242 Technique 35: Using VNC to Connect to Remote Desktops

We explain a quicker way to create VNC desktops in “Creating New VNC Desktops on Demand” later in this technique. Now you’re ready to connect to your server with a VNC viewer.

Using tsclient to View Remote Desktops from Linux

VNC isn’t the only desktop sharing protocol that you’ll run into (but it’s the most portable). If you have access to a Windows Terminal Server (or Windows XP), you can use the RDP (remote desktop protocol) to connect to your Windows desktop. Citrix users can connect to Citrix servers with wfica. You can run VNC server on any Windows computer, but RDP runs much faster if you can use it.

tsclient is a user-friendly interface that can make connections with VNC, RDP, and Citrix ICA desktops. As if that isn’t enough, it’s included with Fedora and simple to install. You can be connected to a host in minutes with tsclient.

We recommend the tsclient package for all your remote desktop viewing needs. Its graphical interface makes it quick and easy to connect to any remote desktop using the protocols that you’ve installed. If you’ve installed the vncviewer RPM package, tsclient gives you a friendly interface to remote VNC desktops. Install rdesktop, and tsclient lets you connect to Windows Terminal Server desktops. tsclient will even build Citrix connections for you if you’ve installed the Citrix client software on your computer.

Go ahead and install the tsclient and VNC RPM packages (see Technique 17 if you need help with the RPM installer). Install the rdesktop package if you are going to connect to any of the following Windows platforms:

Windows NT Terminal Server

Windows 2000 Terminal Server

Windows XP Professional

Windows Server 2003

To run tsclient:

1. Open the Main Menu.

2. Click Run Command (or Run Application if you’re a GNOME user).

The Run Command dialog appears.

3. Type tsclient and click Run.

When tsclient starts, you see a window like that shown in Figure 35-2.

• Figure 35-2: The tsclient window.

If you’re connecting to a VNC server, read the next section. If you’re connecting to an RDP server

(a Windows Terminal server, Windows XP, or Citrix server), skip ahead to the section titled “Using tsclient with an RDP server.”

Using tsclient to View Remote Desktops from Linux

243

Using tsclient with a VNC server

To connect to a VNC desktop:

1. Run tsclient following the steps earlier in this section.

2. Choose VNC from the Protocol list box, and type the remote computer name (or IP address) into the Computer field.

If you are connecting to a Linuxor UNIX-hosted desktop, you may need to include the display number along with the computer name. For example, to connect to desktop 3 on host bastille, you would enter bastille:3. If you don’t include a desktop number, tsclient assumes that you want to connect to desktop 0.

3. Click More to see all the tsclient controls and then click the Display tab to choose the initial size for your viewer window and the color depth.

4. If you have a fast connection to the server, choose a color depth of 24 bits. If you have a slow dial-up connection, choose a lower color depth.

Turn off busy screen savers if you’re using VNC viewer, and VNC will run a lot faster. Any little animated graphic can bog down screen repaints when all the bits are getting sent across a network.

The other tabs (Local Resources, Program, and Performance) are not used for VNC connections.

5. Click Save As to save your connection profile.

The next time you want to connect to the same desktop, just click Open and choose the connection profile that you’ve just created.

Make good use of VNC to do customer support by opening a window to your customer’s desktop. Diagnosing problems and making fixes over a local network or across the Internet saves travel time, and it leaves you with access to books and tools that you might need.

Using tsclient with an RDP server

After you run tsclient, as explained earlier in this section, you’re ready to set up tsclient so that you can view the remote desktop. Before you can connect to a Windows RDP desktop, you need to be sure your Windows host is ready. Follow the steps for whichever Windows version you’re using:

If the host is running Windows XP Professional:

1.Open My Computer and double-click Properties.

2.Choose the Remote tab.

3.Check the Allow Users to Connect Remotely box.

If the host is running a Windows Server Edition:

1.Choose Start Settings Control Panel Services.

2.Right-click Terminal Services and click Start.

To connect to an RDP desktop (one of the Windows flavors we mentioned earlier):

1. Choose RDP (or RDPv5) from the Protocol listbox and type in the name of the computer that you want to connect to.

When you use the RDP protocol, you have a few more options. (Don’t forget to click More to see the full set of tsclient controls.)

2. On the General tab, you can supply a User

Name and Password, as well as a Domain name.

3. Click the Local Resources tab to redirect sound from the remote desktop to your local computer.

4. On the Programs tab you can specify a startup program and directory for the remote desktop.

If you don’t specify a startup program, the remote desktop runs the Explorer shell.

244 Technique 35: Using VNC to Connect to Remote Desktops

5. Click the Performance tab to optimize the connection. We recommend that you check Enable Bitmap Caching and Do Not Send Motion Events.

If you see any Windows programs behaving erratically, uncheck Do Not Send Motion Events the next time you connect.

6. Click Save As to create a new profile or

Connect to connect to the remote desktop.

If you’re using a remote Windows desktop, anyone who is in the room with the remote computer can see what you’re doing — all your mouse movements, typing, and windows are right there for the world to see. Be aware that you might be sharing your e-mail (or embarrassing browsing habits) with someone else when you share desktops!

Making Cut and Paste

Commands Work on a

Remote Desktop

VNC tries very hard to share clipboard content (cut and paste) between the VNC viewer and the

VNC server. You can cut (or copy) from one desktop and paste in the other. VNC tries, but without a little help from a program called autocutsel, the clipboard is pretty unreliable. autocutsel synchronizes the viewer and server clipboards to give you better success and save time in the long run. To install autocutsel:

1. To download the tarball, go to http://lepton. fr/tools/autocutsel, click the download link, and save the tarball to your Desktop directory.

2. Open a terminal window and cd to the directory that contains the downloaded tarball (~/Desktop).

The complete pathname is visible in the bottom bar of the Download Manager dialog.

3. Extract the tarball with the command:

tar -xzvf autocutsel-0.6.2.tar.gz

This extracts the contents of the tarball to a new directory called autocutsel-0.6.2.

4. cd to the new directory and type the following command and press Enter:

./configure

autocutsel clicks and whirs and checks for things it needs.

5. Type make and press Enter.

6. Give yourself superuser privileges with the su command.

7. Type make install and press Enter.

8. Type exit to relinquish your superuser privileges.

Now, to run autocutsel, type autocutsel& at the command line and press Enter.

See Technique 8 to find out how to add autocutsel to your Startup folder so it starts automatically each time you log in.

autocutsel runs quietly in the background; you won’t see any evidence that it’s running (except that your clipboard starts working reliably).

Even without autocutsel, the clipboard (cut and paste) works sometimes. The clipboard isn’t too dependable, but it’s definitely a timesaver if it works with your programs. If you don’t want to take the time to download and install autocutsel, cutting and pasting is still worth a try, but don’t waste too much time on this one — it either works or it doesn’t.