[galarneau]

I'm thinking of getting a cheap old PC and running it as a Unix firewall/router/server/distributed.net client/etc etc...

I know that you can install XFree86 on OS X and run programs remotely from a Unix box, but is it fast? I'm not talking about playing games or anything, but is it just as fast as if I was using the machine directly?

Second question: After I get the server up and running, can I do all my admin/upgrading etc via this method (I won't have a monitor to use with it and my ADC connected Studio Display won't work)

Thanks,
-J

[Simon]

Originally posted by galarneau:
I know that you can install XFree86 on OS X and run programs remotely from a Unix box, but is it fast? I'm not talking about playing games or anything, but is it just as fast as if I was using the machine directly?

All I can tell you is that I do this all the time. I have a Redhat box at the lab and when I want to do some work at home I just open XDarwin (the .app to start XFree86 and a WM, in my case blackbox) and then do a:

ssh [email protected] -XC

(-X enables X11 forwarding and -C enables compression)
I edit code in xemacs, run it, do gnuplot graphs and even run my own X11 apps on the lab server with graphics output being displayed on my Mac at home.
It works fine and I have been able to do everything I wanted this way.
I have a 512kbps cable connection which makes the whole thing acceptable compared to a dial-up modem, but since you probably would have Ethernet between your Mac and your server I'm sure you'll be fine.

About your second question, I suppose you could run the server headless and administrate it from your Mac, but I haven't been able to test this (no spare computer at home). As long as your unix server starts a sshd after booting you can log in, if you do so as root you can do everything, even reboot!

root@myunixbox% sudo /sbin/shutdown -r now

But honestly, why reboot? It's bad for the uptime.

[Mithras]

Over a local LAN? It's completely seamless.

I've taken lately to running Xterms and the new OpenOffice beta on my faster desktop Mac, over X11 from my laptop via Airport. It's "just like being there."


You just have to make sure that X11Forwarding is enabled for the SSH server. For example, if the *target* machine runs Mac OS X, you have to edit the /etc/sshd_config file and add this line:
X11Forwarding yes

[Wilco]

Thank for pointing out ssh -C (compression flag) this has substantially cut down the lag between my XDarwin to Linux(RedHat) box 20km away!

BTW is there something That needs to be configured on the Linux box so that it's KDE Desktop will come up on my Xwindows - i can launch Gnome ok by issuing a shell command, and that is what I have been using - the Admin of the LinuxBox is of the view that I would need to use VNC - but as Gnome and all other apps appear in my XWindowmanager - why cannot the default KDE?

[Simon]

Originally posted by Wilco:
Thank for pointing out ssh -C (compression flag) this has substantially cut down the lag between my XDarwin to Linux(RedHat) box 20km away!

Well, it puts a minor additional load on the machines, but if you don't have a big fat Ethernet between the two boxes I'd prefer setting the compression flag.

BTW is there something That needs to be configured on the Linux box so that it's KDE Desktop will come up on my Xwindows - i can launch Gnome ok by issuing a shell command, and that is what I have been using - the Admin of the LinuxBox is of the view that I would need to use VNC - but as Gnome and all other apps appear in my XWindowmanager - why cannot the default KDE?

Sorry, no idea on that one. I still use FVWM (1 not 2!) on my linux box at work. Everybody at the lab keeps asking me why a Mac guy doesn't want a more sophisticated GUI on his box, but I just answer if it's not the real thing, don't even bother.

[Mithras]

It only works sometimes, but for a good giggle and access in a pinch, you can play with WeirdMind.

It combines a Java SSH client with a Java X-Window server, to allow you to run remote X sessions from any browser. Just plop the applet in your webserver folder, tweak a few settings, and you're set.

The speed isn't fantastic, and it doesn't always work reliably, but when it does it can be pretty handy. Mainly it's cool to be running applications "on" your Mac, but somewhere far away - even cooler than regular VNC.

[utidjian]

To the first question the answer is yes. The speed is completely acceptable in most cases. You will notice only a slight lag, if any. I do it regularly from home to work... or the other way around... and in the lab. If you want more info on this there is a good introductory article in the November 2002 issue of Linux Journal.

To the second question. Yes, you can administer the server using this method... but why bother? Just use the shell. You need no more than a regular terminal prompt to administer a server. In RedHat and Mandrake all services are as simple as running something like:

service servicename start | stop | status | restart

If you need a more GUI approach to admin for some reason you can install webmin. It would be nice if there was a version of webmin for OS X server. (http://www.webmin.com).

[gioele]

Originally posted by galarneau:
I know that you can install XFree86 on OS X and run programs remotely from a Unix box, but is it fast? I'm not talking about playing games or anything, but is it just as fast as if I was using the machine directly?

The only difference is in the graphical lag. On the local box it is a matter or milli-seconds, over a network a lot of conditions can enlarge this time up to unusability.
You can use remote X11 over a 56K or a cable with these methods:

• SSH -C option
• LBX proxy
• VNC connections (this is not strictly X11, you can use also OSX apps)

LBX compresses better than SSH's -C but you need to configure lbxproxy on both boxes.
VNC (and its variation TightVNC) can compress up all your desktop to your remote machine, as if you were in front of it.

Personally I prefer X/LBX so I can mix my local windows and the remote ones.

[gee308]

hi, I have fxtv on my openbsd box that I do remote X sessions with on my local 100 mbit switched network. I know that a program liek fxtv uses up tons of bandwidth. using fxtv from my mac isn't usable, about every .5 seconds, fxtv gets a new frame which is unacceptable. Has anyone gotten fxtv working good enough to watch over a remote X session?

[int69h]

Gigbit ethernet? When in doubt, throw more hardware at the problem.

[int69h]

galarneau,
You might want to setup XDM on your server. When I was in school I use to remote everything from login on from the schools server.

I've run an XServer and applications locally and run the window manager on a box 1k miles away. (In '93 I was used to MWM and it didn't exist for Linux, so I just used MWM from my old Uni's Ultrix boxes.)

Granted this was before spam and 48 million AOL users started plugging up the backbones.

[eno]

Worked pretty well for me at my last Nerd Share House, where we had a PC running FreeBSD as a gateway connected to our DSL line.

I would run an X11 IRC client on the FreeBSD box, and display the GUI on my Mac. It felt just like I was running locally (no slower than the usual Mac OS X X11 slowness), except it had the benefit of not being behind NAT, and I could therefore do DCC transfers and stuff without any need to get my hands dirty and configure port forwarding or anything like that.