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most popular/reliable remote desktop control software

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.Martin.

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Nov 2, 2009, 8:57:54 PM11/2/09
to
Hi all,

What's the BEST (we all love this word, don't we:)) remote desktop
control program/protocol to take over the mouse/keyboard to perform some
maintenance actions. I'm going to use ssh for most things, but sometimes
I'll need to have the access to the desktop. I'm going to connect from
slackware to ubuntu.

Thank you
regards
Martin

Douglas Mayne

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Nov 2, 2009, 10:57:37 PM11/2/09
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tightVNC over ssh? There is a "howto" in Hack #12 "Linux
Server Hacks, v2"

Oh, yeah. YMMV.

--
Douglas Mayne

jim dorey

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Nov 3, 2009, 1:41:16 AM11/3/09
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Douglas Mayne wrote:

>
> Oh, yeah. YMMV.
>

i know, windows, ew, but i use xming and do a lot of my configs in vi
though konsole, i know, ew, kde...i can of course run most graphical
apps through xming, even a whole lot of kde programs. regular x
protocols over the network, with ssh would work on almost any *nix that
way, couldn't hurt to try.

.Martin.

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Nov 3, 2009, 3:41:12 AM11/3/09
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Thanks,
Is Hack #12 available anywhere online? Simple google search hasn't
brought any conclusive results.

Thank you

Douglas Mayne

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Nov 3, 2009, 8:15:59 AM11/3/09
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A limited preview is available at books.google.com. Also, it is linked
directly from O'Reilly books:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596100827/preview

Most of Hack#11 is included in the preview.

--
Douglas Mayne


Aaron W. Hsu

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Nov 3, 2009, 1:27:30 PM11/3/09
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On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:41:16 -0500, jim dorey <sk...@ns.sympatico.ca>
wrote:

> regular x protocols over the network, with ssh would work on almost any
> *nix that way, couldn't hurt to try.

So long as care is taken when using X Forwarding, it is a very reliable
and useful service. I can recommend it, having used it myself. However,
some programs have bugs in their X programming that sometimes rears its
head when using X Forwarding.

Aaron W. Hsu

--
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its
victims may be the most oppressive. -- C. S. Lewis

.Martin.

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Nov 3, 2009, 2:16:47 PM11/3/09
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Aaron W. Hsu wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:41:16 -0500, jim dorey <sk...@ns.sympatico.ca>
> wrote:
>
>> regular x protocols over the network, with ssh would work on almost
>> any *nix that way, couldn't hurt to try.
>
> So long as care is taken when using X Forwarding, it is a very reliable
> and useful service. I can recommend it, having used it myself. However,
> some programs have bugs in their X programming that sometimes rears its
> head when using X Forwarding.
>
> Aaron W. Hsu
>

Ok, I know how to enable X forwarding via ssh, but doesn't it just
enable opening particular programs in X? Is it also possible to connect
to the whole remote desktop using ssh?

thanks
regards
Martin

Aaron W. Hsu

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Nov 3, 2009, 3:20:32 PM11/3/09
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On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:16:47 -0500, .Martin. <xtd...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Ok, I know how to enable X forwarding via ssh, but doesn't it just
> enable opening particular programs in X? Is it also possible to connect
> to the whole remote desktop using ssh?

Nope, it doesn't. It's a separate remote login. That's intentional, and an
advantage in my opinion. You don't take control of the other computer:
instead, you are just another user logged in. If you want to view the
session of another person, you'll want to use something else.

.Martin.

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Nov 3, 2009, 4:22:51 PM11/3/09
to
Aaron W. Hsu wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:16:47 -0500, .Martin. <xtd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ok, I know how to enable X forwarding via ssh, but doesn't it just
>> enable opening particular programs in X? Is it also possible to connect
>> to the whole remote desktop using ssh?
>
> Nope, it doesn't. It's a separate remote login. That's intentional, and
> an advantage in my opinion. You don't take control of the other
> computer: instead, you are just another user logged in. If you want to
> view the session of another person, you'll want to use something else.
>
> Aaron W. Hsu
>
X forwarding via ssh will be extremely useful, however, I'm supposed to
troubleshoot any problems that my mate might encounter using ubuntu and
I imagine having access to his desktop would help in some cases.

regards
Martin

Mike Jones

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Nov 3, 2009, 6:12:59 PM11/3/09
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Responding to .Martin.:


A phone and a simple 'ssh -t his.pooter.there xterm' should give you
enough access to fix stuff, no?. Beware risking causing all kinds of new
problems by using a mallet to crack a nut.

--
*===( http://www.400monkeys.com/God/
*===( http://principiadiscordia.com/
*===( http://www.slackware.com/

Paweł Wlaź

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Nov 3, 2009, 11:51:23 PM11/3/09
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On Tue, 3 Nov 2009, .Martin. wrote:

>
> Ok, I know how to enable X forwarding via ssh, but doesn't it just
> enable opening particular programs in X? Is it also possible to connect
> to the whole remote desktop using ssh?
>

yes, I use ssh tuneling to connect to remote desktop via vnc-server
and vnc-client. The software is available for many systems and works
for me for many years now.

PW

goarilla

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Nov 5, 2009, 1:44:12 PM11/5/09
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what about x11vnc ?

Aaron W. Hsu

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Nov 5, 2009, 2:48:29 PM11/5/09
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On Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:44:12 -0500, goarilla
<kevin....@skynet.remove-this.be> wrote:

>> X forwarding via ssh will be extremely useful, however, I'm supposed to
>> troubleshoot any problems that my mate might encounter using ubuntu and
>> I imagine having access to his desktop would help in some cases.
>>
>> regards
>> Martin
>what about x11vnc ?

VNC can be very helpful at times, but also can eat up resources and has
known security issues. Make sure to tunnel through SSH or something
similar to do this, and make sure that something easy is configured on the
client's machine to make it easy to turn this feature on and off to
conserve resources.

.Martin.

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Nov 5, 2009, 6:13:30 PM11/5/09
to
Thanks, I'll definitely give it a try.
regards
Martin

Douglas Mayne

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Nov 6, 2009, 10:21:18 AM11/6/09
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On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:22:51 +0000, .Martin. wrote:
>>
<snip>
>
> ...I'm supposed to

> troubleshoot any problems that my mate might encounter using ubuntu and
> I imagine having access to his desktop would help in some cases.
>
> regards
> Martin
>
AFAIK, tightVNC is a general vnc program. Yesterday, I heard about a
program called vino which is part of the Gnome desktop and allows the user
to share his current desktop. I haven't used it myself, but that appears
to be the standard way for someone running Ubuntu to ask for direct help
from someone else. In any case, "help mode" is a special case and may
require different procedures than simple vnc. You should verify your
procedures in advance. That's because sometimes things "should" work, but
don't fall into place on the first try for whatever reason. It is also
good to verify that there are no "gotchas" due to default settings,
available bandwidth, encryption requirements, etc.

--
Douglas Mayne

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