On Sat, Aug 05, 2000 at 06:57:43PM -0500, Chris Hoover wrote > Can someone point me to some sites that explain how to get an older > computer working as a remote x-term/workstation. > > Here is what I currently have: > 1 486DX/2 50 laptop w/ 20 megs - This has a "complete" potato install > with a working X server. I would like to convert this laptop into a > remote X workstation with everything possible (X wise) running off of my > local server. > > How can I do this? >
Easy. Get X configured locally (so you can use startx to go into graphics mode, and have a working mouse cursor). Remove XDM from your 486, if you have it installed; install it on your server (which doesn't need a working X server) if it isn't already. On the server, edit /etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess so it contains lines like *.localnet *.localnet CHOOSER BROADCAST substituting the name of your network for 'localnet' (or, the name of your client for '*.localnet'). Don't just use "*", and remember that X traffic is unencrypted: don't do this if you don't trust your local network, don't use a wildcard that matches untrusted machines, and don't use a wildcard that matches machines the path to which includes untrusted networks or machines. The first line says that XDM should allow the specified machines to login, and the second allows the specified machines to run a chooser (which is irrelevant, if you only have one workstation to login to). If you've had to make any changes, run # /etc/init.d/xdm reload so that XDM sees them. You can use GDM or WDM instead, but then you need to find and appropriately edit their "equivalent" of XDM's Xaccess file. Run this command as root on your 486: # /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -query server.localnet &> /var/log/x0.server.log substituting the name of your server for 'server.localnet'; you should get an XDM prompt from your server on your local display. If you have more than one server that you might want to login to, you can use this command instead: # /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -indirect server.localnet &> /var/log/x0.server.log This should get your server to present you with a menu of hosts to choose from. Note that currently this doesn't work if the server is running gdm or wdm. To make it more permanent, add a line to /etc/inittab like this: x0:3:respawn:/usr/bin/X11/X :0 -query server.localnet This sets the local Xserver to run in runlevel 3; test it with # telinit 3 and, if it works, you can change ":3:" to ":2:" in inittab to make it start in Debian's default runlevel. If you're already running a local Xserver on your 486, change the "X :0" to "X :1" (or whatever) so that they each use a different display. Hope this helps, John P. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mdt.net.au/~john Debian Linux admin & support:technical services
