Greetings,
I am curious.... some of you may be aware of the remote tools in Windows, which allows somebody to "remote" to your desktop, and control your computer. This is most widely used for tech support and things like that.

With Linux, we have all grown to love SSH. However, SSH (from what I've seen), is shell-only.

Is there a way to control X in Linux from another box similar to the way SSH works with the shell?

Maybe VNC is the solution for you. I've never tested it under Linux but I believe the concept is the same like under Win.
Under Win there is a 'vnc server' which should be installed on controlled box and the vnc client which is a tool for remote control. Using vnc client you can see the screen and observe the 'remote operator' actions. But you can also send keystrokes, move the mouse pointer like the 'remote operator' can (and in the same time :) so you can even change the 'remote operator' mouse movement or keyboard input.

It depends what you mean by 'control X.'

Do you want to run an app remotely and view it locally? Then assuming the local box has an X-Server, you'd simply:

ssh -X ip.of.remote.box # to connect to shell and enable X-tunneling
application-to-start & # to run an app remotely and view it locally

You can also tunnell your entire desktop, but you'd have to search for information on how to do that.

There are also things like VNC but I always considered that something for use between Windows and Linux.

All I ever need is simple X-tunnelling.