vnc remote access

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From: "Brian K. White" <brian@aljex.com>
Subject: VNC
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 08:09:10 GMT

I just had to say, to whoever is responsible for proting vnc to osr5
WOW! Thanks! .... WOW!

I have been using vnc for a few months with great happiness on linux and
windows boxes.
I had never had the time (or likely the ability) to get it to build on SCO,
so I'd just been living without.

I just found "tightvnc" on the skunkware site and after working around a few
install and startup glitches, it works Great! and best of all, it even comes
with a http version of the server and built in java client. You just http to
//www.server.com:5801/ with plain old internet explorer and slam you are
looking at sco's xdt3 (or whatever x desktop you choose to put into the vnc
xstartup file)


here is what I had to do to get it running, it definetly did not work out of
the box, but someone did a great job with all the *hard* stuff, what's left
is odd enough that I think many people wouldn't get it, but little and
fast/easy enough to fix if someone told you what to do, that I feel like
documenting it here so the next guy can just grab and go...


here is the recipe from start to finish:

=== begin ===

cd /
ftp ftp2.caldera.com
cd /pub/skunkware/osr5/www/tightvnc
get tightvnc-1.2.2-dist.tar.gz
quit
gzcat tightvnc-1.2.2-dist.tar.gz |tar xvf -
ln -s /etc/init.d/vncserver /etc/rc2.d/S99vncserver
mkdir /usr/X11R6
mkdir /usr/X11R6/lib
ln -s /usr/lib/X11 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
/etc/init.d/vncserver start

=== end ===

after you set the password (only need to do that once, it won't ask next
time you run it) it's now running, but I went a just a teensy bit further
and did the following for a more than teensy bit nicer experience...


=== begin ===

/etc/init.d/vncserver stop
vi /.vnc/xstartup
-----begin - make it just have these three lines alone---
  PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin/X11 ; export PATH
  [ -f $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
  scosession &
-----end-----
/etc/init.d/vncserver start

=== end ===


You can connect to it either of two ways,

A) install the regular windows vncviewer from the vnc home page / download
site (or linux or any of the platforms shown there that have vncviewers
available) and in the viewer connect prompt put in "yourserver:1"

or (and here is the stunning part)

B) Don't install anything, just point your web browser at
http://yourserver:5801/
and you are looking at your X desktop through a java vnc client without a
shred of pre-arranged setup necessary on the client PC.


This just rocks...

I can't wait to develop some sort of customized window manager setup to use
in conjunction with this, so I can web-enable and graphically dress-up my
application like never before. plus now users can use all the cool apps the
previously only worked on the console or another unix/bsd/linux box's
console (I deliberately refuse to aknowledge the viability of any so-called
windows x servers...)

actually, the amount of data that must transfer sort still make web use
mostly not practical except for special cases, but in-house it might be a
great alternative to the standard terminal-emulator-on-the-PC's approach for
those customers who just need candy in order to feel like they are getting a
lot for their money...

I'm thinking of window manager buttons preconfigured to open into various
screens of the app, gv to preview printed output, any number of
possibilities for an image viewer to view incoming faxes, maybe preview
outgoing too, I already have a mechanism for integrating a collection of
images with our filepro app by using terminal emulator "run program"
features and a web browser, but it seems like this might be a way to offer
something a little more slick for those customers who need more flash, since
you are effectively running an x desktop, you can run any unix command,
control and customize just exactly where and how certain windows open,
something cool could be done with the window manager desktop panner/pager I
think too... definetly start off by using one of the skunkware window
managers like windowmaker for a slicker look...

I don't know what all I'll think of just yet, but it seems to me that having
access to an X desktop instead of just a terminal window and stupid browser
tricks just has to open up the possibility for some pretty cool stuff...

tying in with another thread... at the very least I can practically
eliminate headless processes cnsuming all the cpu from users hitting the
corner X button... no more misconfigured terminal emulators, no more users
opening up new window after new window simply because they don't realise
they are getting minimised to the task bar...(yes, I actually have users
like that... most avctually) quick-n-dirty little tcl/tk scripts to pop up
simple bar graphs from the otherwise text-only app... heck quick-n-dirty
little tcl/tk front-ends to at least some of the applications features that
don't necessarily need a normal full-interactive text screen like reports
and menus... hmm, "system" commands can now pop up new windows so it is more
clear to the user that they in fact just spawned a new task and didn't just
switch to another screen, so they know better when they should back out of
something instead of just leaving a longer and longer trail of open files
and locked records behind them all day...

at the very very least you can use this as an inefficient but
"Always-Available / Always-Works" way to log in to your office unix box
without having to have a good scoansi terminal emulator on the users PC. I
know putty is already pretty handy for that because it's a stand-alone
binary you can download and run without "installing" but even there you must
at least select a few emulation options before you can go, this just works
immediately and you only need to type in your url into the web browser and
that's _it_ (that and wait for the slow graphics screen draws but hey...
*shrug*) :)

ahhh! too cool...


--
Brian K. White  --  brian@aljex.com  --  http://www.aljex.com/bkw/
+++++[>+++[>+++++>+++++++<<-]<-]>>+.>.+++++.+++++++.-.[>+<---]>++.
filePro BBx  Linux SCO  Prosper/FACTS AutoCAD  #callahans Satriani

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