[SOLVED] Walkthrough or guide to run Slackware 13 as a rdp server

MonctonJohn · 09-21-2009, 08:51 AM

Hey LQers,

I just installed Slack 13 x64 after a few years with Kubuntu. I missed slackware so I just had to come back.

I would really love to be able to connect to my Slack desktop from my gfs XP laptop (so I can "spend more time" with her).

I tried KRFB but its a pain and the colors and resolution on the XP session made it pretty unusable.

I would like to set something up like a service that runs in the background listening for connections then I can login (preferably to a new KDM session, not the session I'm already logged into).

Can anyone tell me what is the best software for this:

The KDE experience should be all there (no bad color and choppy screen, my LAN can handle it)
Log into a new KDM session
Running in the background listening for connections

Thanks in advance

allend · 09-21-2009, 11:45 AM

The solution that I use is to install Cygwin on the XP machine, do startx in Cygwin and then use ssh with X11 forwarding ( ssh -Y <linux server> ). On the server you need to have sshd running and X11 forwarding enabled ( requires a little editing of sshd_config ). This allows me to log into the server and run a GUI app with good graphics. You cannot have a full KDE session though.

You could also consider nxclient, but is a proprietary solution for the server side software. If your girlfriend is only a short term proposition, perhaps the evaluation version will suffice :-).

Alien Bob · 09-21-2009, 01:19 PM

Try installing FreeNX (the free clone of NoMachine's NX server) on the Slackware box. Packages here: http://slackware.com/~alien/slackbui...nx/pkg64/13.0/ . After installation of the nx and freenx packages, no further configuration is required, but you are free to look at /etc/nxserver/node.conf.
Then, install a NX client for Windows on the other box: http://www.nomachine.com/download-client-windows.php and run through it's wizard to configure a session that uses KDE as the desktop.

NX encrypts and compresses the traffic so that even over a slower than LAN link, you will still get a responsive desktop (one of the NX client's configuration elements is the type of connection you have, ranging from modem to LAN).

On a LAN, where you do not need compression of the X server's traffic to get a fluid X desktop, you can use the XDMCP protocol to connect from the Windows box to the Slackware machine. Read http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/runn...on-ms-windows/ on how to configure your Slackware box to listen for XDMCP requests.
The windows side either needs Cygwin/X or Xming. In my opinion, the Xming software is the easiest to install and it comes with a connection "wizard".

Eric

MonctonJohn · 09-21-2009, 04:56 PM

Thanks for the tips.

I tried the NX installation and ran nxsetup --install but I got warnings and errors:

Code:

Warning: Could not find nxdesktop in /usr/bin. RDP sessions won't work.
Warning: Could not find nxviewer in /usr/bin. VNC sessions won't work.
Warning: Invalid value "APPLICATION_LIBRARY_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/NX/lib/libX11.so.6.2:/usr/lib64/NX/lib/libXext.so.6.4:/usr/lib64/NX/lib/libXcomp.so:/usr/lib64/NX/lib/libXcompext.so:/usr/lib64/NX/lib/libXrender.so.1.2". /usr/lib64/NX/lib/libXcomp.so could not be found. Users will not be able to run a single application in non-rootless mode.
Warning: Invalid value "COMMAND_FOOMATIC=/usr/lib64/cups/driver/foomatic-ppdfile"
         Users will not be able to use foomatic.
Warning: Invalid value "COMMAND_START_GNOME=gnome-session"
         Users will not be able to request a Gnome session.
Warning: Invalid value "COMMAND_START_CDE=cdwm"
         Users will not be able to request a CDE session.
Warning: Invalid value "COMMAND_SMBUMOUNT=smbumount". You'll not be able to use SAMBA.
Warning: Invalid cupsd version of "/usr/sbin/cupsd". Need version 1.2.
         Users will not be able to enable printing.
Error: Could not find 1.5.0 or 2.[01].0 or 3.[01].0 version string in nxagent. NX 1.5.0 or 2.[01].0 or 3.[012].0 backend is needed for this version of FreeNX.

Any ideas?

MonctonJohn · 09-21-2009, 05:47 PM

Ok... nevermind
I just tried it and it works

Thanks

Slax-Dude · 09-22-2009, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allend

You could also consider nxclient, but is a proprietary solution for the server side software.

I use FreeNX (http://freenx.berlios.de/) and it works very well even over my mobile internet link.
It has windows and linux clients (I use nxclient from NoMachine).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

Try installing FreeNX (the free clone of NoMachine's NX server) on the Slackware box. Packages here: http://slackware.com/~alien/slackbui...nx/pkg64/13.0/ . After installation of the nx and freenx packages, no further configuration is required, but you are free to look at /etc/nxserver/node.conf.

Do you plan to have slackware 13 packages available or should I use the ones from 12.2? (the 12.2 ones don't have the client).

shadowsnipes · 09-27-2009, 09:24 PM

Another alternative is xrdp. It allows you to run a real RDP server in Linux with many uses. Anybody with a rdp client (mstsc in Windows, rdesktop in Linux) can connect to your xrdp server, and it can be used to connect vnc, X11vnc, Xrdp (true RDP server), or even bridge to another machine.

I like NX, too, but every machine that you want to use to connect to your server must have a NX client, whereas almost every machine has a RDP client.

CollieJim · 10-17-2009, 10:20 PM

I'm trying to use xrdp, but not having much luck. When I try to connect from XP Home (is Home the problem?) I get

Code:

connecting to sesman ip 127.0.0.1 port 3350
sesman connect ok
sending login info to sesman
login successful for display 10
started connecting
connecting to 12.0.0.1 5910
error - problem connecting

I've tried emerging tightvnc and x11vnc to no avail.
xhost + and xhost - have no effect.
What am I missing?

shadowsnipes · 10-17-2009, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowsnipes

... Xrdp (true RDP server), or even bridge to another machine...

meant to say X11rdp...

Quote:

Originally Posted by CollieJim

I'm trying to use xrdp, but not having much luck. When I try to connect from XP Home (is Home the problem?) I get

Code:

connecting to sesman ip 127.0.0.1 port 3350
sesman connect ok
sending login info to sesman
login successful for display 10
started connecting
connecting to 12.0.0.1 5910
error - problem connecting

I've tried emerging tightvnc and x11vnc to no avail.
xhost + and xhost - have no effect.
What am I missing?

I think the problem is that you were not running a vnc server. To connect to a vnc server via xrdp, you first must have the server started. xrdp does not do that for you as it does not make any assumptions about how you want that setup.

If you have the X11rdp binary installed, then xrdp will run that automatically when you try to connect to a true rdp session. X11vnc and tightvnc server, OTH, should first be run, and then you can connect to them via xrdp. To have the vnc started you can ssh into the box and run the vnc command (use a screen session if you want to close the ssh connection), or you can have your vnc server command run automatically when your box boots.

Also keep in mind that X11vnc connects to the root display (usually port 5900 for display :0), while vnc usually uses the next available display (usually port 5901 for display :1).

When I use xrdp I usually either connect to X11rdp or I first ssh into the box and run X11vnc before starting the vnc component of xrdp. Which I use depends on if I need the real (root) display or not.

CollieJim · 10-17-2009, 11:59 PM

Thanks. I will look for the x11rdp binary. I tried building it from the xrdp source (0.4.1) but the instructions were far from clear and did not make sense.

shadowsnipes · 10-18-2009, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CollieJim

Thanks. I will look for the x11rdp binary. I tried building it from the xrdp source (0.4.1) but the instructions were far from clear and did not make sense.

I did not even know there were instructions on how to build it. I built mine a couple of years ago with the help of one of the developers (Jay). He had me download some svn sources and run his script to build it. I actually had to tinker a bit with the script at the time to make it build properly. The resultant file I compiled is 19MB.

Since that time, the sources and his script have changed. See this other XRDP thread for more information.

I'd like to make a SlackBuild for the X11rdp binary. I'll post back if I come up with anything.

In the meantime, try contacting the developers for help. I'm sure they would appreciate the continued interest in their project.

shadowsnipes · 10-18-2009, 07:20 PM

I checked out the latest SVN (rev. 276), looked through the project forums and mailing list, and as far as I can tell X11rdp is not building on recent X.org versions.

I fiddled (heavily modified) with the included build script in the svn sources for a bit, but not all of the components would build correctly. Some are dependent on others. SW 12.2 was used to attempt building.

** will not build **
x11
xfont
xorg-server
x11rdp

I did come across this page with X11rdp binaries, but they are very old. Who knows if they are useful as all. I know mine works great with Slackware 12.x, and I have not had any problems thus far with it on Slackware 13.

I'm going to contact Jay to see if he has any ideas on how to get this working. I originally built X11rdp using Slackware 12.0, so maybe that will still work. Last I checked, it did not build on Slackware 12.1 or later, but the SVN has changed a lot since then.

grep65535 · 02-24-2010, 03:08 PM

Setup XDMCP & use MobaXTerm 2.2+
It's fast & portable(like putty) & free & will carry over all the settings you're looking for.

http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/en/

whizje · 02-24-2010, 04:54 PM

First I used XDMCP with xming then I tried freeNX but it had some small issues an now I'm back to XDMCP is also easier when connecting from my slackware laptop no setup required :-).