[TriLUG] X remotely --- was 'Screen for X?'

[Owen Berry]

Thanks for all the feedback on that question - definitely helps. One
more question on this topic, although it is more straight X related:

Say I have machine A and machine B on my local network. I am sitting at
machine B and start a GUI application on machine A using ssh and
forwarding X traffic. The application happens to be an editor of some
kind, which I use to make some changes to a document. Suddenly the
network connection on machine B dies briefly (wireless), losing the
connection to machine A and also losing sight of the editor. When I
reconnect to machine A via ssh I can see that the editor is still
running, but I cannot interact with it and ensure that I save my changes
before killing the process. Any way around this problem? Can I reconnect
to the client in some way?

I mostly use vi for editing so I don't often have this problem, but
occasionally the need arises. Since X was designed to work across
networks in this manner, it seems crazy that a flaky network connection
could cause such a problem, unless the user is just ignorant. :-)

Thanks.

-- Owen

On Mon, 2003-09-22 at 09:50, H Brett Bolen wrote:
> this is x0rfbserver.  you can find it on the net.  It uses your :0
> display.  It is somewhat costly to run -- it slows down your
> host processor because it is using XGetImage and computing the changed
> sub images manually.  The diff computation takes alot of cycles.  The
> good news is that it uses standared X calls so it should work on
> any x server.
> 
> there is also a project that adds this to xfree86.  It is named xf4vnc --
> check sourceforge.  You copy some files to xfree86, and it exports
> your :0 display without extra programs.  This is much faster because
> it is integrated int the X server, which knows where the diffs are.
> 
> Basically you add some share libs to xf4vnc, updated the XFCofngi-4 file
> and poof, you have access to your :0 host screen.
> 
> I use both x0rfbserver and xf4vnc with x2vnc to simulate a dual headded
> workstation ( NT on left, linux on right).
> 
> 
> 
> Ken Mink wrote:
> 
> > KDE3.1 and up has their remote desktop feature. This is basically VNC at
> > the window manager level, I think I've got that right. Anyway, if you
> > enable remote connections on your existing session, you can attach using
> > the KDE remote desktop client. I leave myself logged in at home and
> > tunnel back in from work all the time. The nice thing is that you don't
> > have to start the VNC server on a separate display to use it.
> > It is not per application as the original poster requested, but it does
> > allow reconnecting when desired. Since it is based on VNC, you can use
> > the client to connect to standard VNC servers as well.
> > 
> > Ken
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> b²
> 
> -----------------------
> -- H Brett Bolen
> -- TCNi
> -- Phone: 919 550-0828
> -- eFax : 509 752-8446