how to start up vncserver w/o login?

[Dave Stevens]

On Sunday 08 June 2008 02:57:10 am Mike wrote:
> Dave Stevens <geek <at> uniserve.com> writes:
> > It does and seems as if it would work. I have stopped work on this
> > because it seems vnc is unavoidably unacceptably slow.
>
> I use this all the time and it works at an acceptable rate.
>
> > I tried Freenx and the nomachine
> > linux client and it addresses the need for pre-login functionality nicely
> > and gives much better throughput, allows higher resolutions, etc.
>
> I am interested to know if Freenx or !M are able to reproduce the
> functionality that I get using vncserver as described in my previous post.
>
> However I asked on the list some time ago if anyone could confirm that
> they had got freenx or !M to make a connection to the native desktop on
> a remote machine without any local user having logged in on the remote
> machine locally, but I never had any confirmation that it was in fact
> possible or that anyone had actually managed it.
>
> This particular use for connection to a remote desktop is vital for me to
> manage a remote machine where the local user there is non-computer
> literate.
>
> I'd still like to hear from anyone who has done this.

ok, I think what I have implemented meets your needs.

Then this gives a vnc window to the server machine via the tunnel even if
the remote user has not yet logged in provided X on the server is running.

The !M client on my box logs me in to the server and gives me an X session. If 
(I've tested this, not a theory) I go to the far end machine, the server, and 
turn on the screen the system is sitting at the user login screen. If I were 
to log in at that point there seem to be two X sessions, one serving up a 
screen at my box and one local to the server. Because in this setup stage the 
two computers are physically contiguous, a VNC session (which can be 
implemented only after a user login on the server) can be controlled at the 
same time by either keyboard or mouse. With the !M session these are 
separate. I'm pretty happy with this solution, it means I can get back to a 
login and full X session with no need to have physical access. Hope this 
helps.

Dave

-- 
In modern fantasy (literary or governmental), killing people is the usual 
solution to the so-called war between good and evil. My books are not 
conceived in terms of such a war, and offer no simple answers to simplistic 
questions.

-- Ursula K. LeGuin