[FreeNX-kNX] Confirm: presently no freenx way to view windows screen on linux PC?

[Paul van der Vlis]

Jeff Kowalczyk schreef:
> Please excuse the FAQ; I've been curious about this aspect of Nomachine NX
> and FreeNX for some time:
> 
> I install the free RealVNC client (and server) on every scattered windows
> PC I am obliged to support. This can be a group of fast machines in an
> office LAN, or dispersed friends and family members on residential
> broadband. Obviously with a large number of deployments on machines that I
> may never actually connect to, I don't buy the commercial RealVNC client.
>
> VNC works well enough for this purpose; however, the performance is poor
> as the broadband or (god-forbid) dial-up speed gets slower. NX seems to be
> the best remote viewing technology, and I'd like to use it, if there are
> free components that could replace VNC for me. Also necessary is a simple
> one-package install on the Windows PCs'.
> 
> I rarely see any mention of ways to view users' windows desktop screens on
> administrator's linux workstations. Is this scenario even a goal of NX? I
> am a linux user, myself; I only need to connect to windows desktops, at
> least until I can convert these errant users to Linux ;)

So far I know is NX a protocol to connect to Linux/Unix servers. But the
NX client can also connect to a windows terminal server or a VNC server.

I think the NX-client can also connect to a Windows XP machine without
an VNC server (like rdesktop), but I am not sure, and it will not be so
fast as the normal NX protocol.

> Actually, I don't even know if this is possible with the commercial
> NoMachine components. I would have thought that remote viewing Windows
> desktops by Linux users would be the business case for them...

I think the goal is to bring people to a Linux desktop. But, because
some applications are difficult to run on Linux, there are some ways to
Windows.

> Is the NX terminology using the 'inverted' client-server metaphor that X
> windows uses? 

No, not the terminology (what is very confusing).

> I have always understood that to mean that on X, a server
> program draws its output to client screens. 

A X server offers the service of a screen, keyboard, mouse, etc.

X clients are programs (like Firefox), they are located on the
applicationserver.

> Does that mean that the NX
> windows client is more akin to the VNC server than the VNC viewer?

The Windows NX client is a complete X server. (I am not sure how it is
on Linux.)

> Thanks for any info or suggestions. I am very impressed with NX
> technology, and FreeNX achievement. I'm just trying to sort out whether
> the free programs supporting NX use will be applicable to a heavy VNC
> user. Thanks.

I think NX is interesting for you when you are on another place. Simply
connect to your Linux computer at home and you have everything what you
need. So something new.

When you get your family and friends to use Linux, you can use it like VNC.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

With regards,
Paul van der Vlis.


BTW: Try TightVNC, it's faster then RealVNC, and under Linux it can do
automatically tunneling over SSH.