that would allow for reconnection to an existing XDMCP session. Take a look at the options in a newer gdm config file and you'll see settings for a specific kind of proxy that does just that. So your desktop runs on a proxy X server and stays running even when you disconnect...
  • deags, on 10/12/2007, -18/+3This article is pretty useless...
    • Eldoo77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Your comment is pretty useless...
    • nixr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Pot, meet Kettle.
    • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@nixr

      Shut your gob you fat slob.

      I just HAD to say that. Sorry.

      Contributing even more to a completely unproductive thread. Let's see how big we can make this...
  • black27696, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1First of all, most linux installations (obviously ubuntu, and most distros that run Gnome / KDE) already have some sort of vnc installed on them. It's rediculously easy to set up, and I'll tell you how you do it for Ubuntu using the Gnome interface.


    It's already installed, just go to your system launcher -> administration -> remote desktop and check to allow connections and click on ok.


    There, you're done setting it up.

    To use it run RealVNC on windows machines and you can connect very simply, and on a linux box open a terminal (NOT full terminal, the GUI terminal) and type vncviewer [ip address of the box you want to remote in to] and it will run.

    I realize that's a solution for people that want to SHARE the desktop instead of actually running it locally, and you aren't getting shell access that way, but the point is that the article is called remote desktop, and he mentions RealVNC, therefore, the aim was just controlling the linux desktop, which is way easier the way I've outlined above than installing all those extra apps.
    • Teaboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It is defianteatly rediculous.

    • Yorn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Please note:
      http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rediculous

      Ridiculous is probably one of the most mispelled words by the Digg populace. Don't be one sheep in a thousand. Be a wolf. Learn to spell, and then be a spelling/grammar nazi on very common mispellings like I am here. It's okay to correct people when you've seen the error for the 500th time.
      • rodimusminor, on 04/02/2008, -0/+0If you want to be the spelling nazi, I'd suggest you start by learning to spell 'misspell'.
    • Teaboy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2your lieing. no one chex there spelling.
  • RaulMontana, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ubuntu has a client installed by default.
    And for my windowz machines, I use tightVNC, it seems a little faster than Real VNC
  • sark666, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9The article didn't mention xrdp: http://xrdp.sourceforge.net/

    What's cool about this is it implements xp's remote desktop protocol so if you have this running on you linux box at home, you can now connect to your linux box from any xp box anywhere. No need to install a vnc viewer if they don't have one or nxserver's client.

    And to do the reverse you can install rdesktop http://www.rdesktop.org/ so you can connect to any xp box from your linux box (or from a linux box to a linux box running xrdp).

    I am just about to set this up but I've read good things so far. My concern is speed, I'm not sure if it has any compression options. I keep hearing NXserver is the one for speed, but what magic are they doing? They are just compressing the images no? I know tightvnc does something similar, I'd like to know if I can accomplish the same thing with xrdp.
    • NetJoe, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1I've had trouble setting up xrdp under debian. to be fair, it didn't get much time and effort, but it doesn't compile and run clean with the default etch packages.
  • Gutterpunk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Talking of which, anyone knows a IM client (preferably working on Ubuntu) that does what MSN does, start the VNC from a single click? I ask for a IM client, because I like how MSN does the remote assistance, and I am assuming that a running IM client can find a way in/out to the net as opposed to the Ubuntu Remote Desktop that only check the local network IP.

    I know that Ubuntu has a remote desktop option in the admin menu, but when trying to help my mom over the phone with Ubuntu that I installed for her, getting her to go in the menu, start it and then find her IP somewhere else is hell (she has a router, so as I said, the IP that showed is her network IP) , and usually worse than just talking her through whatever problem she has.

    Say what you want about MSN, but the remote assistance function is damn usefull when you are the resident son/nephew/"guy to call only when you get computer trouble" who knows his way around a computer. (except when it comes to easy to start remote desktop on linux apparently)
    • linuxlion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1GutterPunk: try this for simple remote desktops ala remote assistance with Single Click UltraVNC

      http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/addons/singleclick.html
    • SirTofek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Gutterpunk:

      I got one for you that's easier than Single Click (although I love Ultra VNC and Single Click, and use it literally every day). Try using CrossLoop http://www.crossloop.com/ . It's the easiest remote connection tool that I've ever used (and I've used a lot). Zero configuration. It's so easy, even a caveman could do it!
    • Gutterpunk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@ linuxlion : Thanks, I'll try that

      @ SirTofek : Thanks, but crossloop seems to be for Windows only unfortunatly. It look good as an app though.
  • Churnd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0ssh -X tunneling in Windows is made simple via XMing: http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Xming. It's a little unstable, but by far the easiest setup I've seen. I like both for what they do, and use FreeNX daily on my headless SuSE box. For speed, it's definitely night and day difference compared to VNC or XDMCP. I'm not sure how they do it, but the source is out there for anyone to see.
  • minorthreat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2At work, the PC sitting in front of me is an XP Machine. I develop on 4 or 5 SUSE/Red Hat boxes. The best method by far is ssh -X, especially if you dont want any overhead.
  • webaj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I use the open source version of nomachine's NX. http://freenx.berlios.de

    I have 150 users load balanced on 4 Dell 2600 with 4 gig ram and dual proc. Thin client desktops cost me around $150 and Thinstation for a open source pxe boot. http://sourceforge.net/projects/thinstation/

    SLES on the desktop, users do not know that they have a thin client.
    • bradparks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1where are you buying your thin cilents for $150? Sounds great! I'm going to try pushing thin clients here at work and would love to know!
    • webaj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://www.devonit.com has some thin clients at $150 and sometimes even lower.
  • djangoxl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Which one of them can I use from a windows machine where I don't have full access on? (Do I need an administrator account to use these clients on windows?)

    aka how can I do this while @work:-)
    • webaj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2NX Web Companion runs in a browser via java.
  • qbyte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1We connect to our linux boxes using a combination of tightVNC (http://www.tightVNC.com) and VNCScan (http://www.vncscan.com). VNC is installed by default with Ubuntu.
  • emalyse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just setup an NX server (compressed X via SSH) for a relative who's stuck on dialup with usage restrictions in Australia for a few months. NX works pretty well over dialup and is even better over moderate broadband.For us, it's a better performance than vnc and let's us have more than one login at a time (ala terminal server).My reluctant (I'm only a moderate geek) how-to:
    http://stuffem.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/geek-gal-setting-up-nx-terminal-server-on-ubuntu/
  • mobilehavoc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Although not sure how useful it is, the new Remote Desktop that comes with Vista is pretty slick. I was shocked when I tried it that it supports compositing over RD! So I was sitting at my laptop and remoting into my desktop (running Vista Ultimate) and using 3D Flip, maximize, minimize, etc. and all the 3D stuff works great!! Aero of course works fine too.

    This was one of the things that annoyed me about Linux, it's a pain in the ass to remote into a Linux install that's using XGL...you either have to turn it off or work around it. PITA
    • linuxlion, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3You do realize that having all the desktop eyecandy enabled can seriously lower usability over a slower connection? You are an idiot if you are trying to use XGL eyecandy desktops over a remote connection. This is the reason that the command line is still so useful; It doesn't require massive amounts of pixels and window draws to edit a text file and HUP a process.
    • Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3VNC doesn't handle 3D very well because it's a very low-level approach to remote display, basically just a continuously-updated screenshot, so if the server is displaying animated 3D graphics, VNC will end up sending lots and lots of pixel data over the network in an effort to keep up with the display. This is obviously inefficient.

      X forwarding, on the other hand, can do 3D just fine. If an X client (a graphical program running on the "server computer") wants to display 3D graphics, the OpenGL commands actually get sent over the network to the X server (running on the "client computer" where you're sitting) and the graphics are rendered locally on your own 3D card. This is much more efficient, but unfortunately it only works for programs that are newly-launched and attached to your remote display; you can't use X forwarding to view already-running programs that are attached to another display.
    • Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Addendum: Vista's RD probably works at an even higher level, where the compositing stuff is done entirely by the client on its own initiative, without any Direct3D commands being sent over the network. That's even more efficient, but it's also highly specific to Vista's Aero compositing system, and (if it really works this way) doesn't generalize into being able to run other 3D stuff remotely.

      The nice thing about OpenGL over remote X is that any 3D app can display itself on any 3D-capable remote display, regardless of what sort of graphics it's displaying and what operating systems the two machines are involved. If you have a fast enough network connection you can even play games like Quake over a forwarded X connection.
    • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Actually, what you experienced with XGL is based on two things depending on how you look at it:

      1. In Windows Vista, if your hardware supports 3D acceleration on both the client and the server and the drivers exist on both ends, then the utilization of those features is seamless. This is mainly because the RDP protocol doesn't do everything remotely. It does stuff locally as much as it can. This is why it appears to work faster than other protocols like VNC. If your client doesn't support 3D acceleration, then you won't see the eye candy in RDP.
      2. In Linux, if your hardware supports 3D acceleration on both the client and server and the drivers exist on both ends, the utilization of those features with X (if you really know what you're doing) is seamless as well. In the case of X window system, nearly all of the display processing is local, so Beryl effects will work just fine as long as both the client and server are properly configured. The reason it isn't as seamless is because this stuff is NOT preconfigured from standard cookie cutter scenarios like in the Windows world.

      So you could argue that Linux "can't do it" even though it can, which would be an example of ignorance (not meant in the pejorative, but meant purely as a truism: ie. you don't know what you're talking about). Whereas in Windows you could argue that Windows does it by default because Windows is the "better OS". But that wouldn't be true either as there are major limitations to RDP. Those limitations are what lead to the "just works" feel of Windows. But they prevent people who like to do more from doing more. Therefore the complexity of the X configuration, while lacking the "just works" feel, is less limiting and allows us to do more.
  • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9This is all old hat. I've written extensively on Slashdot about how to connect to full remote desktops both stateless and stateful (ie. your apps close when you exit vs. your apps stay open and wait for your next connection respectively):

    1. There's quick and kludgy with 'x0vncserver' which is part of the base VNC package for *nix: http://slashdot.org/~Trolling4Dollars/journal/82694
    2. Using OpenSSH tunneling with X here: http://slashdot.org/~Trolling4Dollars/journal/69740 and setting up OpenSSH keys to make the whole thing seamless here: http://slashdot.org/~Trolling4Dollars/journal/70012
    3. Replacing the 'X' server with 'Xvnc' so you can have multiple full desktop environments using VNC here: http://slashdot.org/~Trolling4Dollars/journal/82527
    4. And finally... pulling it all together into one big happy situation, I give you the Xvnc complete desktop experience with just a few simple scripts, proper ssh configuration and X window system configuration: http://slashdot.org/~eno2001/journal/97277

    Learn and enjoy.
    • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Forgot to mention that VNC performs better in Unix than in Windows unless you happen to use UltraVNC in Windows and the integrated DLL that hooks into the Windows video driver. The reason for this is that VNC is based on X, and so it really behave like an X server and doesn't need to do any kind of strange kludge for apps to write to the virtual display. The other thing to mention is that FreeNX and X2 being based on NoMachine's NX protocol are definitely better performers than VNC. I just haven't had the time to fully investigate that route yet. But if you're already using them, skip VNC...
    • sark666, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So why is nxmachine supposedly so much faster than the others? I know the compression, but they made it gpl, can't people rip out their compression routines and apply it to vnc? I'm looking into using xrdp as I mentioned above because I want the flexibility of having access on the go and most of my friends xp, so I wouldn't need to install anything on their machines as it has remote desktop built in. But I am concerned with the speed issue.

      Also, I'm behind a nat, are there any workarounds if one doesn't have access to the firewall? I'd like to ideally set up dynamic dns so I can easily access my pc from where ever.
    • VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@sark666

      Hmmm... from what I remember, the NX protocol is really just an updated extension of X window system with built in compression. The main benefits besides the compression that VNC lacks (and the OpenSSH can't compete with in my experience) are that you can have a single application displayed on the remote end rather than an entire desktop. One of the things I used to do with X until the functionality was removed was use the 'lbxproxy' which was the "low bandwidth extension proxy". The way it worked was that it acted as a compression agent that ran on the system where your application would be running (say... a web browser). You would start up lbxproxy and assign it a display number. Then you would start up your web browser and tell it to display on the number you assigned to the proxy. The proxy would take all of that traffic and compress it or otherwise reconstruct it to avoid redundant network traffic. Then it would ship off the compressed stream to the X server on the box in front of you over whatever network connection you were using. This worked tremendously well in my experience in comparison to X forwarded over OpenSSH. But 'lbxproxy' was removed in favor of OpenSSH + compression and of course the NX protocol. I think NX might be based on some of what lbxproxy used to do. Essentially it compresses and restructures the X protocol BEFORE it leaves the system where the running application is hosted. This results in efficient bandwidth utilization for display on an unmodified X server over a slow network connection. I used to use it over dial-up to great effect.

      Regarding your situation of being behind a firewall, you have a few options depending on how much control you have over your own PC and whether or not you have a box outside the firewall that can be made reliably accessible on the internet. What I used to do before I got a static IP for my network at home was have my system periodically e-mail me it's current IP address. Of course dynamic DNS is always an option as well... But once you have a machine on the outside that you know you can hit whenever you want, being able to tunnel with either OpenSSH or OpenVPN becomes a very useful tool. If you do it right, you can even access windows file shares on machines at home behind your home router or firewall over an SSH tunnel. All that is needed is to have an SSH client on your workstation at work for a start. You SSH into your server at home, and make sure you set up the appropriate tunnels/ports. If your employer blocks certain ports, you might need to reconfigure your SSH server at home to operate on a port they don't block. Say port 80 for instance. If your employer is VERY strict and they proxy all traffic, then you might need to investigate http proxying which is quite complicated, but allows you to make any traffic you use to appear as simple http requests to a web server on the outside. There's always a way to get around things...
  • shrapnull, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There's really not much to my solution. I'm a sysadmin running Debian (KDE) in a Windows environment. I use Terminal Services Client (tsclient) or Krdc (with rdesktop) to connect to Windows Servers (from my upstairs office to the basement server farm) and desktop sharing (Krfb: vnc) from Windows back to my linux workstation (random time and IP limited passwords). Both solutions support my dual monitor configs, even with TwinView installed. And I use it all day, every day.
  • beercosoftware, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Who's running a windows server anyway?
    At any rate:

    http://www.nongnu.org/grdesktop/
  • pkulak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2FreeNX has always worked well for me. Here's the repos I use for Ubuntu (these work with Edgy too):

    deb http://free.linux.hp.com/~brett/seveas/freenx dapper-seveas freenx
    deb-src http://free.linux.hp.com/~brett/seveas/freenx dapper-seveas freenx
  • BigSlacker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Ever notice the trend of "take old stuff, replace Unix with Linux, post as new stuff."?

  • sachmanb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does anyone using Linux regularly not know this, or not known how to find this? I use FreeBSD myself but I think once you've taken the time to deploy packages, set up your networking, understand users and all that - have a functional system - you've learned where to go for most of what you need -- VNC and remoting being the least hard to find.
  • fxzoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This was the greatest article to ever get posted on the Internet! Thank you Dr. Pill!
  • 0x007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Don't forget about the difference between the two technologies mentioned in this thread:

    1. remote "desktop"
    2. remote X session (via tunnel)

    In the first mode, you connect or attach to an "existing desktop" on the remote Linux box.

    But when using a local X server, you must startup a remote X client which could be a desktop or xterm... In this mode, you cannot "attach" to an existing desktop on the remote Linux box.

    I find it quite handy to use the VNC client (similar to NX) because I routinely start build on my Linux desktop at work. When I get home, the remote "desktop" client allow me to attach to the Linux desktop at work - to see how the build was doing... This would not be possible with an X server/tunnel session.
  • tommyboy180, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1My browser doesn't support this page.
  • drag, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2
    Most of you Linux users have heard of AIGLX, right?
    It's like XGL and you have to have it (or XGL) to run things like Compiz.

    Well what AIGLX actually does is enable indirect OpenGL acceleration. Previously all you had was direct OpenGL acceleration... This ment that applications communicated directly with the video card in order to get 3D acceleration to work correctly.

    Well with indirect rendering applications talk to the X server, then the X server talks to the video card. Previously this was software rendering only. However with AIGLX this now can be hardware accelerated.

    What this means is that for remote applications, that is applications running on a seperate computer, can now get local 3D acceleration on your local X Server (aka your desktop) from your machine's local video card.

    It works 'ok' for video games, but it's nice for 3D applications like Blender.

    So you can go like:
    ssh -X remote.machine blender
    and get 3d acceleration now, if you have AIGLX enabled.
    • djchester, on 10/16/2007, -0/+23D visualization over the network is what you wish for today, the good thing it already exists and it works really good. The tools you need is VirtualGL, turbojpeg and TurboVNC. Of course you need a good server with good graphics capabilities also. :)
  • qingshuo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Sorry but VNC is no where close to RDP in terms of features and performance. Sadly due to the large number of distributions, windows managers, graphics layers, it's impossible for something like RDP to emerge as the dominant remote desktop protocol as it would require tight integration with with rest of the OS. So in the Linux world, brute force techniques such as VNC remain the norm.
    • rhensing, on 04/26/2008, -0/+0"Brute force techniques" really aren't required. The way window management and compositing is done in X creates many possibilities. For example, it is possible to run a stateful remote session by X11 tunneling and running the OpenGL compositing window manager locally. This doesn't require any "brute force" transmissions.

      Stateless OpenGL composited sessions could be achieved by 'polling' the individual windows on a remote server. I don't know if that's possible at the moment, but if it's not, it requires only an extension to the X11 protocol, no "tight integration with the rest of the OS".
  • Sakkath, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I always hear about how much of a pain FreeNX is to get working, but I heard it's the best once you get it working. Can you access it with Windows?

    What about GoToMyPC adding sound support? Do you think any of these free clients/servers will follow suit?
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.