hey guys,
i just got VNC so that i can get a graphical look at my work computer from home.
however whenever i start a vnc server from my workplace and then try to log into it from my home....all i get is a grey background with an xterm open where i can do stuff.
also when i start the server it does not start on the default 0 screen...always starts at 1 and above.says something like screen0 is already active.
i dont know what the problem is.i do not have such a problem accessing a windows machine.
this problem occurs from both a windows viewer client and a linux viewer client.
plz let me know how i can solve this.
i am using the RealVNC client and server from realvnc.org. i am using the latest versions.
i would really appreciate some help.
thanks

You will need to edit your startup file in ~/.vnc/ if you want to load a window manager - ie put "startkde" at the end of the file. Either that or just start it from the xterm window.

The reason for starting on display 1 is that your monitor at home is likely running display 0.

thanks a lot for the tip.it works like a charm now.
i was just wondering....does REAL VNC encrypt the session?
is there and other graphical client that does?i have heard about VPN.what is that?
once again...thanks a lot.

On a windows box it doesn't really have the concept of different desktops (1,2,3...). On a Linux disktop you by default are using desktop 0. Vnc is unable to connect to that desktop (0) as it's already used... The next best things is desktop1. If you have three users who are all running vnc desktop settings (on the server) then they would have the desktop in the order in which they ran vncserver:

user1 runs vncserver at 11.51am - gets desktop1
user2 runs vncserver at 11.52am - gets desktop2
user3 runs vncserver at 11.53am - gets desktop3

When you run vncviwer each user has to take care to connect to his correct desktop, e.g:

vncviewer hostame_you_want_to_get_to:5901 (for user1)
vncviewer hostame_you_want_to_get_to:5902 (for user3)
vncviewer hostame_you_want_to_get_to:5903 (for user3)

You can substitute 58 for 59 and run with a web browser (using the java version of vncserver):

http://hostame_you_want_to_get_to:5801 (needs to be enabled)

Take alook at the web pages on http://www.realvnc.com

vnc communication is NOT encrypted, for this reason I use ssh to connect to the sever and then use port forwarding to send the vnc packets through ssh. There is plenty of material on the web, use google to get started. As a quick tip, use something like:

ssh -L 5901:localhost:5901 hostame_you_want_to_get_to

syntax:

ssh -L xx:localhost:yy hostame_you_want_to_get_to

-L - used to set up the tunnel
xx - listen on this port on the local machine
yy - redirect packets on XX to this port on the remote machine (which happens to be where vncserver should be listening).

This is really great stuff when it all works, like I say, dig around on the web.

Good luck.

Hube

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network but like Hube said above, you need to use ssh to actually encrypt the session. If you are using a windows client then you can use putty as the ssh client.