I have Debian unstable running on LAPTOP (1920 x 1200) and SERVER (800 x 600) and use SSH to connect from LAPTOP to SERVER.

I log into SERVER from LAPTOP via SSH and start kde3 (no problems)

The issue is that the SERVER desktop (800 x 600) magically expands to 1920 x 1200 and fills LAPTOP's screen.

I want a nice 'window' showing the true resolution of SERVER. Meaning I want a nice 800 x 600 window on my LAPTOP desktop.

How can I do this ?

PS - While I have your attention how do I start gnome on the SERVER ? kde3 starts kde (duh !) but I can't figure how to start gnome up ...

That doesn't make sense. Resolution of the screen depends on the X server and the physical issues, it shouldn't depend on what machine the application is ran (kde3).

If you really want to emuate that the other X server is used, you can use VNC, but for most of the time that is not what most people want.

2.

with command "gnome-session".

how about crtl + alt + '-' till you get the res you want. That is:

press the keys ctrl and alt and THEN the "-" in the numpad to the right of the keyboard as many times as needed for your laptop.

i'm speculating here, but if you 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86' in the laptop and make the 800x600 the highest resolution, MAYBE