Let me explain what I've been through and what I'm trying to accomplish.
I'm trying to get an laptop running more or less like a headless server, my reasons are not all that serious.
Mostly I want to leave the laptop running as a seed box when my main PC is turned off, also want to setup it up as a media top, common place for media files and playback on Tv.
So essentially I want to be able to access the remote machine, preferably sharing the same session and persisting while I log out from remote.
What I've done:
- setup keys for ssh to connect automatically between machines, so I can login via terminal, access the file system without issues, which is already a great step.
- enabled remote access on remote machine lightdm manager
- setup deluge for daemon torrenting, which enables almost seamlessly client to connect remotely (though deluge is not the best with speed)
- Connect directly with a new X session
Works alright, creates a new display (:1) which is oddly in F2 tty instead F8 as is expected. Works alright, not much lag, audio is not routed.
Code: Select all
X -query your_server_ip :1
But an issue! whenever I decide to log out X will simply shutdown, screen goes black and I can't resume on my regular session on my local machine. - Connect X with nested Xephyr session
This works too and might be the best solution yet, a windows is created and the remote session is nested in your current X session.
Code: Select all
Xephyr -query your_server_ip -screen 1280x1024 :1
Visual and performance is ok. Only real issue is that session is not shared, eg, application will not remain running... - Connect via VNC
So it seems only solution for shared sessions is VNC.
With the remote desktop apps from KDE (which is the DE for both), I can connect buzz around and etc, but its kinda cumbersome and laggy, password always resets and I usually need to accept on the remote machine.
I've tried setting up lightdm to allow a vncserver at logon, but this is erratic at best, took a long time to get the Xvnc command correct enough for me to login remotely, and even then got a garbled screen and the X session wasn't even the same...
Isn't there a way of regular X session sharing in the remote computer?
Or a better solution for lightdm vnc invoke?
Please share your experience with remote application and desktop sharing for personal use.