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This log shows you how to remotely connect to a Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) machine from a Windows Xp/Vista machine. The first method uses a very fast and efficient program called FreeNX. It runs over a secure shell tunnel and you can encrypt all traffic if you wish which in my case was not needed. It runs a little smoother without the encryption running. There is a client for windows which must be installed.

 

The second method allows the built in Windows Remote Desktop to connect to the Jaunty box without having to install anything on the Windows side. It uses a tightVNC daemon running on the Jaunty box through which the RDP connects.

After testing i found Freenx far superior to windows RDP and VNC for many reasons. It is a little slower connecting due to authentication; but it is WAY faster during use because of the incremental refreshing where RDP and VNC redraw the entire screen for all movement, even just a mouse twitching a pixel. FreeNX is more secure over ssh with kerberos handshake authentication and uses compressed x11 forwarding. The down side is you need a windows client installed. So if you want to connect to your home machine from work but can't install software then this is not a good option. Here is the process.

Install open-ssh for a secure shell conection

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Make sure the ssh daemon is running

$ sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

Test the handshake and sshserver by connecting to localhost
$ ssh your_username@localhost

Add FreeNX PPA to repository sources

$ gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

## add this at the bottom of the file

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/freenx-team/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/freenx-team/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Click on save and close the file

Generate a public key on ubuntu keyserver

$ sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 2a8e3034d018a4ce

Install FreeNX Server

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install freenx

Configure FreeNX Server

$ sudo /usr/lib/nx/nxsetup --install