Category: X

Enable the VNC session running on display :1 for an oracle user on the SUSE server

To enable the VNC session running on display :1 for an oracle user on the SUSE server, please create the file called after.local in /etc/init.d with 775 rights, the file should look like that:

slestest:~ # cat /etc/init.d/after.local
#!/bin/sh
/bin/su oracle -c "/usr/bin/vncserver :1 &"

Just check that you have tightvnc installed:
slestest:~ # rpm -qa|grep vnc
xorg-x11-Xvnc-7.4-27.81.7
tightvnc-1.3.9-81.13.1
slestest:~ #

XRDP on SUSE12 issue – solved

I have installed XRDP on SLES12 but the systemd does not start this service as xrdp.service service file is missing. I know that it could be started by typing: /etc/xrdp/xrdp.sh start but I want it to be started after the reboot.

Create a systemd service file:

sles15:~ # vim /usr/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service

[Unit]
Description=xrdp daemon
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/etc/xrdp/xrdp.sh start
ExecStop=/etc/xrdp/xrdp.sh stop

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

and then a symlink:

sles15:~ # ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service /etc/systemd/system/xrdp.service

now turn the XRDP service on, for start at next boot.

sles15:~ # systemctl enable xrdp
sles15:~ # systemctl is-enabled xrdp

So, the XRDP will be started after the reboot 😉 And now another problem occurred, we connected to XRDP on SUSE12 and got a black screen 😛
To fix this issue you need to switch to icewm and at lest get a screen 😉 Just edit /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh and pretend the list of Session with “icewm”.

sles15:~ # vim /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh
--cut
#SESSIONS="gnome-session blackbox fluxbox startxfce4 startkde xterm"
SESSIONS="icewm"
--cut

I am a bit surprised that a package like XRDP made it into SLES in such a broken state. Well, have to wait for SP1.

Wireless disabled by hardware switch

To get back your wifi, type in a terminal:

root# rfkill list

and then you will see something like this:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
1: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

As you can see the phy0 is soft and hard blocked, so you need to unblock it:

root# rfkill unblock 0

or

root# rkill unblock all

and then press “Fn + F2” for a Dell laptop, and then restart your networking:

root# service network-manager restart

Install the spice-xpi on Debian wheezy or Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

To get the spice xpi working use the following steps:

1. Install the spice-client package which gives you /usr/bin/spicec
2. Extract the libnsISpicec.so file from the latest Fedora (FC19) spice-xpi RPM.
3. Placed it in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
4. Restart Firefox.

After restarting Firefox, you can now view the console from RHEV/OVIRT.

x11vnc – a real X11 display.

“Sometimes one wants to connect to a real X11 display (i.e. one attached to a physical monitor, keyboard, and mouse: a Workstation or a SunRay session) from far away. Maybe you want to close down an application cleanly rather than using kill, or want to work a bit in an already running application, or would like to help a distant colleague solve a problem with their desktop, or would just like to work out on the deck for a while. This is where x11vnc is useful.”
and here you can find a lot more information: http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/

install x11vnc and then on remote machine as user type:

x11vnc -display :0

and then on your local machine type:

vncviewer IP

TightVNC Remote Desktop Connections using SUSE as Client or Server.

1. Install the tightvnc and xorg-x11-Xvnc packages:

root# zypper install tightvnc xorg-x11-Xvnc

Type the command vncserver to start the VNC server, and then type the command
vi $HOME/.vnc/xstartup
to open the VNC configuration file in the vi text editor. You can replace “vi” with your preferred text editor.
Add the line /usr/bin/gnome & under the #!/bin/sh line, if you are using the Gnome desktop.

Type the command vncserver in Suse 10 or dbus-launch vncserver in Suse 11, to start the VNC server. Take note of the desktop number, usually “:1,” “:2” or “:3,” that is shown after the command is executed.

2. Connect to the Server

Open the VNC viewer software on the remote computer. Type “192.168.1.100:1” in the connection text box. Replace “192.168.1.100” with the IP address of the Suse server. Replace “:1” with the desktop number from the previous section. and then type the password for the VNC server, when prompted.

Users who are logged on can start a server with a simple console command.

• Starting the server in Suse versions 10.x: vncserver
• Starting the server in Suse versions 11.x: dbus-launch vncserver

The vncserver command will start the next unused desktop in the sequence :1, :2, :3 …etc. You can attach many options to the command line when starting the server. There are options specific to TightVNC on the TightVNC man page and you can also attach the options listed in the Xvnc man page.

Note: vncpasswd allows you to set the password used to access VNC desktops. Its default behavior is to prompt for a VNC password and then store an obfuscated version of this password to passwd-file (or to $HOME/.vnc/passwd if no password file is specified.) The vncserver script runs vncpasswd the first time you start a VNC desktop, and it invokes Xvnc with the appropriate -rfbauth option. vncviewer can also be given a password file to use via the -passwd option. The password must be at least six characters long (unless the -f command-line option is used– see below), and only the first eight characters are significant. Note that the stored password is not encrypted securely – anyone who has access to this file can trivially find out the plain-text password, so vncpasswd always sets appropriate permissions (read and write only by the owner.) However, when accessing a VNC desktop, a challenge-response mechanism is used over the wire making it hard for anyone to crack the password simply by snooping on the network.

conf example:


server:/home/user/.vnc # cat xstartup
#!/bin/sh

[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
twm &

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server – Suse

Based on research work by the rdesktop project, xrdp uses the Remote Desktop Protocol to present a graphical login to a remote client. Xrdp can connect to a VNC server or another RDP server. To enable the xrdp you need to download and install the software xrdp RPMS,

Yast->Software->Software Managmen

and type xrdp in search tab and then install xrdp.

Also open the 3389 port on a firewall.

GoTo Yast's firewall module --> Allowed Services --> Select --> Remote Desktop Protocol --> Add.

The next step is to start the service.

If you want the service on permanently goto:

Yast --> System --> Services / Runlevels --> xrdp --> Enable

If you want the service occasionslly, enable it with sudo /usr/sbin/rcxrdp start
and turn it off with sudo /usr/sbin/rcxrdp stop

And then install on a remote machine Remmina, it is a remote desktop connection client able to display and control a remote desktop session. It supports multiple network protocols in an integrated and consistant user interface. Currently RDP, VNC, NX, XDMCP and SSH protocols are supported.

zypper install remmina

or

apt-get install remmina

Add a screensaver to Ubuntu 12.04.

Ubuntu 12.04 does not ship with any screen savers, just a black screen that appears when your system is idle. If you would like to have a screensaver, please follow the steps below:

Uninstall a gnome-screensaver.
sudo apt-get purge gnome-screensaver

Install XScreenSaver.
sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl-extra xscreensaver-data-extra

Create a symbolic link for Ctrl+Alt+L is the default shortcut that locks your computer.
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/xscreensaver-command /usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-command

Finally, add the xscreensaver -nosplash to the Startup Applications.

Desktop doesn't remember brightness settings after a reboot.

Every time I reboot my laptop the brightness goes back to 100% in Gnome. I wish it would keep the last one setting. Here is a quick workaround for that:-) edit the /etc/rc.local file by typing: vim /etc/rc.local and add the following line:
echo 5 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

It looks like this:
root@ProBook:~# cat /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
20
root@ProBook:~# echo 5 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
root@ProBook:~# vim /etc/rc.local
root@ProBook:~# cat /etc/rc.local
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
echo 12 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

exit 0
root@ProBook:~#

After the reboot the Gnome keeps our settings 🙂