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Tight VNC server on Ubuntu Linux |
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Written by computerguy
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Tuesday, 30 October 2007 00:00 |
Well, I've been running a file server on Debian for a while now.... but I decided to give Ubuntu Server a try... mostly because I tried to add a hard drive to add space to my Debian Linux box, but it was giving me a bunch of hassle. So... I had a spare older computer sitting here with a 1.3 Ghz Athlon processor, only 128 MB RAM and I put a 160 GB hard drive in it to act as my new file server. The idea is to possibly make this machine a PBX phone system using Asterisk sometime in the future, but that's for another article I guess.
Ubuntu Server installed without a hitch, however, when I booted it up... I thought something was missing. It just stopped at a command line. Oh boy. I didn't realize the server version didn't automatically load a GUI (Graphical User Interface). That wasn't what I really thought was going to happen, but it did... so off to search for how to load the GUI.
I found that the server version needs to have the GUI installed if you wish to use it, and the command was simply:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu
Press enter. It then prompts you for a superuser (su) or root password. Type in the password you set up and away it goes..... a few minutes later I had the Ubuntu Gnome desktop running on my Ubuntu Server.
Next I set up Samba to allow for file sharing. This allows the Windows machines on the network to see the file shares. That was a bit of a hurdle in itself, but it's up and working... and beyond what I wanted to discuss in this article.
Next, I wanted to get TightVNC on the server. The TightVNC Server allows remote access to the server. Since my plan is to have this machine setting in another room with nothing plugged into it but the power cord and a network cable, I needed some way to administer it remotely.... Enter TightVNC.
I had some trouble getting this going.... but here's what finally worked.
First I had to make sure "Build-Essential" was installed on the server. This allows the Debian package manager to work properly, allowing for .deb files to install. To do this I opened a terminal window in the Ubuntu desktop by clicking "Applications" > "Accessories" > "Terminal".
Next, actually install build-essential by typing the following at the prompt.
sudo apt-get install build-essential
Enter the "su" password and the install starts and completes... easy, eh?
Now to install TightVNC server. TightVNC is also a package that's able to install very similarly. Therefore, at the prompt...
sudo apt-get install tightvnc-java
Type the "su" password once again and there it goes... installing.
Here's where I got hung up.... supposedly it's installed... how do I configure it??? I looked all over creation... nothing. Then I found a forum post that made the lightbulb come on.
To configure the vnc server, from the Ubuntu desktop click "System" > "Preferences" > "Remote Desktop"
In this window, you can allow others to access the system, and set up a password to access. I configured this the way I wanted it and fired up the TightVNC VIEWER on a windows machine on the network.
At this point, I simply typed in the server name to connect to, and the password I just set up on the Ubuntu Server and Viola!!!!!! I'm now looking at the Ubuntu desktop GUI from my windows machine.....
I hope some of the steps above might help someone with this particular issue... I had set it up once before on my Debian server, but I had forgotten the steps I took since I had done that. It was a bit of a struggle getting it completed, so I wanted to make sure I helped someone else, if I could by documenting just a few steps.
Happy Computing!
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