Remote Desktop Login from Mac

October 12th, 2006 at 23:06 · Filed Under Call Me a Geek, Computing, Hacking, Linux, Mac OS X 

Some friends told me the laziest programmer is the best and most creative programmer. When a person becomes older, he/she will become lazier.

Remote Desktop Login has been out there for some time ago. I did not try it. Remote Desktop Control has been useful for me occasionally. I had a bad experience with RDC when my Linux server crashed in early September. I was RDC from my SPARC/Solaris workstation. I stopped using RDC since then.

One drawback about RDC is that I have to login before I can access the desktop remotely.

Because of my eye condition, I feel lazy to switch between keyboards and mice and running from one room to another. I decided to check out Remote Desktop Login. It took me a while to understand. But after I tried it out, it was pretty easy though.

Here’s how I do it to login to SPARC/Solaris. Launch X11 from Mac OS X then

$ xhost +ip_address
$ Xnest :1 -query ip_address -geometry 1280x1024

According to some documentation, it is required to configure gdm on Linux boxes. I used the following to configure FC 5 (Fedora Core 5) box:

  1. Edit /etc/gdm/custom.conf
  2. Add RemoteGreeter=/usr/libexec/gdmlogin to [daemon] segment
  3. Under [xdmcp] segment, change the line Enable=false to Enable=true
  4. Restart gdm

With Remote Desktop Login, I don’t have to login before I remotely access the PC. It has also save me some money for investing in a KVM switch. I was thinking about hooking up some of my computers with a KVM switch. It will still be a mess with all the cables despite of its pricy tag. Remote Desktop Login is the best method for me at this moment. It allow me to become lazier because I no longer need to login at computers which I want access. I can login remotely, simple!

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Comments

9 Responses to “Remote Desktop Login from Mac”

  • Solaris 10 | Adrian’s WebLog on October 30th, 2006 2:17 1

    [...] The fun began. I login remotely from Pluto. Here are some screenshots of Solaris 10 on Pyxis1: [...]

  • Won Shin on June 14th, 2007 7:33 2

    I’m trying to RDC from Solaris 8 to Windows 2K3 server. Do you have any experience?

    Regards,
    Won

  • Adrian Hoe on June 14th, 2007 13:12 3

    Hi Won,

    Sorry, I am afraid not because I don’t use Windows. Perhaps you can try the usenet group at comp.unix.solaris. The folks there may enlighten your path.

    Good luck.

  • Blayne on July 13th, 2007 7:43 4

    total newb here… I’m running 10.4.1 and would like to manage my linux server that is remote – opensuse 10.1 could you advise on the best way to do this? Much appreciated! Blayne

  • Adrian Hoe on July 13th, 2007 9:58 5

    Hi Blayne,

    That depends how you want to do it on your Mac. Using the Xnest method is not so encouraging between Mac and Linux. I had different mixed experience when I connect from Mac to RedHat FC5 and Debian. Xnest worked on FC5 but no longer using FC5. It did not work on my Debian and still not working until today.

    I will suggest you to use Tunneling X over SSH. You can read about this here.

    Good luck.

  • saurabh Raghuvanshi on October 28th, 2009 20:50 6

    Hi Arian,
    Thanks a lot for the solution. It works nicely with my MAC and Solaris 10. I also tried it with Fedora and it seems to work nicely. This would help me in deciding the platform that I could use in my lab. I plan to use SUN servers at the back end and iMacs as the desktop.

  • saurabh Raghuvanshi on October 30th, 2009 21:44 7

    Hi Adrian,
    After working successfully for few days I am now suddenly getting this message:

    Fatal server error:
    XDMCP fatal error: Session failed Session 42 failed for display 192.168.1.4:1: Cannot open display

    Any idea what is wrong.
    Thanks

  • Adrian Hoe on November 3rd, 2009 9:14 8

    Hi Saurabh,

    This is very strange. Are you using DHCP to connect? Have you check display :1?

    I haven’t encountered such problem before so I am of little help here. Perhaps you want to try the forum.

  • zuraidi on April 28th, 2010 16:46 9

    Thanks a lot, very help full guide. Pretty easy. thanks

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