Trying to tunnel X over SSH - Page 2

fakie_flip · 08-13-2006, 01:22 AM

easy solution. dont let anyone tell you that you cant do it. login to a computer with ssh using X forwarding and type this command.

startx -- :1

You aleady have X running on :0 so you need to run X on :1

DaneM · 08-13-2006, 02:56 AM

Thanks for the tip.

Unfortunately, all that does (assuming I'm doing it correctly) is start up another X server on the server (192.168.1.250), but the client just shows the terminal messages generated by X.

What I really want is to be able to see and control X from a remote computer (perhaps like a thin client?), so that I can use X on a computer where X is not installed, or is otherwise not running. Still haven't really gotten around to trying out VNC on Linux (too many other projects have gotten in the way).

Have a good one!

--Dane

fakie_flip · 08-13-2006, 08:21 AM

You must use ssh forwarding when running that command. To use ssh forwarding, do this:

ssh -Xl username hostname

or you can edit a configuration file, and have X forwarding enabled everytime you use ssh.

fakie_flip · 08-13-2006, 08:23 AM

tell me if that works

DaneM · 08-13-2006, 09:23 PM

Hello again.

I tried what you told me, but it only started the X session on the server, and it was not controllable by the client. Perhaps I'm missing a step or two? Here's what I did:

Code:

client $ ssh -Xl dane 192.168.1.250
password:***********
server $ startx -- :1

This produced the usual output to the terminal, but did not put anything else on the screen of the client. I tried switching to tty7 and tty8, but there was just terminal text.

Any more ideas?

--Dane

fakie_flip · 08-13-2006, 09:42 PM

yes, i've got it to work before. are you getting errors? try this instead if you have kde on the server computer.

Code:

client $ ssh -Xl dane 192.168.1.250
password:***********
server $ startkde &

if you have gnome on the server computer, try this.

Code:

client $ ssh -Xl dane 192.168.1.250
password:***********
server $ gnome-session &

I am not sure if you are required to have graphics installed on the computer you are doing it from. When I did it, the colors from my client computer were being used for the desktop from the server. I had gnome on the client computer and xfce on the server. Let me know if this works.

DaneM · 08-15-2006, 05:37 AM

I tried what you said (I use KDE on the server computer), but it gave me a bunch of errors about not being able to connect to the X server. This seems to make sense, since startkde does not start the X server on its own.

Which system did you get it working on?

Thanks.

--Dane

fakie_flip · 08-16-2006, 05:40 AM

I did it from Ubuntu. The computer running the ssh server was xubuntu with the xfce windows manager. I was logged in through ssh with X forwarding. I typed the same commands that is needed in the ~/.vnc/xstartup file.

Anithen · 06-07-2008, 09:17 AM

Good morning, Fakie_flip.

I ssh into a computer on my LAN that works for X11 forwarding, but I haven't gotten an entire session to launch. Typing startx -- :1 will launch either an extra xsession on that machine or if X is not running it will just launch it in :1.

I'm a little confused now, because we're talking about a ~/.vnc/xstartup file. What does your ~/.vnc/xstartup file look like? Also, did you install vnc for this functionality or are we still trying to do this with just X and ssh? Thanks.