Remote Desktop Connection

[Andrea Venturoli]

Grzegorz Pluta wrote:
> Hi.
> Id like to asj you guys if you used any remote desktops with freebsd? Which
> client/server would you recommend, and why? Witch wich desktop env have you
> been using it?

There are really countless possibilities, depends on what you are 
looking for.

I've been using rdesktop to connect to Windows 2000 server/XP/2003 
machines. Works really fine. KDE has a frontend for it called krdc. What 
WM you use should not matter much in any case, since you'll get a window 
with the whole remote "screen" in it.

I've used VNC in the past to connect to older Windows machines, but it's 
a lot slower. Again kdrc can be used as a frontend to it, and again WM 
should not matter. Be aware that what you are doing will display on the 
remote machine's physical screen (can be good, can be bad).
It's also possible to run a VNC server on UNIX/Linux/FreeBSD/..., but I 
never tested this.

I prefer to user ssh with X11 forwarding for that; works like a charm 
when on a local network. Fine, but obviously slower when used remotely. 
Every single application will have its windows on your screen, mixed 
with local applications, to the point you can hardly tell the difference.

I sometimes used to log to a Digital Alpha box using XDM. Quite slow at 
the time (pre ADSL) and no encryption (i.e. very poor security); I din't 
manage that box, so I didn't investigate wether that could be solved. 
KDE has KDM, Gnome has GDM, which are all (compatible, I believe) 
alternatives to XDM. They could in some rare cases be an alternative to 
using a remote shell with direct X11 connections.

IIRC KDE has some sort of remote desktop server built in, but I never 
checked this out.

I guess there are other ways too...


  bye
	av.