[K12OSN] Preparing K12Linux F11

[Les Mikesell]

Warren Togami wrote:
> On 06/04/2009 04:44 PM, Dan Young wrote:
>>
>> A compilation of suggestions to date is here:
>> https://fedorahosted.org/k12linux/wiki/LiveServer/F11CandidateApps
> 
> # FreeNX client, server (0.3M)
> 
> Does this actually work?  In my experience it is horribly buggy and 
> broken software.  Also it has zero integration with LTSP.

I haven't used exactly that version, but for the ones I have, the server 
is fairly usable and doesn't hurt anything to have enabled because it 
won't start unless a client initiates a session via ssh.  The most 
useful way to use it is install the no-cost NX client from 
www.nomachine.com on windows or macs and use them _in addition to_ the 
ltsp thin clients, or use it for remote access or administration.  It's 
basically a remote X that is very bandwidth and latency efficient.  You 
probably wouldn't want to use it for a large number of clients because 
of the server-side overhead but it is great to have it available for 
situations where you can't (or don't want to) boot as a thin client or 
you want to be able to shift a long-running session around, like picking 
up your desktop from home.

And personally, I like the cut/paste between the session and native apps 
on the NX client side.

There might be a security issue to be aware of if you use the default NX 
client key, though.  The last time I checked (long ago...) you could 
establish a passwordless ssh session as the nx user with that key.  You 
couldn't do anything directly with that login, but you could do ssh 
port-forwarding that might be able to reach services or other systems 
that you expect to be firewalled.  Also, there is probably a bug that is 
fixed in the ubuntu version where you can't get a shadow session of the 
physical console.  I can track that fix down if anyone needs it.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com