Linux headless desktop?

I need to control a Linux machine over the Internet.
I need someone to turn on (and off when needed). And then be able to just login. The end user - on the other side won't be technically competent to help make connection.

I looked into Raspberry Pi. That seemed to have the answer. But it's painfully slow - just browsing with one single tab is painful and hogs the cpu for long times.

No worries I thought...
I'll just use a laptop with Linux.
The user on the other side can be responsible for turning on and off and nothing else.

I've searched YouTube. I don't find anything. Only headless server setup or raspberry pi.

Am I missing something?
If possible on raspberry pi then should be the same for a full laptop?

Thanks.

Yes.

There's nothing special about a server other than that it serves up (or makes available) files to other computers. It's just a machine that serves. The only requirement is that it be sufficiently brawny to support the number of expected connections, which, in this case, does not seem to be an issue.

You might also consider looking for a used machine, laptop or desktop, say at a thrift store or second-hand shop. You can often find machines which are quite suitable to work as a server but which you might want to use as a desktop machine these days. The only other recommendation I would make is to use a wired connection for the server, not a wireless one, in the interest of stability.

Define Control. What is the purpose of the computer?

Headless usually means no destop but you can control any system using ssh including shut down.

if i understand correctly, what you want is usually achieved by installing a server admin gui software (e.g. cPanel) on the server, and access that remotely through a browser interface (web gui).

Thanks for the replies guys.
I want to setup a way of controlling and managing accounts for my clients.
It's important I manage the account from their locations.

First off: you guys are saying what I want to do will work with no problems.

Has to be wireless over the net - so security is always a big concern.

I saw a video where someone controlled a machine using vnc connection. They used putty. They launched Firefox on their side.

I wasn't sure how this setup was working. The machine he was connected to has no desktop. He's running Firefox, but the gui part is on his side only. Is that correct?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by enginestar Has to be wireless over the net - so security is always a big concern.

you can't have it both ways; security and convenience are usually mutually exclusive.
you just have to find your middle ground.
[ though if you stick to ssh with keys, it's secure enough over whatever network. ]
i suggest you just start with cPanel or some such (there's open source alternatives to that).

I saw a video where someone controlled a machine using vnc connection. They used putty. They launched Firefox on their side.

putty is for windows. on linux you don't need it.

I wasn't sure how this setup was working. The machine he was connected to has no desktop. He's running Firefox, but the gui part is on his side only. Is that correct?

possibly.

again, try cpanel or some such. you'll soon understand how this works.
basically: a web server doesn't need to have a gui, but you can still view web pages (and that's all that cpanel is in the end) on the client side's graphical browser.

You could try googling 'administer remote linux machine'. This is the first hit: https://www.techrepublic.com/article...ons-with-ease/