XFree86 over a network

[George Toft]

Hi All,

There is a significant difference between Exceed and VNC, and each
has their strengths and weaknesses.

Exceed (or any other X-Server) displays just the appropriate client
window that changes, and can run graphics interactively over a
100 mbps network quite nicely.  To wit, I have run the KDE OpenGL
Toys on a server, and displayed it over a busy network and they
ran very smoothly.

X was designed like this - to be split between a client and a 
server.  That's why a Windows X Server will work as well as a 
Unix X Server (theoretically) to display your client windows.

VNC was designed to reproduce a screen over a network.  You
can actually end your VNC session, go somewhere else, and pick
it back up later.  Since VNC is displaying the whole screen (there
are some optimizations to make this faster), it is slower to use
than an X Server.  For example, let's say you are at work and want 
to go home.  You end you VNC session, go home, reconnect, and 
everything is just as you left it.  With Exceed, you would have 
to close your X session, and when you reconnect, reopen all of your
client programs again.

Another benefit of an X Server is that you can run graphics 
programs from a box that has no graphics card installed and it
need not be running X.  VNC merely duplicates the graphics
screen.

The benefits of VNC are that it is free (beer) and it works
equally well with Windows and Linux.  It comes with a java 
client, so you can actually use a browser to control the server.

George



"Sonja Michelle L. Thomas" wrote:
> 
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> I use Exceed as well. Runs great! Though it's an expensive program.
> VNc is freeware that allows you to do the same, cept it needs a
> server running on he *nix box and a client on the other. People swear
> by it and it does it's job.
> 
> ****************************************************
> Sonja Michelle L. Thomas
> sonja@sdf.lonestar.org
> 
> - ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kevin Brown" <kevin_brown@qwest.net>
> To: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
> Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2001 10:08 PM
> Subject: Re: XFree86 over a network
> 
> > I use a copy of Exceed that I got from ASU.  Basically I setup the
> > DISPLAY variable on the *nix machine to be the IP/FQDN of the
> > windows machine and then any X app I run gets piped over the
> > network to it.
> >
> > in bash:
> > export DISPLAY=<ip>:0.0
> >
> > in csh:
> > setenv DISPLAY <ip>:0.0
> >
> > I believe that is the correct syntax.
> >
> > Jeff Barker wrote:
> > >
> > > Can anyone tell me if it's possible to have X installed on a
> > > server and run X in a client on Windows machines?
> > >
> > > If it is, what client would be used on Windows and how would I
> > > configure X for that.  X won't be run on the server at all, only
> > > on a Windows 2k/XP box on the network.
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