Running an X-terminal via Windows RDC. Author: Special Guest, Brett Brennan. Published: Ed (July 16, 2014)

Transcription

1 Running an X-terminal via Windows RDC Author: Special Guest, Brett Brennan Published: Ed (July 16, 2014) As much as we'd like to work exclusively with Linux/Unix, there are those times that we're stuck on Windows OS. Most businesses use Windows for employee workstations, primarily because of the ubiquity of boxware - applications that can be licensed, installed and forgotten about. Since 90% of the world's software development is focused on the Windows-based platform (yeah, yeah, I know... I'm making a point, here, kids... ) that's what you're going to find in nearly all offices. Yet, there are times when you're stuck behind the Windows pane, that you REALLY NEED to get over to a Linux platform and get some chores done. Managing a Hadoop cluster, or a database server, or some other platform that's running on pure Linux or Unix. Windows doesn't give you very many tools for doing this: you can install PuTTY and get an SSH shell session to your Linux box (and for those of us that started in Unix back in the 1970's, this is the preferred method), or install a package like Cygwin or Xming and get an X terminal to log-in. However, in many shops this is frowned upon: unless you're in IT, getting an X tool might be a problem. Then there's the problem of playing with Linux at home. You have a nice, big Windows gaming box, but you built a little Linux platform to play with on your Daughter's old P4 desktop. Rather than firing up the old CRT monitor and finding that ancient keyboard and serial mouse, wouldn't it be nice to just switch over from Windows and play on a Linux desktop? Well, it turns out that there is an easy way to do this. It requires installing a daemon on the Linux machine, but once done, you can run an X desktop in Windows Remote Desktop Connection. For those of you who are die-hard Unix people, and have never heard of Windows Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) (or its predecessor, Terminal Services Client), this is a GUI terminal client for Windows. It's based on a Microsoft proprietary protocol, but has the advantage of coming free with every version of Windows OS since NT. Yes, even those really chintzy Home editions. While only Professional and higher versions of Windows can SERVE RDC instances, ALL versions have the client. So you can use this to connect and work with a GUI desktop on nearly any Windows server or high-end desktop. It turns out that you can install an open-source version of the RDC server on Linux, then use the built-in Windows RDC client to get an X-desktop in a window on your Windows PC. The application needed on Linux is xrdp Remote Desktop Protocol server. This SHOULD be part of your distribution's add-on software, so check in YAST, Software Center or YUM etc. for it. Install it, then start it via a sudo xrdp command. Since this is a daemon, it should be up and running in background. Here's what using RDC from my Windows 8.1U1 desktop looks like. I've got the RDC client set as a tile on my Start desktop.

2 Now, all you have to do is start Windows Desktop Connection, which is found in Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection (in Windows 7).

3 It's located in the Windows Accessories section under Apps in Windows 8 Start the little down arrow below the Start desktop that opens up a list of all your programs. Windows Accessories is at the far-right end of the list. (If you want to use it often, pin it to Start and/or your Taskbar.)

4 If you've got a DNS server, enter the Name of the Linux system (fully qualified if you've got multiple domains) where it asks for Computer: on the RDC window. (Under Show Options you can enter a permanent user ID, save credentials, adjust your display size and resolution... all the fixin's!) (At present my local DNS server is busted... so I'm using an IPv4 address in the example.)

5 Now before we go further, everything so far is based off of using the stock xrdp package provided from your distribution. This should work for any distribution except Ubuntu 14.x. With the changes in 'Trusy Tahr', xrdp doesn't work with the latest Ubuntu release. As it turns out, there is a simple fix for this. X11RDP-o-Matic, from ScaryGliders ( is a source compile for a replacement xrdp host that allows RDP to work with the latest Ubuntu and other Debian releases. You do need to use the XFCE desktop, however... but, hey, it's a Linux desktop, right? Better'n Windows!

6 RDC will bring up the xrdp login box upon clicking Connect. Depending on which version of xrdp you're using, (the above is from X11RDP-o-Matic, as I run Ubuntu 14.04) the login may look different. Leave the sessman-x11rdp alone. Enter your User ID and password.

7 And now you've got an X desktop from a Linux server running in Windows OS without installing any additional software on the Windows-side! As always, there is a lot more information about other distributions out there in web searches. If you have specific issues with your own distribution, search Google or any other good engine for installation instructions for your distribution, or search for related problem resolution info.