[Cialug] gemsvnc, x11vnc

[Nathaniel Petersen]

gemsvnc is great if you have a section of screen that is very active. 
I've used it on desktops that have very busy screen areas (say wmcube
or those GAIM-guifications).  It can be rather painful to set up.

I used x11vnc for a while.  It works well.  Configuration is simple,
and loading the daemon is cake.  It is as close to a remote desktop
service as I have found.

My only complaint with either one may be the very feature you are
looking for, Kendall.  x11vnc has nothing built in that will 'blank'
the local screen, lock the keyboard and mouse, etc.  Therefor, if
there is someone sitting in front of your system, they will be able to
see _and_ interact with you.

Here is why I found this to be a security concern.  I am the only user
on my work computer.  I don't usually log out of my X session. 
Instead I lock the screen with XScreenSaver.  With x11vnc, when I
'connect' to the X session, I'm presented with the XScreenSaver
password dialogue box.  Entering my password will unlock my screen,
and give full access to anyone who is able to sit in front of my
computer.

I toyed with blockdpy, but it doesn't really work all that well.

So, if you are trying to share an X session between two users, this is
a great tool.  If you want a private X session on a workstation, try
Tight VNC Server.

-Nick

On 11/4/05, Kendall Bailey <krbailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've looked at x0rfbserver, which I believe was the first such tool.
> Then found x11vnc and then gemsvnc which is documented here
>
> http://www.elilabs.com/~rj/gemsvnc/README.gemsvnc.html
>
> It sounded like a big improvement to x11vnc.  I hadn't seen
> x0vncserver.  All of them appear to have the same purpose.  And then
> I'm also aware of KDE having built-in desktop sharing which uses the
> rfb protocol.  But my brother is using gnome.  Just curious which of
> these many tools people have found good or bad.
>
> Thanks,
> Kendall
>
> On 11/4/05, Jerry Weida <jweida at gmail.com> wrote:
> > You would probably want to look at x0vnc.  It allows VNC to bind to display
> > 0 (the root display/console).  According to the Debian packages it is
> > provided by the vnc4server package.
> >
> > On 11/4/05, Kendall Bailey <krbailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Anyone have experience with these?  I have a brother in St. Louis for
> > > whom I've install Ubuntu 5.04 some time back.  He needs occasional
> > > config help.  I can run tightvncserver and connect, so as to get
> > > access to graphical apps on the box, but it would be even better if I
> > > can see/manipulate his root display.  I don't find gemsvnc by doing
> > > "apt-cache search" on my Debian box, but x11vnc is there.  Is gemsvnc
> > > so much better I should get the source and compile it?  Or is x11vnc
> > > good enough for remote control over broadband?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Kendall