Tight VNC Server/Viewer (Now with GUI!)

[pakt]

rarsa, I've been working with TightVNC for some time now learning how it works and trying to understand some problems I've had with it. I've also got a prototype 'Puppy VNC Server Wizard' working using xmessage in a script a la BarryK's Video Wizard (actually, I've borrowed a lot of the code from that wizard ).

First off, I've discovered why I couldn't get the xterm line in xstartup to work (after removing the # of course ). There is an error when xstartup is created by vncserver. Here is the original code:

echo "#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &" >> "$xstartup"

which results in:

#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title X11 Desktop &

Note that the quotation marks have disappeared from around 'X11 Desktop'. This turns 'Desktop' into a parameter, which xterm rejects and therefore fails to start. The line in vncserver should be:

echo -e "#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title \"$VNCDESKTOP Desktop\" &" >> "$xstartup"

preserving the quotation marks.

Now for the main problem that I seem to have (finally) fixed. I haven't had any problems starting VNC servers from within fvwm95, but when running Puppy in text mode and starting a VNC server, I only got an X window and mouse cursor on the client - the lines in xstartup didn't seem to work. It appears that this was caused by the DISPLAY variable (set in vncserver) not being exported. When vncserver starts the xstartup script, $DISPLAY is blank. I changed this line in the vncserver 'runXstartup' function from:

DISPLAY=:${displayNumber}

to

export DISPLAY=:${displayNumber}

now vncserver works like a charm when running Puppy in text mode!

[miamuy]

a big thanks there, pakt! i'm have that same problem, done your solution & works for me. thanks!

[pakt]

a big thanks there, pakt! i'm have that same problem, done your solution & works for me. thanks!

Appreciate your feedback, miamuy. Glad it worked for you too

You may be interested to know that I've been in contact with rarsa and sent him a prototype VNC Server Wizard that I've made. I was thinking he might be able to use it as is or modified to his liking in his VNC-pup package.

[rarsa]

I'll be rebuilding the VNC install soon at the request of Barry.

[rarsa]

I've released a new version of the vncserver. It was a necessary update for puppy 1.0.5, but it will run in older puppys.

http://www.murga.org/%7Epuppy/viewtopic.php?p=5943#5943

Thanks to all the feedback and testing from patk (forum name), it has a substantially improved interface for new users.

patk created a prototype wizard from which I built uppon. The result was quite pleasing to both of us. Hopefully it will also be for you.

Here is the changelog:
# Edit Sept 29, 2005 -> New installation version uploaded. (1.2.9-0.6)
- New vncserver-wizard included. Thanks to pakt for the initial prototype and for his patience and feedback testing the following versions.
- The xstartup executes jwm by default
- Faster vncserver -l command
- Rox cursor and Pinboard lanunched by default on the new displays. Thanks to pakt for the advice.


So there it is for you to try and provide feedback.

[Jinxes]

A little bit of an older thread, however I wanted to know if there was any way to get vncconnect to show me the current desktop, not a new instanced desktop.

Also, when I ran Xvnc as display 1 when I used vncconnect to connect to my laptop, it came up with a black screen, no windows manager at all.

Both problems are vexing as I use VNC Connect to help people troubleshoot their computer.

[rarsa]

Although you can access your primary display with the vncclient, you don't share it with vncserver.

If you see other distributions, they use other applications to shrare the primary dislpay.

KDE has an application called krfb. I haven't tried to compile it as for me the vncserver is good enough. If I need to share a desktop, I share a secondary desktop and I connect to it as localhost:1.

Here is some info if you want to pursue the krfb
http://docs.kde.org/development/en/kdenetwork/krfb/
http://ait.web.psi.ch/services/linux/kd ... haring.htm

I started looking at that some time ago but I seem to remember that it had too many dependencies to the KDE.

Good luck.

[Guest]

Although you can access your primary display with the vncclient, you don't share it with vncserver.

If you see other distributions, they use other applications to shrare the primary dislpay.

KDE has an application called krfb. I haven't tried to compile it as for me the vncserver is good enough. If I need to share a desktop, I share a secondary desktop and I connect to it as localhost:1.

Here is some info if you want to pursue the krfb
http://docs.kde.org/development/en/kdenetwork/krfb/
http://ait.web.psi.ch/services/linux/kd ... haring.htm

I started looking at that some time ago but I seem to remember that it had too many dependencies to the KDE.

Good luck.

Thanks for the help, I'll have to look into that later when I have more time.

[rarsa]

Meanwhile to work with your clients:

1. Ask them to start a vncserver session. I always prefer to start a session with a lower resoultion than my main display, so if my main display is 1024x768, I create the session with a geometry of 800x600.

Code: Select all

vncserver -geometry 800x600 -depth 24

2. Ask them to connect to the local session using vncviewer. As you are working with them you may want to create a shared session.

Code: Select all

vncviewer -shared localhost:1

3. Start your vncviewer to that same display.

Code: Select all

vncviewer -shared <yourclientIP>:1

You are now in control.

Remember that if they are behind a firewall or router they need to open and forward the corresponding port display 1 = port 5901, display 2 = port 5902, etc.

For more vncviewer options look at the man pages http://www.tightvnc.com/vncviewer.1.html

[Guest]

I didn't think of that, the sharing of the same display, however they are behind a router and port forwarding would be beyond their comprehension and attention.

It may still be a workaround since we can VNC into a server on the network and setup a make-shift port forward, however it's not a solution as much as a band-aid

That does help a lot however to at least know it is band-aid'able.

[Jinxes]

Oops, I didn't log in ><

Anywho, another thing to note, viewing the second display means that we're not actually looking at the display that has the problem, hence the reason they've called.

[Jinxes]

I found this:


http://xf4vnc.sourceforge.net/doc.html

It seems to be replacement code for TightVNC Viewer to be able to share the 0 display. However through the manual/automatic install, i can't get it to run. Any thoughts?

[rarsa]

There is one thing I can think of: Puppy does not use XFree86 out of the box. It uses XVesa.

Have you tried installing the X server provided by MU?

[ssorrrell]

I'm getting this error from dotput when I try to install the tightvnc server package.

File Integrity ERROR: TightVNC.Server.1.2.9.pup

Suggestion: Download the Pup file again

[GuestToo]

i just downloaded it, checked the md5sum, and it seems to be ok

your file is probably corrupted ... it probably did not download properly, which is why the suggestion, Download the Pup file again ... (you may have to clear your cache)

if the md5sum system was not built into the dotpup, you would have installed corrupted files, and they would not work properly, and we would all be wondering why

if you have not got enough space in /root to unzip the dotpup file, you will also get this error (it will try to unzip the files, but if there is not enough space, some of the files will not unzip completely and there will be an md5sum error)

[rarsa]

ssorrrell:

The link from the DotPup Manager is broken. Please download it from the first page in this thread.

Here is a shortcut: http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

GuestToo,

Could you please update the link in the Wikki page?

When I update a package I change the version but the wikki keeps pointing to the old file.

MU's DotPup package installer, is based on the wikki, so users get that error when trying to download.

I'm guessing this will always happen whenever people update their packages.

[GuestToo]

i fixed the link
it's probably not the only broken link

if you Upload New Version it usually doesn't change the address of the file

[rarsa]

I rename the pup file with each version to keep track.

[Jinxes]

There is one thing I can think of: Puppy does not use XFree86 out of the box. It uses XVesa.

Have you tried installing the X server provided by MU?

I'm sorry but you lost me there, I got that the X servers are not compatible out of the box, however what X server is provided by MU?

I've never heard of MU so any help would be awesome.

[rarsa]

Search the forum for Xserver. MU (Forum name) provided a DotPup.

Beware that you will need to configure it for your card/monitor/mouse.