Need help setting up remote desktop environment

Hello everyone!

I am setting up a computer to act as a remote desktop environment. I want to run Ubuntu on it, and have users be able to connect via an RDP solution (Like you can do with Windows Server, connecting to a remote desktop session with mstsc.)

Does anyone have experience with this that could help me out? I know I can just install TeamViewer and connect to my computer that way, but that isn't quite what I'm aiming for.

If there is anything I can clarify on, please let me know!!

Luvz
~Leigh

Does nobody know how to do this?

Awwee... :'(

~Leigh

LuvToColour said:

I am setting up a computer to act as a remote desktop environment. I want to run Ubuntu on it, and have users be able to connect via an RDP solution (Like you can do with Windows Server, connecting to a remote desktop session with mstsc.)

Does anyone have experience with this that could help me out? I know I can just install TeamViewer and connect to my computer that way, but that isn't quite what I'm aiming for.

Click to expand...

Remote Desktop is Windows-only, I think.

VNC is a similar protocol that's platform-independent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing

There are lots of VNC clients and servers. TightVNC is free, simple and worked well when I used it.
http://www.tightvnc.com/

A quick search suggests that vino is the default VNC server in Ubuntu.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC/Servers

Or maybe have a look at list list of alternatives on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software

You may also need to set up port forwarding:

Wikipedia said:

VNC by default uses TCP port 5900+N, where N is the display number (usually :0 for a physical display). Several implementations also start a basic HTTP server on port 5800+N to provide a VNC viewer as a Java applet, allowing easy connection through any Java-enabled web browser. Different port assignments can be used as long as both client and server are configured accordingly. A HTML5 VNC client implementation for modern browsers (no plugins required) exists too.

Click to expand...

Hope that helps!

Maxx said:

I think there is something like it in Ubuntu. I started down that path when I wanted to control my music collection on a Ubuntu computer remotely from my Android tablet, but stopped investigating when I discovered the chromecast audio.

Click to expand...

Oh sure, there'll be something like Remote Desktop, just not Remote Desktop itself... (I think).

Remote Desktop is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft (formerly known as Terminal Services). I just discovered that there are Linux clients that connect to a Windows server, but it doesn't look like you can run a Remote Desktop server on Linux. You'd have to use something else, and in any case you'd be likely to even if there was an alternative. I wouldn't typically run proprietary Microsoft code on Linux when there's a native open-source alternative.

As I said above, vino is the default VNC client in Ubuntu, so if you were following official Ubuntu documentation, I imagine you were probably looking at that.