Context: I have two linux boxes both running Deb (stable on one and testing on the other - both with Gnome 2.8). They are ethernet networked.

Problem: I have the Opera browser running on both machines but it has proved virtually impossible to get them synced so that downloaded mail/new bookmarks are updated on both copies. I have decide to try and run opera on computer 1 by remote from computer 2, thus only having one mail database etc.

Question: What is the best way to do this? I have got ssh up and running on both computers but for example, can't run any applications on Computer 2 from computer 1 - just get "can't connect to X server" or some such thing. I have edited the sshd config file to include X11Forwarding=yes (picked that up along the line) but nothing changed.

I have downloaded and installed every vncserver and client you can think of (vncserver, tightvncserver, Freenxserver etc and the respective client apps) but don't know what to do now.

I have googled until my head hurts but none the wiser really - still to much of a newbie.

Can someone give me an idiot's guide to getting an app running via ssh or else how to get vncserver up and running.

Many thanks.

I personally use konqueror to communicate between my 3 boxes via ssh. Using the entry of fish://<ip_address> or <server_name> allows connection. If you have a local konqueror window open and one connected remotely you can drag and drop files between the 2. I mainly use KBear to control my server and browse the files via sftp.
More detail on using vnc with ssh is available here .

Or you could use something like samba or NFS to share mail index/profile.

saman007uk

Yup - I tried samba but Opera won't allow you to point it to a samba share - only directories/files on the local computer. This is a documented limitation. It is possible to sync two Windows copies of Opera but apparently not the linux versions - at least no one in the linux opera forum has been able to do it yet.

I tried mounting the remote computer's "master" mail database on the local system using shfsmount. This works technically, but doesn't work correctly for Opera because there are some files opera needs that it insists on pointing to on the local system - for example the mail indexing files. Then these don't get updated when I use Opera on the remote computer. I am still playing about with it (I've still to try rsync is it (?) but it doesn't look good at the moment - hence my desire to try and run Opera remotely.

Using rsync over the network is fairly straight forward. The command is;

rsync -ave ssh --delete <ip_remote_host>:/directory_address/file_or_directory /home/usr_name/directory_to_save_to/

The above checks the files in both directories and copies across new files and deletes files on the local host that are no longer present on the remote host.

TigerOC

Thanks for that - just what I needed. It may not help with Opera (still got to figure that out) but certainly will helpwith a number of other things I want to do. Is it possible to write a script or something that will run it - say - twice a day or whatever? I have a mind like a sieve and need something automated if possible.

It is possible to automate this using cron but it will request a password to connect to the remote host. I don't think it is possible to embed passwords into the script but it should prompt for a password on execution in the verbose mode I have given.

What I meats was that you mount the samba/nfs share as the profile folder in your homedirectory (e.g. ~/.opera), thus opera wouldn't know the difference.

Hmmm..

That's what I thought I had done. Glad that you think it should work as well. I'll try it again and come back to you. Thanks for the continued support.

RJ

saman007uk

Brilliant .. Thanks for coming back to me with this - it forced me to go back and revisit the sharing options. I think I must have made a mistake or two in the syntax. This time it mounted the share correctly and i have Opera synced on both computers. Just to be clear - I used shfs rather than samba. This is how i did it.

1. Download and install shfs, following this link:

http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/stirling/computergeek/lufs.html

Note that when compiling you may be told that you do not have the right headers. If so, run

This should download the latest headers and allow the rest of the code to be entered.

2. Create a directory on the local system to which you want to mount the share. In my case I created /home/richard/.opera

3. Mount the share as follows:

In my case, I used shfsmount richard@ipaddress/home/richard/.opera /home/richard/.opera

[Note that I found I have to use the ipaddress - richard@dell (the computer's name returns "address unknown".

You will be asked for the remote computer's password.

4. Open Opera application on the local system and, as saman007uk says, Opera looks for the .opera directory - not realising it is actually on the remote system.


Bingo - it all works.

Thanks to all those who helped on this one.

BTW - the info on using cron to run rsync for me is something i am also going to explore. Believe me - nothing wasted from this thread!!

As a postscript - using shfs, while it works OK, is VERY slow. There is an appreciable lag in opening threads, changing forums, and even just typing or scrolling up and down the screen.

Should I expect this as normal?

Forget it have you heard NX technology in nomachine.com. Currently I'm using FreeNx just google it.

grexk

Great minds think alike! I have installed freenx by following various googles and other posts. Didn't find it easy, though, as I have had one or two dependency problems under stable and had to install a couple of patches. Did you have any problems?

Also - now I have it installed I don't know what to do next! I have nxserver on one machine and nxclient on the other - is that right? All the posts I have read assume that once you have it installed you know what to do next - I haven't a clue! The installation never put anything in my menus and all the posts have these lovely pictures of assisted setup, wizards and goodness knows what all in pretty GUI but not on my machines. What instruction/s should I enter in a terminal to get a remote desktop from my other machine?

Thanks (newbie to linux if you hadn't noticed).

#nxsetup --install ----setup-nomachine-key
just read the options of the nxserver...then presto enjoy your new freenx server.....Connect to your server using the nomachine client specifying the needed options...One thing is that you login using the accounts available on the server...

I actually I dont have any problem in setting up freenx....I just downloaded all the dependencies then install it.....for any problems reply to this post again...

Im also a newbie like you....

grexk

Sorry about the delay in replying. I am currently trying out Gentoo (just for fun but not much of that at the moment as I am having trouble with the amazingly long and complicated compiles for everything!)

Anyway - as to your post. If I type nxclient in a terminal (I presume that's right) I just get:

Possibly I have a dependency problem or need to re-install or something.

I give it some more time when (if) I get Gentoo cracked!!

I'll come back to you though.

Thanks

Richard