I am using remote desktop client successfully (krfb/krdc). Typically, 2 or 3 of us have sessions running, & we can if necessary get our shared files using samba. However, I would like to be able to access my session from another box.
My main reason is that one of our boxes has larger ram & processor than the others.
The other reason is that I am interested to find a simple method for eg a family or department to make good use of ageing computers- to put it another way, could one pc be made to operate as a "terminal" of another? I remember working for an accounts department in 1985 where the mainframe was as big as a freezer, there were numerous terminals, but, in addition, some of the pc's were running "emulation" to operate as terminals.

I think the title does not say what you intend. As the title indicates, you want to access your (active) session on your computer while another user is active. I don't think that is possible.

However, (if I get the meaning of your question right) it is perfectly possible to start another session on a remote terminal. It doesn't make any difference whether is it you or another users who starts another session. You can not start a session on another computer, and then come home and continue this session at your own computer. This is also not "desktop sharing". You don't share a desktop, you start a new session.

I forgot what the correct terminology is, whether you start the X server on the remote machine, or you start it on the local machine and direct the display to the remote machine. Don't forget, in Linux the thing that displays the picture is the X server and your application is the X client.

Now the bad news, although I am sure that it exists, but I cannot give you detailed information how to do it. There is plenty of information in Google, and you best search for Debian specific directions. I think "debian remote session desktop" should give you some hits. There is also another problem, you have to allow on the central machine that a remote display is used. I never succeeded in that, but the last time I tried was in Sarge.

Sorry that I cannot be more specific. I hope it helps anyway.

jlinkels

I think this is very easy for you to set up.
On your big server, you need to start vncservers for each of your users, each on a different display.
You could put these lines at the end of /etc/rc.local

If user1 wants a connection to their session on the server they connect to it like this:

vncviewer server:1

user4 connects like this:

vncviewer server:4

users 1 and 2 can be connected at the same time (they will not interfere with each other as they are using different displays)

I have icons (Eg Office, Server etc.) on my desktop for opening vnc sessions on other computers on my LAN. It works very well

Why use "SPAMMER'S APPLICATION" (which you have to pay for) when all you need can be simply accomplished with simple, native linux, open-source tools?
NO WAY am I going to use your application!

You wouldn't be advertising for them would you Roza? (Roza registered today. First post = "Hello, Hello", at 17:13 today. Next post, above, one minute later, at 17:14, and is SPAM)

Googling "roza livelook" threw this up as the first hit: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/4/946/ABB in addition to this post in another forum: http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...27&postcount=3

SPAM indeed.

how about using freenx + nxclient ?

sessions can be left "open" even after disconnecting, so you could continue working at home exactly where you left. accessing active "normal" x sessions only works with the (free) nxserver from nomachine.com though.

@PC101
Thanks, I've reported it, and will edit out of my post references to his wretched site.

@rtspitz,
vnc sessions also stay "open", when you close the local viewer, the vncserver stays running on the server, and it'll be as you left it, when you reconnect.

but it's kinda slow...

maybe this is advertising too, but freenx is impressively fast

@LQ Mods - well that was fast, efficient and effective! The spam post has completely disapeared, which now makes this thread read rather strangely [tredegar apparently directs a rant at a non-existant post ], no matter.

There's also xtightvncviewer and tightvncserver which are faster, but I thought I'd start simply as "freenx" isn't in my (k)ubuntu repositories. Thanks for the suggestion though.
No, it's not (and I hope you can understand why)

But the OP, sonichedgehog, hasn't been back has and missed all the fun (and the advice).

I apologize for a post which sounded like an add. I received an email pointing out that there are other ways we can deliver our message to Linux users on this forum and we intend to explore those possibilities.

I never intended to hide my association with LiveLOOK. If that was my intention I would have used a false name.

Different blogs have different rules and definition of spam is unfortunately very subjective (as illustrated even in this thread).

I understand there are some devoted proponents of open source, and there is NO WAY they are going to use any service which is not free. They also have to realize that their skill level is significantly higher than that of an average user.

People who developed LiveLOOK are formally from Bell Labs – the same place VNC came from – with 16 years of experience developing conferencing systems. And we think the main reason why screen sharing is still not as common as say chat because it is still relatively complex.

In order to be accepted by majority:
It should work on any OS – Linux, Mac or Windows.
It should work with any firewall / NAT, etc… without requiring user to configure anything.
And finally, in this day and age it should be completely Web Based (like Google apps).

Instead 99.9% of systems out there is some variation of VNC which is an executable you have to download (at least for a presenter). No wonder, everybody copies from the same source

Once again, my apologies if I violated any rules. I sincerely hope that this post will also not be classified as an advertising

Roza Dabaghyan
LiveLOOK.net

The OP had come obviously to the correct site anyway, but unfortunately no one (including myself) directed him to the correct page: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...top_connection

And indeed, NX is one of the alternatives mentioned here.

jlinkels

Hi Tredegar, jlinkels, rtspitz-
The gap between my original post and this reply is typical for me... I enjoy this site so much that I have to stay away while I'm at work- and looking at the activity that I have accidentally generated, it was just as well on this occasion!

Your advice is most welcome, and I will work on it when I have the amount of time it deserves. Just for now though...

Thank you for the link. The free nx software is accessible and extensively documented, but not, I am afraid, readily intelligible for my level of ability.

However, the vncserver suggestion seems to be the most direct route. I assume that the server will need to create an invitation using krfb or similar (after the etc/rclocal modification)- then #vncviewer*** from terminal on the "thin" machine- is this correct, or will I need to launch the invitation in some other way?

No, it's even easier than that: On the server, the command
( Which needs to be run as root, as it will be if you put it in /etc/rc.local )
Starts a virtual session on display :1 for user1 which justs sits there, doing nothing until somebody connects to it with
from a "thin" machine (or even the server itself!). A window opens on the thin machine, displaying the servers :1 display desktop.

They can then start a program running on the server in this window, disconnect by closing the window, then later reconnect with vncviewer IP.OF.SER.VER:1 and their program will still be running.

Note: If you are going to play with networking like this, it is a very good idea to make sure that when you create usernames on your server, that their UIDs and GIDs are the same as the username's UIDs and GIDs on the thin machines.

Thanks, I'll post again with result in a few days

Made the suggested change to rc.local... problem now is:
$ vncviewer server:1
vncviewer: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Hopping around the net, this is a common error message but none of the posts seem to lead to a solution, including, I think, on LQ. Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough? I can't see anything that exactly fits the bill in synaptic, and don't want to get into installing stuff at random. I haven't spent long on this because as you all use Debian or similar I hoped you might have dealt with this...?