On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Bill wrote:
> Yesterday, Andrew Wyatt posted the following line:
> export DISPLAY=localhost:0;X :0&xterm&
>
> I want to log in to my home box from school and see my home box as if
> sitting at it ... GUI and all.
>
> How is this done?
Well, that's just a big can of worms there...
Your getting into the fundamentals of the X Windowing System. Sticking to
your problem specifically, it's important to understand what that DISPLAY
environment variable really means.
There are three parts to the setting:
<host>:<server>:<head>
The first part, <host>, tells your X clients (terminology I'll get into a
little later) which host to send its graphics to. The second part,
<server> distinguishes among multiple servers on that particular host.
Since most people just run one server, the value of "0" is usually seen.
The last part almost never plays an important role. It's the <head>
number on a multi-head display. It's usually "0" but can mostly be left
off and defaulted.
Now, any program you are running which generates a "pretty interface" is
called an X client. Your window manager is an X client. Mozilla is an X
client. Xterm is even an X client.
The program which receives this data and physically displays it to the
user is called an X server. The X server is responsible for controlling
the physical hardware of display and device input.
What you are trying to do is turn your PC at work into an X server
(requires software be installed) and then run all of your programs at home
while redirecting their display (through the DISPLAY environment
variable).
If you are running Windows at work you'll need a program like Reflection X
or similar to serve as your X server. If you are running Unix at work you
will need to give permission for your home machine to send images to your
work machine. (I'm not going in to that.)
Once you have the server set up, SSH to your home machine and set your
DISPLAY environment variable accordingly:
"<work-machine-IP-or-name>:0:0". (Without the angle brackets, of course.)
Any program you run now will send its display to your work machine.
Note, however, that this is insecure. If you bother with SSHing to your
home machine you should SSH the X display back to your work machine. This
can be done.
Hope some of this helps.
Paul Braman
aeon@tampabay.rr.com
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