NXNomachine on Hardy 8.04.1 Server + NX Windows Client

[NoOp]

Installing NXNomachine on Hardy 8.04.1 Server (all 32 bit) and
connecting via a Windows Machine (tested on Win2KPro and WinXPPro)

Situation: Robert is running a hardy server but wants access to the
server via a secure gui on occassion. He doesn't want to run the Ubuntu
desktop on the server on startup, and only needs occassional gui access.
Several options have been discussed on this list (putty, vnc, etc), but
I find the following one of the easiest/best.

Install the standard ubuntu-desktop on the server - xubuntu can be used
for a lighter Xfce desktop, but I've experienced some issues using the
Xfce environment via test on my virtual Win2KP setup, so the
followinging is for standard Gnome. This isn't eloquent as it loads a
lot of unncessary apps (OpenOffice, Evolution, etc), but it works &
other suggestions are welcome. Ditto for kbuntuntu.

Install the standard ubuntu-desktop on the server

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

After it finishes installing, disable gdm:

ls /etc/rc2.d/

sudo mv /etc/rc2.d/S??gdm /etc/rc2.d/K??gdm

[Thanks Oli] Where the ?? is the value of your existing
/etc/rc2.d/S??gdm - for example S30gdm and change to K30gdm.

Now reboot the machine and ensure that it boots without defaulting into
the gdm login screen.

Now install ssh if you haven't already:

sudo apt-get install ssh opensshserver

Try an ssh session into the machine to make sure that all is working.

Now put NX on the server - remember this is from the cli, so the .deb
values provided at this writing are subject to change, it's always a
good idea to check first via a web browser at
http://www.nomachine.com/ar/view.php?ar_id=AR10B00012.

Get the client, node and server:

wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.2.0/Linux/nxclient_3.2.0-9_i386.deb
http://64.34.161.181/download/3.2.0/Linux/nxnode_3.2.0-11_i386.deb
http://64.34.161.181/download/3.2.0/Linux/FE/nxserver_3.2.0-13_i386.deb

Now install them:

sudo dpkg -i nxclient_3.2.0-9_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxnode_3.2.0-11_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxserver_3.2.0-13_i386.deb

Now check to see if the nx server is running:

sudo /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --status

This should return:
NX> 900 Connecting to server ..
NX> 110 NX Server is running.
NX> 999 Bye.

If you see a warning message about 127.0.0.1 ignore it.


Now on the Win machine install the NX Client:

http://www.nomachine.com/download.php
http://www.nomachine.com/download-client-windows.php

I also recommend downloading and installing the extra fonts - it doesn't
hurt and can avoid problems later.

Now open the Windows NX client and configure for your 8.04 server:
Host: your servers IP
Desktop: Unix | Gnome
Under the services tab I also enable SMB printing & file sharing and
multimedia support, but I generally test on a lan, so you may want to
leave these off.
And that's pretty much it. Use your login name that you would normally
use on the server (or better yet add another user just for NX sessions),
your password on the server, and session name (this will be saved so
that you don't have to do it later for other sessions), and click login.
Once the ssh sesson completes, NX will download the desktop data from
the server just as if you'd logged in using gdm, and you will be
presented with a standard gnome/ubuntu desktop w/full mouse, cursor,
etc. From there you can run firefox, the synaptics package manager,
deinstall much of the standard ubuntu-desktop packages if you don't want
them, etc.

That's pretty much it. The only real added overhead on the server is
running the NX server which is pretty minimal. You can watch it by
installing htop and then selecting F6 to monitor by command before an NX
login/session, and after.