[RESOLVED] VNC on pink pogoplug

[azuretech]

Okay, I've read everything I can find on VNC on headless systems until I'm blearry eyed.... and made several attempts, and as far as I've gotten is a successful VNC connection which gives me a black screen and a moving X cursor.... but no usable desktop.

I'm still learning, but I'm at a roadblock here..... it may be a config issue, or something else, I simply don't know what next step to take. I've got xvfb and blackbox installed, and am calling them with

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '/usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -fp /usr/share/fonts/misc -screen 1 800x600x16&
DISPLAY=:1 /usr/bin/blackbox&
/usr/bin/x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -xkb -forever -passwd mypassword
')

I understand that X and VNC will be slow on this hardware.... I'm not going to use it all that often, so I can tolerate the slowness.

That being said..... Has anyone gotten this setup so I you can VNC in to a Xwindows desktop environment?

If so, could you PLEASE give me a step-by-step walk-through.

[cyberic]

Hello

You have to launch other applications like a panel, a windows list or something like that!
blackbox is just a window manager
try pcmanfs or thunar for file mianagers, fbpanel, or apps from xfce or lxde

[moonman]

blackbox is just a window manager. you wont see a useful desktop, every application you launch has to be launched from the command line with this setup. you can try using the suggested above desktops, that will give you a more userfriendly desktop that you are used to. Make sure you have enough swap space though else you will run out of memory.

[azuretech]

Okay, so I installed XFCE, (since it seemed the lightest desktop environment) and am now starting VNC as follows:

/usr/bin/Xvfb :0 -fp /usr/share/fonts/misc -screen 0 800x600x16&
DISPLAY=:0 /usr/bin/xfwm4&
/usr/bin/x11vnc -display :0 -bg -nopw -xkb -forever -passwd password

tried it using gdm as well

Still have the same problem.... I can connect, but just get a black box with a mouse cursor.... nothing else.

I've got to be missing something.

[cyberic]

I think you must get some messages, it would be useful to include theme here

Il fact you should insert a 'sleep 5' between the first and second line, to give some time for the Xvfb server to start, before starting the apps

The best thing to try if to launch a terminal (xterm or similar), and try to launch different apps from there.
After that, put the apps you want in xinitrc or similar

[moonman]

Try a different display number 1?

also try doing "export DISPLAY=:1"
and then /usr/bin/xfwm4&

FYI LXDE is lighter than XFCE

[moonman]

looks like you need to execute startxfce4

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xfce

[moonman]

Ok, to make it easier for you, and just out of my curiosity I have it running on my plug with lxde: Here's my /etc/rc.local
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '/usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -extension GLX -extension RANDR -fp /usr/share/fonts/misc -screen 0 800x600x16&
export DISPLAY=:1
/usr/bin/startlxde&
/usr/bin/x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -xkb -forever -passwd <my password>&
')

[azuretech]

Thank you moonman.... That's exactly what I needed.... lxde is working perfectly....

[azuretech]

So to make it relatively idiot proof if anyone else is searching the forums for a solution... this will get VNC working on a headless system like the pogoplug running Archliinux|ARM

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pacman -S xorg-server-xvfb lxde')

Then edit /etc/rc.local to include the following:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '/usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -extension GLX -extension RANDR -fp /usr/share/fonts/misc -screen 0 800x600x16&
export DISPLAY=:1
/usr/bin/startlxde&
/usr/bin/x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -xkb -forever -passwd <my password>&
')

Then just set your VNC client (I use UltraVNC) to connect to your headless system's IP address on port 5900