Connecting to an X session from Windows

bntawil · 12-19-2007, 12:19 PM

Hello everyone,

I've been using the NX (nomachine) platform to connect to my linux desktop but it often breaks my desktop (I'm not sure it's causing the problem though)

So I have a double question:

1- How do I find out what's causing my desktop to break up (I lose the bar where the open applications are displayed when minimized, and I get a lot of error messages suggesting to delete some stuff)

2- What do you suggest as an X-Window client for MS Windows to connect to a linux desktop?

Thanks,
B

wanderingmind · 12-19-2007, 01:14 PM

Hi,

1 - No idea..

2 - I use Xming at work to connect to a linux computer, and I'm happy with it. (http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/)

David1357 · 12-19-2007, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bntawil

1- How do I find out what's causing my desktop to break up (I lose the bar where the open applications are displayed when minimized, and I get a lot of error messages suggesting to delete some stuff)

I cannot help you here. You probably already know that support for NX costs money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bntawil

2- What do you suggest as an X-Window client for MS Windows to connect to a linux desktop?

I use the Cygwin X server. I have been able to get Red Hat and Ubuntu login screens to load using XDMCP. I also frequently run single applications with the display exported back to my Windows machine.

When you install Cygwin, the X server is not installed by default, so make sure you go through the list and select it.

tpmadigan · 12-19-2007, 02:28 PM

I have used Cygwin/X (www.cygwin.com) with excellent results. I played around with NX but it left me with less-than-spectacular impressions. Give Cygwin a test drive!

bntawil · 12-19-2007, 09:57 PM

Thanks for your reply tpmadigan. I just have to admit I never figured out how cygwin could serve in this situation.
What I found out is that cygwin allows the simulation of a linux envirenment on a Win32 platform, never figured out how it would work otherwise...

Can you point me to a good site where I can read how this thing is configured to connect from a Win32 platform to an X-session running on a linux environment?

Cheers,
B

David1357 · 12-20-2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bntawil

Can you point me to a good site where I can read how this thing is configured to connect from a Win32 platform to an X-session running on a linux environment?

First you have to install Cygwin. You can download the installer from

http://www.cygwin.com/setup.exe

When you run the installer, make sure you expand the "X11" section and click on "xorg-x11-base" until the field under "New" changes from "Skip" to a version number.

There will be a "startxwin.bat" file in

C:\cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin\startxwin.bat

You can create a link to that to start it. You will probably want to customize it. You will also have to either run "xhosts" every time you start the X server, or create a "/etc/X0.hosts" file and add the IP addresses or hostnames you want to allow.