Computational chemistry, Locally? My rant on SSH • Hacker News Board

Re: Computational chemistry, Locally? My rant on SSH

#41

Post by angry_octet » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 12:30 AM UTC

I agree the local computation can be a win, a MacBook has a crazy amount of compute. Data visualisation from a local PCIe SSD is way faster.

With a bit of automation you can work locally, submit big jobs to the remote cluster, and transfer the data back automatically. It can help to have an always-on computer that you control. For me this is:

[macbook]*tailscale*[my server]---ssh---[cluster]

This solves the problems of pushing data back to a laptop that might be turned off or moving location, on 4G etc. While a job is running, output files start streaming back with rsync.

Re: Computational chemistry, Locally? My rant on SSH

#42

Post by throw0101a » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 12:11 PM UTC

gregdaniels421 wrote: post #30

linksnapzz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>OP is not ready for corporate environments if "VPN + ssh + 2FA" already "feels like too much" lol Sad that it's necessary, but it's still a shitty environment. That employers foist it on their employees doesn't make it better. >I also wonder how they didn't come across X Forwarding at all? Xforwarding over VPN+residential broadband sounds like a great way to ...not use any sort of gui app.

> Xforwarding over VPN+residential broadband sounds like a great way to ...not use any sort of gui app. During COVID I had the wonderful opportunity to remote into a work computer that had a Matlab license and watch the screen slowly paint in. Each keystroke took multiple seconds to display for me.

I remoted into my Linux desktop that was at my desk over SSH, and things ran fine with Xvnc: Firefox, Terminal, Thunderbird, etc. I was able to do my sysadmin job without issue.

Re: Computational chemistry, Locally? My rant on SSH

#43

Post by linksnapzz » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 1:14 AM UTC

throw0101a wrote: post #42

gregdaniels421 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Xforwarding over VPN+residential broadband sounds like a great way to ...not use any sort of gui app. During COVID I had the wonderful opportunity to remote into a work computer that had a Matlab license and watch the screen slowly paint in. Each keystroke took multiple seconds to display for me.

I remoted into my Linux desktop that was at my desk over SSH, and things ran fine with Xvnc: Firefox, Terminal, Thunderbird, etc . I was able to do my sysadmin job without issue.

VNC-remoting an X desktop isn't X11 forwarding an application; the mechanism that is moving pixels to the screen where you're looking at them is distinct, and different.

Re: Computational chemistry, Locally? My rant on SSH

#44

Post by n4r9 » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 10:14 AM UTC

gandreani wrote: post #32

n4r9 wrote: post #15

Recently Claude Code said my authentication credentials had become invalid and I needed to log in again. I recorded the ridiculous number of steps this took: - Copy-paste link to browser - Wait several minutes while page load hangs - Click refresh a couple of times, page finally loads - Type in work email - Redirect to work portal, type in work email again - Asked for work password: open KeepassXC and type in Keepass…

You can disable the laptop PIN requirement in keepassXC and store the OTP code in the app as well. Not the best security practice but thought you should know!

> You can disable the laptop PIN requirement in keepassXC

Thanks for the pointer! I can see an option "Enable database quick unlock (Touch ID / Windows Hello)". It's a bit of a clunky setting though. Ideally I'd like to use quick unlock instead of typing the DB password (e.g. only after session inactivity), but when that setting is checked it also forces you to use it immediately after typing the password.

> and store the OTP code in the app

Oh lord, this is a game-changer.

Re: Computational chemistry, Locally? My rant on SSH

#45

Post by throw0101a » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 2:19 AM UTC

linksnapzz wrote: post #43

throw0101a wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remoted into my Linux desktop that was at my desk over SSH, and things ran fine with Xvnc: Firefox, Terminal, Thunderbird, etc . I was able to do my sysadmin job without issue.

VNC-remoting an X desktop isn't X11 forwarding an application; the mechanism that is moving pixels to the screen where you're looking at them is distinct, and different.

I understand that: I remember when X11 was The Thing (I used to admin Sun sun4m workstations) and I remember when VNC was first invented by some folks at AT&T.

But this is an "XY problem" situation: what you want to get a GUI app running on a remote system to have its window display on the screen in front of you. Xvnc can accomplish that.