The other thing worth doing is to ditch the X.org GUI or just use a very lightweight window manager and stay with character-mode applications mainly. No really, it's quite a revelation after years of GUI use. The only thing that sucks in character-mode is web browsing, but you can work around that too.
Do any of the commonly discussed ditributions provide Terminal Services? I'm another MS user who would be interested in giving modern ditributions a try (my current one is Redhat 7.0 Seawolf) but find that VNC runs like a dog from the client experience side.
lyonrouge: Do any of the commonly discussed ditributions provide Terminal Services? I'm another MS user who would be interested in giving modern ditributions a try (my current one is Redhat 7.0 Seawolf) but find that VNC runs like a dog from the client experience side.
Well, X windows was designed right from the start to be networkable, so you can without too much ado run it over say an SSH tunnel.
lyonrouge: Do any of the commonly discussed ditributions provide Terminal Services? I'm another MS user who would be interested in giving modern ditributions a try (my current one is Redhat 7.0 Seawolf) but find that VNC runs like a dog from the client experience side.
Well, X windows was designed right from the start to be networkable, so you can without too much ado run it over say an SSH tunnel.
True, but what I want to do is use my (XP) laptop upstairs and tinker with the Linux (ubantu) box downstairs using the same (rdp) client. I've found xrdp which appears to need significant effort from my as it is a layer over VNC, I was hopping for something a little simpler, i.e. out-of-the box rdp as available in XP pro and Server 2003.
lyonrouge: since 1989 X Windows has had XDMCP which is the equivalent of Terminal Services. It ships off by default in most distributions but is easily enabled by editing the configuration of GDM, KDM, or XDM depending on which your distro uses. To connect to an XDMCP server from Windows you'll need a Win32-based X-windows server, cygwin provides this and there are a few other commercial ones.
VNC is not terminal services, its more like a remote administration utility. MSRDP is a proprietary protocol native to Windows so you shouldn't expect to be able to connect to Linux computers using mstsc
on the subject http://ltsp.org is a project and tools for administering Linux dumb (although in this case pretty smart) terminals. and here is an XDMCP HOWTO
keep in mind that GUIs in Linux are extra layers on top of the OS and unnecessary especially on servers.
lyonrouge: True, but what I want to do is use my (XP) laptop upstairs and tinker with the Linux (ubantu) box downstairs using the same (rdp) client. I've found xrdp which appears to need significant effort from my as it is a layer over VNC, I was hopping for something a little simpler, i.e. out-of-the box rdp as available in XP pro and Server 2003.
Simpler? In that case... PuTTY and SSH. Webmin is also an option, if you want more convenience.
If you're talking about something like Windows Remote Desktop, facility, I'm guessing you're after something similar to Starnet's XWin. However, X servers for Windows are very expensive. The only free one I can think of is X/Cygwin which isn't very well maintained at the moment.
Is VNC really that slow for you? What kind of network do you have?
lyonrouge: True, but what I want to do is use my (XP) laptop upstairs and tinker with the Linux (ubantu) box downstairs using the same (rdp) client. I've found xrdp which appears to need significant effort from my as it is a layer over VNC, I was hopping for something a little simpler, i.e. out-of-the box rdp as available in XP pro and Server 2003.
Simpler? In that case... PuTTY and SSH. Webmin is also an option, if you want more convenience.
If you're talking about something like Windows Remote Desktop, facility, I'm guessing you're after something similar to Starnet's XWin. However, X servers for Windows are very expensive. The only free one I can think of is X/Cygwin which isn't very well maintained at the moment.
Is VNC really that slow for you? What kind of network do you have?
Wireless LAN (802.11g). I do not want to load any additional services on my laptop to perform this task. I currently use PuTTy and WinSCP for admin on the Seawolf box, but I want to try some of the workstation functionality without having to go downstairs and sit in front of it. I use rdp for my Windows boxes so thought it would be ideal for Linux.
ps: ssh tunelling and installing servers on clients to render another client is the sort of thing that put me of trying linux. MS makes it "too easy" for me.
lyonrouge: Wireless LAN (802.11g). I do not want to load any additional services on my laptop to perform this task. I currently use PuTTy and WinSCP for admin on the Seawolf box, but I want to try some of the workstation functionality without having to go downstairs and sit in front of it. I use rdp for my Windows boxes so thought it would be ideal for Linux.
ps: ssh tunelling and installing servers on clients to render another client is the sort of thing that put me of trying linux. MS makes it "too easy" for me.
Yeah, it's always easier to make same-platform systems talk to each other, so if you're not prepared to go through some pain, stop now, and stay with what works for you.
Apart from VNC, I found NoMachine NX which sounds interesting. Not tried it so can't say how well it works. However... multimedia support. I'm interested now. :)
Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly
to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.
Retired Mod
Trusted
