Linux - DesktopThis forum is for the discussion of all Linux Software used in a desktop context.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I expect to setup this PC as a headless desktop remotely administrated by another desktop on LAN. I have been googling a while and couldn't find articles/instructions re how to config the BIOS of the headless desktop and other relevant steps. Please help. TIA
A few questions and suggestions:
- All you have to do in the BIOS is to deactivate the stop at boot-time when no keyboard is found.
- Why do you run a desktop system on a headless machine?
- Which virtualizer do you plan to use (VMware, Qemu, Virtualbox)?
KVM is a virtualization module for the Linux kernel. It only enables support for hardware virtualization. You still need a hypervisor software, that is where Qemu, VMware or Virtualbox join the game. Having a look at the site you linked I assume that you use Qemu-kvm. Debian 6 uses Qemu-kvm version 0.12.5, i would recommend to install version 1.0.0 from the Squeeze-backports repository.
1. Do you want to remotely power on the machine? This can usually be done on modern machines (via ethernet only for the most part) by enabling the BIOS power options to boot up on LAN, and using wake-on-lan (wol is older version) or etherwake (or ether-wake) on the remote machine to power on. Google will give more advice. I use it to fire up a home machine while I'm 100km away out in the bush.
2. If you are going to use the machine as a remote desktop server to provide a desktop to other machines then you will almost certainly want to use an NX based protocol over the LAN. The application I have used is x2go which is a snap to setup and run. It works over ssh and gives excellent performance even over wireless. Internet is slower but useable. This pretty well matches Microsoft's RDP (one of the better products from that revered company).
Do you really need to run a desktop on the remote system? Why not just run the applications you need to use?
This is only a test to refresh my recollection. I did it several years ago and it worked. I can also start the VM on the remote desktop.
This is an old PC which I dig it out from store room. It ran Debian 5.0. I tried to update the packages but the repositories were no longer supported. Than I was forced to upgrade it to Debian 6.0
This is only a test to refresh my recollection. I did it several years ago and it worked. I can also start the VM on the remote desktop.
Of course it works, but that was not my point. If you start your (GUI) applications from the commandline they will be integrated as normal windows on your local desktop. I find that much more convenient than running them on a separate desktop.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.