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submitted 1 year ago by Ramin_HAL9001@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Here is my latest blog post on a method of using a laptop equipped with an X11 server as a KVM or graphical dumb terminal (not to be confused with "kernel virtual machine") to display an entire desktop environment on one of the virtual terminals of the laptop. You might be familiar with running an X11-compatible program over SSH, seeing a remote GUI app displayed on your local machine. You could also run a whole desktop environment such as "xfce4-session" over SSH and attach it to a virtual terminal (which you switch between using Ctrl-Alt-F1 through Ctrl-Alt-F7, usually, on Debian-based systems).

This is nice if you have a few always-on Raspberry Pis laying around, and you usually use SSH to remote login and control them, but you would like to have a full desktop environment, not just one app, show up on your local computer.

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[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 10 points 1 year ago

There is also waypipe which allows you to run Wayland apps over ssh.

[-] PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com -4 points 1 year ago

Really? Wayland mentions are getting up there with vegans. We know already, go home!

[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 3 points 1 year ago

While I agree Wayland still immature despite decade of development, you don't have to be a dick when voicing your opinion.

[-] PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 1 year ago

Three things you can count on. Vegans, Wayland fanbois, and Arch users all telling us about their respective choice. That is being a dick.

[-] mvirts@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

My favorite is doing this on a windows host with rootless x and having classic gnome on top of my windows desktop 😹

[-] Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

As a Windows sysadmin who knows embarrassingly little about Linux, how is the performance? Is it comparable to RDP or better?

[-] Ramin_HAL9001@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

I should look into it, but I don't know whether or not X11 provides for any kind of video compression when updating regions of the screen. I only ever use this over a an 802.11g LAN so even if there is no video compression I don't notice any lag. I haven't tried using it over the Internet, but I am guessing it would probably be a bit slow.

[-] PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

The performance isn't the best, when compared to RDP. Protocols like RDP can take shortcuts by treating it more as an image then a fully remote rendering, like image compression techniques. For tunneling an X-window over SSH, the compression option you have is with the connection, itself. Using say, ssh -CX or ssh -CY allows ssh to compress the connection for better performance, but that compression able to do lossy image compression. The killer will be latency. If it's over a highly latent connection, like a WAN or satellite, it will be rough. But on a wired lan, or decent local wifi, it's pretty all right.

[-] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

I just use Moonlight/Sunshine, but my usecase is consistently just streaming my main PC to wherever I am

[-] PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Don't forget to -C your ssh for better performance over the wire. It can help a lot.

this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
53 points (96.5% liked)

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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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