If all you need is a command line, you could telnet to the machine.
I discovered that you could also use the "twm" window manager instead
(included in the default installation) which won't conflict with gnome.
Just put the following in your .vnc/xstartup file instead of gnome-session
or startkde:
xsetroot -solid grey
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
twm &
It will open a nicely low-bandwitdth optimized window, no wallpaper, with
just an xterm window and command prompt. From there, you can launch almost
anything you want (like gedit) if you know the command. You can also hold
down the left mouse button on the desktop to see a list of command. I
wonder if there is a way to add some kind of launch pad to this thing.
Now if I could only figure out how to get rid of the following error message:
Xlib: extension "RENDER" missing on display ":1.0".
From what I have been able to gather, this is an informative message and
not an error. It means that the Render extension isn't part of the vnc
video driver. The extension helps render anti-aliased fonts. Now I also
understand that Render is supported in X 4.1 (not sure what that means
yet). I know it must be a VNC issue since it doesn't happen at the console.
FYI: There is a command called xdpyinfo which can provide you with lots of
info about your video card drivers, even the virtual VNC video driver!
Michael Milette
At 10:57 AM 2002-12-11, Justin Fields wrote:
>I actually just got it working, using a clue Michael gave. I logged out of
>Gnome, then brought back up a command-line (fail-safe mode) RedHat session.
> >From there, I could connect via VNC from my Windows box and everything runs
>fine, using Gnome. This appears to avoid the problem of multiple Gnome
>sessions running concurrently.
>
>It isn't a big deal to me whether I can run multiple graphical sessions
>simultaneously. It would be nice, but not essential. My Linux application is
>really pretty moderate at this point. All I'm trying to do is get Linux up
>and running on 7 boxes, then install and configure Samba, so I can run them
>as Windows-compatible fileservers. My hope is that once they are set up,
>they should be pretty stable and low-maintenance.
>
>Where my desire for VNC came in was sheer laziness. Who wants to get up and
>walk over to the server room and work on a KVM, when I could do it all from
>my desk? In typical IT fashion, I'd rather bang my head against a wall for a
>brief while and figure out how to insure my perpetual slackerness
>thereafter. ;-)
>
>Justin
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kelly F. Hickel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 10:04 AM
>To: Justin Fields; Michael Milette
>Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: VNC under RedHat 8.0 (was RE: Linux VNC Newbie Question)
>
>
>You need to make sure that you are properly setting the DISPLAY
>environment variable in your shells. I've seen a lot of people write
>"export DISPLAY=localhost:0" in their .cshrc/.bash_profile/.profile/etc.
>This is fine if you're always logged into the console (:0), but now your
>display is :9, so you need to do "export DISPLAY=localhost:9".
>
>Kelly F. Hickel
>Senior Software Architect
>MQSoftware, Inc
>952.345.8677
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Justin Fields [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 8:49 AM
>To: 'Michael Milette'
>Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
>Subject: RE: VNC under RedHat 8.0 (was RE: Linux VNC Newbie Question)
>
>When I chose VNC in the initial install, only the viewer was installed.
>Same
>as you. I went back and added the server component from CD #3 by
>selecting
>the server package and installing it.
>
>I followed your instructions on the file change in .vnc/xstartup. I ran
>vncserver, specifying a display number. For example:
>
>vncserver : 9
>
>That will make the display number 9, then I can connect to it from my
>Windows machine by connecting to 'IPADDRESS:9'. Specifying the display
>number means that you don't have to see what VNCServer made as it
>increments
>upward. That worked fine, and this time, I got the Gnome desktop.
>Hooray!
>But.... when I go through the VNC connection and open a file or try to
>view
>something with gedit, it comes up on the Linux box, but not via the VNC
>connection. Argh!
>
>So close....
>
>Thanks for the help. I'm gradually getting this stuff. The problem is
>that
>I'm brand new to Linux, as well as dealing with the VNC issues.
>
>Justin
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Milette [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 5:08 PM
>To: Justin Fields; 'Tim Waugh'
>Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
>Subject: VNC under RedHat 8.0 (was RE: Linux VNC Newbie Question)
>
>
>I just went though the exact same scenario today. I installed vnc using
>the
>Add Remove Packages tool first. After many unsuccessful attempts at
>trying
>to figure out how to run vncserver from the command line, I gave up and
>decided that only vncviewer must have been installed with RH 8.0 and not
>
>necessarily the server. So I un-installed it, downloaded and installed
>the
>latest TightVNC rpm instead (yes, I know it is only recommended for RH
>Linux versions up to 7.x).
>
>The only way I could get it to work though was to edit the .vnc/xstartup
>
>file and replace the last line:
>
>exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
>
>...with the following two lines:
>
>unset SESSION_MANAGER
>gnome-session &
>
>A few notes:
>
>- I have no idea why xinitrc doesn't work.
>
>- This assumes you want to run the gnome session manager. You need the
>unset line because gnome-session doesn't appear to like being run in two
>
>places at the same time. This seems to get around the problem. It's not
>pretty but it works. As a result, you will see the occasional error
>message
>appear in the log files and in the remote session. This is most likely
>due
>to the fact that I obviously am running blind and haven't any clue as to
>
>what I am doing (yet!). However it does work well enough to enable me to
>
>push forward and learn more. Maybe one day I might even have a clue of
>what
>I am doing.
>
>- If you prefer KDE, use "startkde &" instead of the gnome-session line.
>
>You might not need the unset line either with KDE. Of course you should
>install KDE first as it doesn't come installed by default in RH 8.0.
>
>- The xstartup file appears to be read or run (not sure) when you run
>vncserver from the command line. So if you make a change to the file,
>you
>will need to stop your vncserver and then restart it again for the
>changes
>to take effect. This by itself had me going for a while. It seemed that
>no
>matter what I did, it never had any effect.
>
>- The display number seems to always start at 1, unlike the Windows
>server
>which starts at 0 by default. So you will need to add the :1 when
>running
>the vncviewer. Actually, it is probably best to take note of the
>"display"
>number when you start up the vncserver.
>
>- I am assuming you have figured out that you need to run
>
> vncserver -kill :displaynumber
>
>...to stop a vncserver. If not, now you do.
>
>- I haven't figured out how to do remote screen takeover of the
>currently
>running gnome console session. The above information will start a new
>gnome
>session. If anyone has a suggestion or two on how to do this (to enable
>me
>to do remote user support), it would be appreciated.
>
>By the way, does anyone know if it is possible to disable the wallpaper
>like WinVNC does when you connect?
>
>I am still learning about Linux. Please don't flame me if I am doing
>something dumb. However if anyone has some suggestions on how to do it
>better, I would very much appreciate hearing from them.
>
>TIP: You can use "gedit" to edit the file. It is much easier to use and
>I
>never did get the hang of vi.
>
>
>
> Hope it helps a little...
>
> Michael Milette
>
>At 12:28 PM 2002-12-10, Justin Fields wrote:
>
> >Tim,
> >
> >I saw that VNC came as an installable Redhat package, but (perhaps
> >mistakenly) wanted to make sure I had the most up to date version. So I
>did
> >deselect the VNC option and go from scratch. Silly me.
> >
> >On an entirely separate machine, I installed RedHat 8, this time, with
>the
> >VNC option. I got both the viewer and server installed. It took awhile
>for
> >me to find out how to view all the hidden files, but I have that
> >accomplished now. I checked the .vnc/xstartup file, and it looks
>exactly
> >like the one you gave me.
> >
> >I used the VNC viewer on my Windows box and managed to connect to the
>new
> >RedHat box using:
> >
> >IPADDRESS:1
> >
> >What I see at that point is a big dark grey screen with an X cursor I
>can
> >move around. The server machine has the graphical user interface, which
>I'm
> >looking to connect to.
> >
> >I must still be missing something, or misunderstanding something.
> >
> >Thanks for the fast and helpful reply.
> >
> >Justin
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Tim Waugh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> >Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 8:22 AM
> >To: Justin Fields
> >Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
> >Subject: Re: Linux VNC Newbie Question
> >
> >
> >On Tue, Dec 10, 2002 at 07:46:49AM -0500, Justin Fields wrote:
> >
> > > I got a fresh download of VNC installed on one of the new
> > > machines,
> >
> >That was your mistake. :-)
> >
> >As shipped, Red Hat Linux 8.0 comes with VNC, complete with a default
> >configuration to use the Bluecurve theme. You just had to run
> >'vncserver', and be done.
> >
> >The magic bit of configuration is in .vnc/xstartup. Change it to
> >this:
> >
> >-->
> >#!/bin/sh
> >
> ># Red Hat Linux VNC session startup script
> >exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
> ><--
> >
> >Tim.
> >*/
> >_______________________________________________
> >VNC-List mailing list
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