[ec2-beta] Installing and running NX

[Eric Hammond]

Robbie Williamson wrote:
> I tried to setup an NXServer from NoMachine, but ran into some
> problems trying to connect from a local NXClient....probably user
> error (I still need to play with it some more). :/

I have appended instructions for one way to install and use NX on the
official Ubuntu beta AMIs based on how I build the unofficial Ubuntu
desktop AMIs on http://alestic.com

I've seen a couple oddities on the beta AMIs which don't happen on the
images I build:

1. On startup, I get the error:
   "User Switcher" has quit unexpectedly

2. Using Firefox to visit http://www.google.com I get redirected to
   http://www.google.co.jp/

> You may want to look at that, since it works with SSH by default,
> and provides faster performance, IMO, than VNC.

I completely agree.  NX is near realtime on a reasonable link and I have
often forgotten that I am using a remote computer instead of the one in
front of me.

I don't know what NoMachine is doing, but it's magic.

--
Eric Hammond
ehammond at thinksome.com
======================


Installing and using NX on the official Ubuntu beta AMIs

# On the EC2 instance:

  sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get upgrade -y
  time sudo apt-get install -y ubuntu-desktop

  if [ $(uname -m) = "i686" ]; then
    nxclient_pkg="nxclient_3.3.0-3_i386.deb"
    nxnode_pkg="nxnode_3.3.0-3_i386.deb"
    nxserver_pkg="nxserver_3.3.0-8_i386.deb"
  else
    nxclient_pkg="nxclient_3.3.0-3_x86_64.deb"
    nxnode_pkg="nxnode_3.3.0-3_x86_64.deb"
    nxserver_pkg="nxserver_3.3.0-8_x86_64.deb"
  fi

  wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.3.0/Linux/$nxclient_pkg
  wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.3.0/Linux/$nxnode_pkg
  wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.3.0/Linux/FE/$nxserver_pkg

  sudo dpkg -i $nxclient_pkg
  sudo dpkg -i $nxnode_pkg
  sudo dpkg -i $nxserver_pkg

# On the local (Ubuntu) desktop:

  wget \
   http://64.34.161.181/download/3.3.0/Linux/nxclient_3.3.0-3_i386.deb
  sudo dpkg -i nxclient_3.3.0-3_i386.deb
  /usr/NX/bin/nxclient --wizard

Point the NX Client to the external hostname of your Ubuntu desktop EC2
instance. Choose the "Gnome" desktop. Enter the username "ubuntu" and
the random password which was assigned on the first ssh.