I just went though the exact same scenario today. I installed vnc using the
Add Remove Packages tool first. After many unsuccessful attempts at trying
to figure out how to run vncserver from the command line, I gave up and
decided that only vncviewer must have been installed with RH 8.0 and not
necessarily the server. So I un-installed it, downloaded and installed the
latest TightVNC rpm instead (yes, I know it is only recommended for RH
Linux versions up to 7.x).
The only way I could get it to work though was to edit the .vnc/xstartup
file and replace the last line:
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
...with the following two lines:
unset SESSION_MANAGER
gnome-session &
A few notes:
- I have no idea why xinitrc doesn't work.
- This assumes you want to run the gnome session manager. You need the
unset line because gnome-session doesn't appear to like being run in two
places at the same time. This seems to get around the problem. It's not
pretty but it works. As a result, you will see the occasional error message
appear in the log files and in the remote session. This is most likely due
to the fact that I obviously am running blind and haven't any clue as to
what I am doing (yet!). However it does work well enough to enable me to
push forward and learn more. Maybe one day I might even have a clue of what
I am doing.
- If you prefer KDE, use "startkde &" instead of the gnome-session line.
You might not need the unset line either with KDE. Of course you should
install KDE first as it doesn't come installed by default in RH 8.0.
- The xstartup file appears to be read or run (not sure) when you run
vncserver from the command line. So if you make a change to the file, you
will need to stop your vncserver and then restart it again for the changes
to take effect. This by itself had me going for a while. It seemed that no
matter what I did, it never had any effect.
- The display number seems to always start at 1, unlike the Windows server
which starts at 0 by default. So you will need to add the :1 when running
the vncviewer. Actually, it is probably best to take note of the "display"
number when you start up the vncserver.
- I am assuming you have figured out that you need to run
vncserver -kill :displaynumber
...to stop a vncserver. If not, now you do.
- I haven't figured out how to do remote screen takeover of the currently
running gnome console session. The above information will start a new gnome
session. If anyone has a suggestion or two on how to do this (to enable me
to do remote user support), it would be appreciated.
By the way, does anyone know if it is possible to disable the wallpaper
like WinVNC does when you connect?
I am still learning about Linux. Please don't flame me if I am doing
something dumb. However if anyone has some suggestions on how to do it
better, I would very much appreciate hearing from them.
TIP: You can use "gedit" to edit the file. It is much easier to use and I
never did get the hang of vi.
Hope it helps a little...
Michael Milette
At 12:28 PM 2002-12-10, Justin Fields wrote:
>Tim,
>
>I saw that VNC came as an installable Redhat package, but (perhaps
>mistakenly) wanted to make sure I had the most up to date version. So I did
>deselect the VNC option and go from scratch. Silly me.
>
>On an entirely separate machine, I installed RedHat 8, this time, with the
>VNC option. I got both the viewer and server installed. It took awhile for
>me to find out how to view all the hidden files, but I have that
>accomplished now. I checked the .vnc/xstartup file, and it looks exactly
>like the one you gave me.
>
>I used the VNC viewer on my Windows box and managed to connect to the new
>RedHat box using:
>
>IPADDRESS:1
>
>What I see at that point is a big dark grey screen with an X cursor I can
>move around. The server machine has the graphical user interface, which I'm
>looking to connect to.
>
>I must still be missing something, or misunderstanding something.
>
>Thanks for the fast and helpful reply.
>
>Justin
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tim Waugh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 8:22 AM
>To: Justin Fields
>Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
>Subject: Re: Linux VNC Newbie Question
>
>
>On Tue, Dec 10, 2002 at 07:46:49AM -0500, Justin Fields wrote:
>
> > I got a fresh download of VNC installed on one of the new
> > machines,
>
>That was your mistake. :-)
>
>As shipped, Red Hat Linux 8.0 comes with VNC, complete with a default
>configuration to use the Bluecurve theme. You just had to run
>'vncserver', and be done.
>
>The magic bit of configuration is in .vnc/xstartup. Change it to
>this:
>
>-->
>#!/bin/sh
>
># Red Hat Linux VNC session startup script
>exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
><--
>
>Tim.
>*/
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