I have moved to a lowlatency 256kbps broadband connection and this gives me enough joy to run VNC and resume my desktop session from home. Previously, I was restricted to running console apps via screen only.

See http://www.realvnc.com/ for more details.

Contents 1 Benefits 1.1 Cons 2 Installation 2.1 Server 2.2 Client 2.3 Windows 3 Server Configuration 3.1 X Server 3.2 VNC Password 3.3 Start VNC Service 4 Client Configuration 4.1 SSH Tunnel 4.2 Start vncviewer 5 Notes

Benefits

• Maintain SSH sessions in one place
• No IM conference disruptions. Ability to preserve chat logs
• No need for browser bookmark synchronization across home and work
• No need to reconfigure applications and your desktop. This is the best part.
• Works from windows too, takes away the pain of using a windows box.

Cons

• Applications leak memory. I regularly see Firefox and Opera eat into swap. This is entirely page dependant.
• Applications crashes. Gaim regularly crashes if kept running for over a week.

Installation

I am using FreeBSD6 on my office workstation and also on my temporary loaned ancient AMD-K6 based laptop at home. usr/ports is always at latest -CURRENT.

Server

$ sudo portinstall net/vnc # Install from ports

Client

I use packages on my laptop since its too slow to compile from ports

$ sudo pkg_add -rv vnc

Windows

Install VNC Free Edition 4.1 from http://www.realvnc.com/. Don't use TightVNC Windows viewer, there is a protocol mismatch causing bad performance.

Server Configuration

X Server

• It works with both Xorg and XFree86.

To export the native display via VNC, add the following to xorg.conf (or XF86Config if you are on Xfree86) and restart the X server.

Section "Module"
    [...]
    Load  "vnc"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
       DefaultColorDepth 24
       Identifier "Screen0"
       Device     "Card0"
       Monitor    "Monitor0"
       #Option     "SecurityTypes" "None"
       Option "SecurityTypes" "VncAuth"
       Option "UserPasswdVerifier" "VncAuth"
       Option "deferUpdate" "0"    # redraw the screen immediately
       Option "PasswordFile" "/home/shanker/.vnc/passwd"
       SubSection "Display"
               Viewport   0 0
               Depth     24
       Modes   "1280x1024"
       EndSubSection
EndSection

VNC Password

Set your vnc password.

$ vncpasswd
Password:

Start VNC Service

As yourself, start vncserver to allow connections in addtion to the root desktop display (:0)

[buffy] ~> vncserver

Check if VNC is listening on port 5901

[buffy] ~> telnet 0 5901
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.
RFB 003.008
^]
telnet> Connection closed.

You are all set connect now.

Client Configuration

SSH Tunnel

Setup port forwarding for port 5900/TCP via SSH. I need to go via a proxy SSH host before I can reach my workstation in office. The below ssh config will setup a tunnel to buffy via the "proxy" host.

$ cat ~/.ssh/config
User shanker
Compression yes
Cipher Blowfish

Host proxy
LocalForward 5900 buffy:5900

From the home machine start a SSH session to "proxy".

$ ssh proxy

Telnet to localhost:5900 on the home machine after sshing to proxy host.

$ telnet localhost 5900

You will receive a "RFB blah" response.

Start vncviewer

On the home machine, run vncviewer inside X and use "localhost" as the hostname to connect to. In the options menu, choose the color settings depending on the bandwidth available. At 256kbps, I find medium (64K) color quiet usable.

$ vncviwer localhost

• Use F8 to toggle fullscreen mode and color options from inside the session.

Notes

1. Lock your screen when you go away from the machine.
2. When you unlock your X session over VNC, the lock is opened on your office PC and makes it vulnerable to access via the console.
3. Keep the monitor powered off in office to reduce risk.
4. Run the latest version of VNC on the client and the server. Using a VNCv3 client with VNCv4 caused unnecessary bandwidth usage making the session unusable.
5. Option "deferUpdate" "0" in Xorg.conf allows for 0 delay updates to the screen. Set this if your screen takes too long or just refuses to update.
6. Keep lowering the display colors via the VNC options menu (F8) to reduce lag.
7. Turn on SSH compression with Blowfish encryption in ~/.ssh/config. Putty users on windows can set compression and encryption options in the session properties window.