newbie question...

[Mark A. Taff]

On Tuesday 11 July 2006 18:29, Ron wrote:

> I was checking the nomachine NX website and agree that it looks pretty
> powerful.  I am confused on something, however.  It appears that the
> nomachine version of the server and client are both free, so why would I
> want to get freeNX?  Also, how would I go about setting it, freeNX or
> nomachineNX , on kubuntu?  Is there a good HowTo that I missed while
> googling?  Thanks for the help.
>
> Ron


nomachine has *just* made the new home version free as in beer in the last 
couple of weeks.  I haven't tried it because it is limited to 2 registered 
users, and two concurrent users as well.  That isn't enough for my needs, so 
I use FreeNX.

1.  You need to install FreeNX and knx ( `sudo apt-get install FreeNX knx` )

2.  You should have a high port for ssh, not the default of 22.  This stops 
amateur ssh login attacks against you computer.  NX doesn't depend on this 
non-standard port, but it will use an ssh port, so it is good to set this up 
now. `sudo nano /etc/ssh/ssh_cong` and `sudo nano /etc/sshd_config`.  In both 
those files, change the ssh from port 22 to port XXXX where XXXX is a high 
number.  Make sure you open port XXXX in any firewall you have!

These changes will go into effect when you reboot or ottherwise restart ssh 
(don't have access to kubuntu box right now, try `sudo /etc/init.d/sshd 
restart` or stop, then start.

Anyhow, you also need to make sure that /etc/nxserver/node.conf has port XXXX 
as your ssh port.  There are also other options in there, so read that file 
to get familiar with what is possible.

3.  Run `sudo nxsetup --setup-nomachine-key`  Do nxsetup --help to make sure I 
got that switch correct.  This sets up the security with nomachines default 
key, not the most secure way, but good enough for trial and experimentation.

4.  Knx is a KDE nx client.  I don't like it, and don't use it, but it is nice 
to have installed.  Download and install the Debian/Ubuntu client from 
nomachine.com

5. Remember to specify your new port of XXXX in nxclient when you are making a 
new connection.

`nxserevr` controls the server, so `nxserver restart`, `nxserver --list` 
`nxserver --history`, `nxserver --terminate john`, etc.

HTH,

Mark