VNC performance

[John]

sparkes wrote:
> thebigfatgeek wrote:
> 
>> How do I get to it (VNC) from a terminal, as I do not have direct 
>> access to the server. I do an automatic login on Ubuntu, and I think 
>> it takes my X11 display or what?
>>
> vnc is for showing (and using) a remote desktop and runs independantly 
> of X.  Are you sure you need vnc.  I am sure you are aware that ubuntu 
> is a *desktop* linux and is not really suited to headless machines ;-)

In contrast, I think it extraordinarily well-suited to headless use.

It would be perfectly possible (subject to bandwidth which I think would 
be okay) for the Canonical folk to have at HQ these machines:
Big UltraSparc or Sparc64 (what the heck, both!)
Big iSeries
Big G5
Big Opteron
Big Xeon (do we need this?)

Actually, they don't need to be all that big, but these devlopers like 
their toys.

All these could be running Ubuntu (when available) or Sarge (for the rest),

At their regional offices they could all have aged Pentium IIs or 
Pentium IIIs (with big screens of course), good Internet connexions and 
run X remotely on those Big Boxes.
Control-Alt-F7 - switch to Power5
Control-Alt-F8 - Switch to Sparc64
etc.

All the developers get to play with all the toys, and don't have to 
bother with backups.

Again I mention http://www.linuxworld.com/story/32827.htm