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Xrdp: An open source RDP server

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Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#21

Post by simcop2387 »

Arnavion wrote: post #14
wronglebowski wrote: post #2

Can someone explain to me how Xrdp is so much simpler to use than VNC? I setup a new CentOS workstation the other day and ended up trying to follow long tutorials with config files and services. I gave up, installed the Xrdp package and seconds later I had a remote session going.

>long tutorials with config files and services On the server: x11vnc -display :0 -noxdamage -shared -repeat -forever On the client: ssh -T server 'nc 127.0.0.1 5900' vncviewer 127.0.0.1:5900

    ssh -N -L5900:127.0.0.1:5900 user@server
is usually cleaner than using nc, it doesn't require running any commands on the remote system and lets you do any port changing that you need to make things work between each side.

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#23

Post by rudolph9 »

Another option is http://xpra.org/ . It’s a bit more of a commitment as (from what I understand) it replaces you displayManager (e.g. Gnome gdm) and I haven’t gotten around to trying it but I personally prefer Xforwarding over rdp.

Is the difference between RDP and xforwarding basically RDP is giving you a video of the remote display and sending the mouse clicks + XY position top? Vs xfowarding which natively renders the buttons and such and in the button example sending signal that a particular button got clicked?

I imagine a trade off is more security vulnerabilities with xforwarding? Does some have more incite into this?

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#24

Post by gh123man »

ryanmjacobs wrote: post #19
gsich wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Spice is the answer. It works good on VMs.

I wish Spice worked better. Right now I'm running my workstation on a server KVM instance. Spice too laggy for me. VNC works great. Although, I leave a connected tty backgrounded with Spice -- the audio works seamlessly. Small bits of lag, but I use it for spotify in the background.

In my experience, SPICE is awesome on a fast local network. I even run it at 4k with a remote VM. I experience more frame drops than straight up lag - but things like video and audio are surprisingly good.

I've been searching for a good (free) virtual desktop/workstation solution but Proxmox as a host + SPICE so far as the best I have found. I'd love to also find something free that supports virtualized or pass-through GPU. I agree that SPICE is not perfect, but it's the only protocol that feels like I am actually using the remote machine as a local desktop unlike VNC or RDP.

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#25

Post by rudolph9 »

philsnow wrote: post #9

In the past I've used and loved https://xpra.org/ . The performance is good and it doesn't rely on weird (to me) installation like NX does (NX installation creates a unix user, maybe this is necessary for some enterprise-y things, but my use case is "a smoother VNC"). I seem to recall facing issues with having exactly the same version on both client and server because the code didn't try for any forward or backwards…

Just posted something on xpra too! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23494012

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#27

Post by thaniri »

I used to maintain some linux remote desktops at my job for specific workflows of certain employees.

Wow, using xrdp was a complete gong show to manage. The most common bugs were in the assignment of displays on user logon, as well as a crappy, often buggy, login screen (though GUI logins for linux are fascinatingly weird pretty much universally.)

That being said, even in evaluating alternatives there wasn't anything much better. Linux remote desktop managers are just not that great yet.

As much as I hate Windows, I have to tip my hat to Microsoft's and say that their RDP implementation stands more than head and shoulders above any alternative remote desktop implementations I've tried.

Developers these days are getting much better at doing things over the command line. The trend of using GUIs for everything recently appears to be ebbing into a "right tool for the right job" mindset. Which is a very promising trend I've noticed. Hopefully remote workflows are entirely done through emulating terminals over SSH in a few years time :)

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#28

Post by pixelhorse »

A few years ago, I managed to build XRDP with RemoteFX enabled. This was the smoothest remote desktop I have ever experienced.

I couldn't replicate it a while later after an OS upgrade and I have since given up on it. Does anybody else have experience with this? Should I give it another try?

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#29

Post by fock »

so, is there any open-source alternative including a login manager and preferably supporting accelerated graphics - xrdp is no solution you can sell anyone today just from the looks of it? I suppose the state of this affair is, what is really killing Desktop-linux deployment - to my knowledge you can't setup a VDI-infrastructure a la Windows Terminal Server at all without buying into Citrix or various other vendors (at which any "clients can be cheaper with Linux" argument is just obliterated)

Re: Xrdp: An open source RDP server

#30

Post by Cadwhisker »

rudolph9 wrote: post #23

Another option is http://xpra.org/ . It’s a bit more of a commitment as (from what I understand) it replaces you displayManager (e.g. Gnome gdm) and I haven’t gotten around to trying it but I personally prefer Xforwarding over rdp. Is the difference between RDP and xforwarding basically RDP is giving you a video of the remote display and sending the mouse clicks + XY position top? Vs xfowarding which natively renders…

For me, XPRA has been a revelation for how I use Linux remotely. It's the GUI version of the "screen" command.

For those who haven't used it and want to try it, you install "xpra" on your Linux box with "yum" or "apt", then fire up an xpra server with "xpra start" (or "nohup xpra start &"), then make a note of which extra display it has added (like ":1"). It's not replacing the display manager (as far as I'm aware).

Download a windows client from xpra.org, then connect through SSH. Once connected, you get a small icon in the Windows taskbar with lots of menu options. Under the "Start" option, you have sub-menus which give you access to all the Linux desktop programs on the target machine.

For example, I use XPRA to connect to my Ubuntu 20.04 laptop and run "Start -> Accessories -> Terminal Emulator". It opens an XFCE4 terminal on my Windows desktop, looking as if it was a native Windows application. In the terminal, I can type "thunar" and a new Thunar file manager window will open on the Windows desktop, or "xemacs" for a text editor.

It's very fast because it's only sending 1 window at a time, not the whole desktop. I can disconnect, then re-connect and the windows will re-appear as I had left them.

It's not perfect (some dialog boxes don't respond to mouse clicks), but it is worth playing with.

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