x over ppp

[Rick Stevens]

tyche wrote:
> On Wednesday 23 June 2004 12:42 pm, Rick Stevens wrote:
> 
>>Jeff Kinz wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, Jul 22, 2003 at 11:31:50PM -0400, tyche wrote:
>>>
>>>>is there someway to pipe an X server out over a ppp connection to a
>>>>windows user with out getting into an expensive suite of software on teh
>>>>windows end?
>>>
>>>Yes , there is,
>>>Install cygwin on your Windows system - it includes a free X-windows
>>>servers so that you can run X-windows on your Win box.
>>>Then you can tunnel the X-windows connection via IP thru your ppp
>>>connection.
>>>
>>>Your connection needs to be faster than dial up, or it will be painful
>>>to use.
>>>
>>>Cygwin is from "Cygnus" who is now owned by RedHat and the download
>>>should be freely available on their website somewhere.
>>>
>>>
>>>To learn how to do remote "X" connections check www.tldp.org, and look
>>>at the "HOW-TO" docs list.  There is one which deals specifically
>>>on how to do that.  Searching the list for "remote" should find it.
>>
>>You can also use VNC via an SSH tunnel over a PPP connection (don't
>>forget to us the compression option on SSH).
>>
>>By the way, double check the "X server" bit.  The X server is the
>>machine with the keyboard, mouse and graphic screen.  The X client is
>>the remote program that needs the X server to display its output.  It
>>seems backwards at first, but that's the way it is.
> 
> thanks guys, was hoping there was a switch or something to startx, but it 
> wouldnt be that simple.

That would be useless as "startx" starts the X server on the local
machine.  If you want the Linux GUI stuff to show up on your Windows
machine, you DON'T run an X server on the Linux box, you run one on the
Windows box (Windows must be the X server).  To do that you must install
Cygwin or another X server package on your Windows box and use its
"startx" equivalent to start the server.  You can then rlogin or ssh to
your Linux box, start an X client there (Mozilla, for example), and have
Mozilla's ouput appear on your Windows box.

Another option:

If you're familiar with Windows' remote desktop thing, you can install
VNC on both machines (http://www.tightvnc.com), start the VNC server on
your Linux box and use the VNC client on your Windows box.  A window
will open on your Windows box which represents the X desktop on the
Linux box.  When you move the mouse inside the X desktop or type stuff
in there, it's as if you were doing it right on the Linux box itself.

Once again, none of this is really usable if you're using dialup as the
speed just isn't there to support a remote GUI session.  Remote GUIs
really demand a broadband connection at the least (DSL, cable modem,
fractional T1, something like that).  With dialup, you're better off
using ssh and sticking with text operations.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
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