Best way to get a working Xvnc server?

FizzyWidget

The box I use is headless yet there are a few programs I need to use that can only really be done using a GUI, that and it requires Wine. I have tried the wiki guide for setting up a Xvnc system but all i ever get is a grey screen, I have google and change geometry to my eyes and fingers have bled but still no luck.

Is there something simple that I have missed, or is the wiki outdated or incomplete?
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eccerr0r · Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:47 pm Post subject:

How are you starting Xvnc, thought you should be using vncserver to start? and do you have a windowmanager installed on that machine? Configured the vnc startup scripts to run that windowmanager?
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FizzyWidget · Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:50 pm Post subject:

from the wiki says it should run from xinetd, it runs but i just keep getting a grey screen, I had it working once before but I cant remember what it was that I changed to get it working, as to the DE its xfce

here is the wiki I followed

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/XVNC_Server

Would tightvnc or tigervnc be better or x11vnc - i just need to remotely use the desktop

Yes, I have set it to start xfce from the startup file as it suggests, I know im over looking something I just cant think what
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piedar · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 09 Aug 2010 Posts: 82

Have you tried ssh with X forwarding?
headless /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

FizzyWidget · Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 7:43 pm Post subject:

Its worth a try I suppose
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eccerr0r · Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 10:32 pm Post subject:

I guess all my machines have video cards (but may not have monitors...) so I have the option of using x11vnc, but I've never really used Xvnc from inetd - mostly I started up the X vnc server manually after ssh'ing into the machine when I don't have console access.

They gray screen (or stipple screen) usually means the X/XVnc server had no clients connected to it. If you don't have magic cookies setup, you should be able to force clients to run on it. If you know the display number you should be able to run

xterm -display DISPLAY

where DISPLAY is something like :0

Then you can see the xterm in the vnc desktop...
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Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

Jaglover · Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 12:56 am Post subject:

You can run X apps remotely in headless boxes, no SSH needed, that's a feature of X. Remote box does not need X to be installed. Why it should be different for Wine? Assuming you are doing it on LAN, otherwise SSH is a wise choice of course.
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FizzyWidget · Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 5:57 am Post subject:

Yes its on LAN, what I'm after is the best option to be able to use the PC remotely
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Jaglover · Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 10:38 am Post subject:

You have two boxes, say desktop and server.
First, by default Gentoo runs X with '-nolisten tcp'. Create .xserverrc in your home with following in it:

FizzyWidget · Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 10:39 am Post subject:

Thanks will give it a try
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Jaglover · Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 10:42 am Post subject:

Of course I was assuming you can access these boxes by hostnames, otherwise you have to use IP addresses instead.
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jormartr · Apprentice Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 174

You can try xpra, if you want to run the applications on the remote machine, and display them locally, with the ability to connect/disconnect, from any other machine to the headless one.

FizzyWidget · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 7:14 pm Post subject:

Have tried your suggestion

Jaglover · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 8:30 pm Post subject:

You run xhost from your desktop, correct? X application from remote box needs to connect to your desktop, that's why you run xhost and that's why you run X allowing incoming TCP connections.

DISPLAY=desktop:0.0 startxfce4 &

desktop here is the computer you are sitting at, replace it with IP address if needed.
Second, I'm not sure running a whole DE like this is a good idea. I tried it, out of curiosity and it worked ... :roll:

As I said before, you do not need X or any WM installed in remote box, all you need installed is the application you need to run.

***

For instance, I run from my desktop (zeus) mythtv-setup in my headless router (turtle3).

From zeus I do xhost turtle3

After logging on to turtle3 I do DISPLAY=zeus:0.0 mythtv-setup &

turtle3 has no X nor any window managers installed.
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srs5694 · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:15 am Post subject:

You've already got some good suggestions for things to check. FWIW, I recently wrote a piece on this topic for IBM developerWorks:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-multiuserloginsvnc/index.html

It's not Gentoo-specific, though. I seem to recall I was using mostly OpenSUSE and Ubuntu as my references when writing. Still, it might be helpful....