# server/client remote-desktop question{solved}

## muhsinzubeir

can somebody point me in a correct direction, ive been googling en going almost crazzy.I have never used remote-desktop, but I think now its time for me to play around in that area...so call me a noob in the subject if you want. I just want to be able to access other machines{incl.microsoft based} out of my network && access my gentoo box when im out of my network.That means im willing to access my machine remotely over the internet in both direction when im on the road, and sometimes acts as a client to access other machines when im behind my gentoo box.

Any suggestion/links/howto pls feel free?..planning to play around this subject this wkn.

P.S

Im experimenting this matter for learning purposes with my gentoo box.

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## andreac

I've found NX to be very effective in this task, really better than vnc. I use it every day at home and at work and now is about one year that I'm using it. It is not free but there is an open implementation called freenx. The bad is that there isn't a version of the server for windows (at least I don't know).

The server is in portage: 

```
net-misc/nxserver-freenx
```

 and if you want the client, build it with 

```
nxclient
```

 USE on.

Warning: if you build it without that USE and then you turn on it, you must first unmerge the server before you can re-emerge it.

The client for windows is free downloadable from the Nomachine site: www.nomachine.com

Configuration and use is straightforward, so you shouldn't have problems, otherwise, let me know!

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## muhsinzubeir

thanks im at work now cant test that nx...but is that nxserver for free?I came under a gentoo doc tht needs me to buy license  :Shocked: 

http://www.gentoo.ro/doc/en/nx-guide.xml

Edited:

P:S

Understood, there's howto  :Wink: 

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_FreeNX_Server

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## andreac

Yes, the nx-guide refers to the commercial version of nx, not to the free implementation that is covered on the wiki. Note that wiki is a bit outdated, for example the ebuild is not masked now. Good luck   :Wink: 

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## muhsinzubeir

thanks andreac...seemed like nx is the best choice for my gentoobox, as it support rdp&&vnc till now i can report that i was capable to access a remote laptop on my LAN running winxp using my gentoobox.But that is only with rdesktop not with nxclient.I am stuck with this port stuffs of nx...im stuck if i use nx from both machines i get connection refused on port 22...So I havent been able to access my gentoobox from the windowxp, can you help me out on this?

The nx logging leave this one for me to figure out

```
NX> 203 NXSSH running with pid: 17840

NX> 285 Enabling check on switch command

NX> 285 Enabling skip of SSH config files

NX> 285 Setting the preferred NX options

ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.103 port 22: No route to host
```

thanks....

PS

There is a small part talking about this on gentoo-wiki, but no idea wht it is probably out of date

PS Edit

Well the error now got almost fixed my window_xp looks like it can connect but there are some auth issues.Notice the above error is on the IP adress my gentoobox is on 192.168.0.102

Here is the error when my window connects to gentoobox:

```
NX> 203 NXSSH running with pid: 3320

NX> 285 Enabling check on switch command

NX> 285 Enabling skip of SSH config files

NX> 285 Setting the preferred NX options

NX> 200 Connected to address: 192.168.0.102 on port: 22

NX> 202 Authenticating user: nx

NX> 208 Using auth method: publickey

NX> 204 Authentication failed.

```

Solution

I quit playing with that nx stuffs, there is no need for that.After all nx uses vnc && rdesktop so I think it only increase the complication of the situation i dont see any point of using nx while vnc && rdesktop are independent packages.Anyway try it out, it just never worked with me.  :Smile: 

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## andreac

Sorry for my late answer, but I was out this days.

If I understand, You stopped to try NX and you are using vnc and rdesktop, true?

I use NX because it is faster than vnc and it use ssh for tunnelling by default,

and it worked without problems in every setup.

Moreover, nx is different from the others because it is a stand alone X server

dedicated to the remote desktop (I'm not an expert of this, I hope to not make mistakes)

so you don't need xorg running for using it.

If you are still interested:

for the auth problem, i see 

 *Quote:*   

> NX> 202 Authenticating user: nx 

 

is nx a current user on your gentoo box ?

If yes, may be a pam related problem.

If you try to connect via ssh with that user it works?

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## muhsinzubeir

aah....emerge nx will pull in vnc automatically, thats why i believed tht they are using vnc.

ssh working but nx doesnt work, i might look at it later on.As that vnc is making some few little tiny things that i dont like.It doesnt use the physical display {they claim of supporting multiple user session login by default}, but the matter of fact there is some overlapping of application on the vnc session en my physical display.Havent resolved tht yet.

Anyway, my major goal to play around with this was to build a machine to replace traditional Set-top-box .Then my remote control would be my desktop, so far after that wkn the only oss which was working maturely about remote desktop was window xp.Coz the only remote desktop was a friends laptop which runs window xp.En that operating system is not on the list for the purpose, which still will force me to explore more of the remote desktop en the whole idea.

But i do need something that will use physical display and support high resolution as well.Anyway thanks ill see again how it goes when i get more time as i have to find a company for graduation assignment to complete my studies.So i better spend time on that in the mean while. as playin with gentoo never finishes  :Smile:  :Smile: 

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## muhsinzubeir

looks like port setup en server setup is correct but authontication keys arent working.

```
The NX service is not available or the NX access was disabled on the host <ip address>
```

Can you paste me your keys to check if it can work here?..or may be how do i generate new keys  :Rolling Eyes: 

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## andreac

Hi muhsinzubeir,

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> > The NX service is not available or the NX access was disabled on the host <ip address>
> 
> 

 

Try to clean Your setup and using the default keys

```

nxsetup --uninstall --purge --clean

nxsetup --install --setup-nomachine-key

```

and rember to setup users and passwords with

```

nxserver --useradd xxxxx

nxserver --passwd xxxxx

```

And this is my node.conf

```

NX_LOG_LEVEL=3

AGENT_EXTRA_OPTIONS_X="-xkbdir /usr/share/X11/xkb"

```

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