Remote desktop solution like Windows RDP

Hermonella · 04-05-2018, 06:42 AM

Hi! Hope someone here can help me

I'm looking for a remote desktop solution like Windows RDP where i can log off and login again and continue where i left off.
The computer that I'm going to control will have a 20/10 internett speed.

Here is what i need from the solution:

1. I need to work in a desktop enviorment like unity, gnome or something like that. The prettier the better.

2. I need to be able to log off on one computer and log in with another and continue where i left off.

3. Security is important, so encryption is a must.

4. The computer I'm going to control is going to be placed in a basement with no screen attached. So programs like Teamviewer is out.

5. I'm not choosy on the linux distro, but I'm not good enough with linux to, for example, set up a Arch system.

6. It has to be free

7. I'm using windows and linux on the computers I'm connecting from so it needs to be cross platform

TB0ne · 04-05-2018, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermonella

Hi! Hope someone here can help me

I'm looking for a remote desktop solution like Windows RDP where i can log off and login again and continue where i left off. The computer that I'm going to control will have a 20/10 internett speed. Here is what i need from the solution:

1. I need to work in a desktop enviorment like unity, gnome or something like that. The prettier the better.
2. I need to be able to log off on one computer and log in with another and continue where i left off.
3. Security is important, so encryption is a must.
4. The computer I'm going to control is going to be placed in a basement with no screen attached. So programs like Teamviewer is out.
5. I'm not choosy on the linux distro, but I'm not good enough with linux to, for example, set up a Arch system.
6. It has to be free
7. I'm using windows and linux on the computers I'm connecting from so it needs to be cross platform

Sorry, but point #3 rules out VNC, which will give you the 'pretty' desktop. But you need to move past what Windows has TOLD YOU that you 'need', and realize what is better.

First, you can use Teamviewer headless, have it auto-start and it has security. VNC is the 'standard' way to do Linux full desktop, but you DO NOT need this...at all...for anything. Any X program you run can easily be done via X forwarding on SSH, so getting a standard terminal window will let you just run any X program (Firefox/Chrome/Nautilus/KDevelop/whatever) on your local desktop, without the NEED to do the entire desktop console, just to display ONE PROGRAM.

Leaving a job running is another point; that's not a good practice. Because ANYONE who connects to that session will be able to just keep going where you are. Running a job from terminal with a nohup puts it in the background, and lets you close the session and keep it running. The entire desktop is fluff, and doing server administration on Linux does NOT NEED the GUI at all.

schneidz · 04-05-2018, 07:12 AM

i think xrdp is supposed to be a open-source re-implementation of rdp.

bgstack15 · 04-05-2018, 07:13 AM

I have a full write-up on this topic at my blog: https://bgstack15.wordpress.com/2017...-on-fedora-26/.

The barebones:

Code:

yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

Set up a firewall rule for the RDP port.

Code:

tf=/lib/firewalld/services/xrdp.xml; touch "${tf}"; chmod 0644 "${tf}"
cat <<EOF >"${tf}"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<service>
  <short>Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)</short>
  <description>A RDP service that serves X desktop sessions. Using this allows a Windows client to connect using the built-in mstsc utility!</description>
  <port protocol="tcp" port="3389"/>
</service>
EOF
firewall-cmd --reload
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=xrdp
firewall-cmd --reload

If you're going to use XFCE, whatever gave me my default files did not include xfce so I had to include it in the X11clients file:

Code:

# for all users
tf=/etc/X11/xinit/Xclients.patch; touch "${tf}"; chmod 0644 "${tf}";
cat <<'EOFPATCH' >"${tf}"
--- /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients	2017-02-12 00:38:18.000000000 -0500
+++ /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients.new	2017-10-14 08:12:34.340524791 -0400
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 MSESSION="$(type -p mate-session)"
 STARTKDE="$(type -p startkde)"
 STARTLXDE="$(type -p startlxde)"
+STARTXFCE="$(type -p startxfce4)"
 
 # check to see if the user has a preferred desktop
 PREFERRED=
@@ -25,6 +26,8 @@
 	PREFERRED="$STARTKDE"
     elif [ "$DESKTOP" = "LXDE" ]; then
 	PREFERRED="$STARTLXDE"
+    elif [ "$DESKTOP" = "XFCE" ]; then
+	PREFERRED="$STARTXFCE"
     fi
 fi
 
@@ -44,6 +47,9 @@
 elif [ -n "$STARTLXDE" ]; then
     # if neither GNOME nor KDE then LXDE
     exec "$STARTLXDE"
+elif [ -n "$STARTXFCE" ]; then
+    # if none of the above, try XFCE.
+    exec "$STARTXFCE"
 fi
 
 # We should also support /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients.d scripts
EOFPATCH
patch -p1 /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients < /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients.patch

And then once you enable services and restart (I like to reboot after changes to the display manager), you should be able to connect this way:

Code:

xfreerdp /sec-rdp /cert-tofu /size:1520x820 /bpp:16 /v:192.168.1.76 -z /disp /audio-mode:0 /wallpaper /themes /u:bgstack15