2008-12-01

Ubuntu (VNC) Server

This isn't likely to surprise anyone, but I'll post it here to remind myself of the procedure. This is how I make an Ubuntu Server box that several people can use at once, either from 'VNC viewer' software running on a computer or from a VNC–capable graphical terminal:

  1. Install Ubuntu Server on a suitable computer
  2. Install binary packages for VNC, Xfce and any other software that the users will need (SeaMonkey, OpenOffice.org etc.).
  3. Create user accounts and arrange for the VNC server instances to start automatically
  4. Edit the .vnc/xstartup scripts to use Xfce
  5. Fix the Xfce "panel" menu bar
  6. Test, rinse and repeat.

5 comments:

Roy Hayward said...

"# Edit the .vnc/xstartup scripts to use Xfce"

Are you trying to leave out the details. Maybe an example of this file.

People are finding this post because something didn't work.

Andrew Ball said...

#!/bin/sh
# dilute to taste
/usr/X11R6/bin/startxfce4

Gerard Lally said...

You can proxy vnc through xrdp - it makes for a much smoother experience. Setup is reasonably straightforward: install xrdp and start the service, then connect to the server using rdesktop instead of using a vnc viewer.

edo said...

nice infoo

Andrew Ball said...

I'm tying this via VNC on a box that's running a Xubuntu variant. It's fast enough over the LAN that I forget I'm not actually sitting at the machine where the desktop is running. It's now even more simple to set up than it was when I wrote the original post.