ssh -x gui

[Arthur H. Johnson II]

On Sat, 31 Oct 2009, Steve Reilly wrote:

> Eugeneapolinary Ju wrote:
>> I know I could start a GUI program with SSH, on a remote machine:
>>
>> ssh -X SOMEONE at 192.168.56.101 /usr/bin/network-admin
>>
>> but how can I get access to the "full" GUI? [because I don't want to
>> launch every program one-by-one]. :(
>>
>> The man of ssh say's I should use "ssh -Y", because it's more secure.
>>
>> Has anyone has any tips for it?
>>
>>
> if your looking to view someone elses desktop, you want to use remote
> desktop, apps>internet>remote desktop.  you need to enable remote
> desktop on the host computer first though.  system>pref>remote desktop.
>

You can run the full GUI over SSH.  There is a few different ways to do 
this.  My preferred method would be to hit CTRL-ALT-F1 to bring up a 
console:

1. log in
2. execute:  xinit -- :1
- this should bring up just an xterminal
- move your mouse to this window
3. ssh to your remote workstation:  ssh -X user at workstation
4. execute your window manager or desktop
- GNOME:  gnome-session 
- XFCE4:  startxfce4
- I would recommend a lighter wm like openbox or windowmaker
- a full desktop might be a bit much for your connection

You can now switch between your local GUI and remote GUI with CTRL-ALT-F7 
and CTRL-ALT-F8

It might be better, depending on your connection speed, to use something 
like vnc.  Running X this way depends on a very fast connection.  There is 
also a way to do this with GDM, but I can't remember how to set up the 
client/server relationship, and have no idea how you would do this with 
gdm2.