[whoflungpoo]

Greetings Kodi fans,

(I am aware that there might be some threads around this, I'm just looking for pointers, links or a Google search phrase, maybe my Google search phrases are along the incorrect searches. I appreciate your time.)

What I'm looking for is a means to access the Lubuntu interface via VNC while Kodi is playing on the TV simultaneously. Maybe its from a new X session, maybe a new terminal?

So the use case is:

1. My daughter is watching something on Kodi (TV).
2. I need to move and rename a whole bunch of Movies, I opt for Lubuntu.
3. How do I VNC into Lubuntu without having to disturb everyone else.

My issue with renaming and moving items via the default shares is that all the moving and editing runs over the network making the Sata3 speeds useless. So I would like to login to the GUI and do it there quickly....amongst other minor reasons.

If I can stick to x11vnc the better.

Many Thanks!

I use:
Kodibuntu 14
x11vnc
Windoze & MobaXterm to access the Kodi server via VNC or ssh.

Id say I'm roughly a medium skilled Linuxer, a better Kodi/XBMC fan!

[TiberiusT]

I long since dropped anything that thas VNC in the name and replaced all of it with x2go. http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php
I can't recommend it highly enough over VNC.

It's super reliable, easy to setup and you'll have the option in a dropdown box of either 'x2going' into the running Desktop (in which case you'll see XBMC running) or it can autospawn another session (set it to use LXDE) as the same user and yu can mess about as if you were attached to the real machine without affecting the original running session in any way. Yu can then use the file manager in a full screen if u like and any file movements you make are then done locally (not across the network). Further, you can do stuff in the 2nd session, close it, and reopen it later and it can remain exactly where you left it.

It uses NoMachine's X code, which means that it only redraws the parts of the screen that each click/keyb press affects - so it's really really fast. It's so fast that people use it with RaspPI clients, say 10 clients to one central machine to make fast but cheap terminals with full power.

I'm all Linux but I understand there's a Windows client which works well. Yu must also install ssh on the server since it uses that to connect.

Say goodbye to VNC.....I don't miss one byte of it

Cheers
T

[whoflungpoo]

Thank you for your recommendation TiberiusT.

Its sounds exactly what I'm looking for and will try this tonight!

I was hoping to stick to VNC as Moba provides a multi protocol client for various connectivity options, but right now...Ill try x2go.

Regards
W

[TiberiusT]

I just installed it on my NUC running Kodibuntu just to see! Doddle:

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:x2go/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession x2golxdebindings

then get it running as a service and enable it so it restarts on reboot

Code:

sudo service x2goserver enable

Also, the foll are required by x2go but not on my Kodibuntu install since they were already installed, but they might be needed for you. Just copypasta and run them, it will tell yu if it's already installed and do nothing, otherwise it will install it.

Code:

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

also you might need ssh. Again it's already on mine:

Code:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

then just set up whatever version of x2go client for your client OS. It's working fine here but seems kodibuntu uses OpenBox. I had to right-click, open a terminal and type "pcmanfm" to get the file manager up...no biggie.

T

[whoflungpoo]

Hey TiberiusT,

Thank you for your instructions they worked perfectly.

As you said these 2 codes weren't required:

Code:

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

I tried x2go last night, admittedly I tried to connect 2 sessions which resulted in me removing my CPU heat sink due to overheating....That was a first, but you know PC's...

Some things I noted before the crash, I couldn't open more than 1 Session. SSH worked. The connection to open box worked and I could open the File Manager as you said. x2go is an excellent alternative.

So I have some questions please:

1. How do I view the Kodi interface via x2go? Like VNC.
2. Is it possible to open more than 2 sessions?
3. How do I access the LXDE interface like VNC?

I will try x2go again tonight when home. But I think I might be thinking on the lines of getting the LXDE interface working in terminal 6 (CTRL + ALT + F6) in parallel to Kodi running in terminal 7.

Regs
W

[TiberiusT]

So I have some questions please:

1. How do I view the Kodi interface via x2go? Like VNC.
2. Is it possible to open more than 2 sessions?
3. How do I access the LXDE interface like VNC?

1. Create another Session in your x2go client and select "Connect to local desktop" in the x2go client Session Preferences, Session Type drop down box. The Kodi interface must be up and running on the Kodibuntu machine ofc.
2. Yes. Just open more instances of the x2go client on your client machine and open as many as yu like...it works fine here using the Linux client. Can't see any reason why Windows shud be any different.
3. A Ha! I just played around with it. Instead of using openbox yu can get open a Lubuntu session by selecting "Custom desktop" in the x2go client Session Preferences drop down box and entering this command into the custom command box to the right:

Code:

/usr/bin/lxsession -s Lubuntu

that then brings up the Lubuntu Desktop as if you had logged into it locally. So no need to bother with Openbox's peculiarities anymore. Strangely, whilst I can scale the 'Connect to Local Desktop" instance by dragging the corners of the window, I cannot do this with the Lubuntu instance. So, I set a custom Width/Height of 800x600 in the Display section of the Input/Output tab to get it to fit in a window on my client desktop. Dunno why that doesn't work...

If yu want to use this to watch videos on your client machine (I guess just bcos yu can ), remember that x2go updates only the screen pixels that change. Therefore the smaller the window on your client, the more likely you'll get smooth video playback. This also depends on your network speed and the client PC's power/ability to decode the compressed signal that the x2go host is sending it...so YMMV. As per the screenie I can watch Avatar playing in Kodibuntu in the size shown - I'm on a 200mb/s wireless connection so it's pretty good.







T

[whoflungpoo]

Thank you TiberiusT,

I do humbly appreciate your time and effort helping me out

Some feedback from yesterday. I built a new sandpit with the dust around my CPU and fixed the overheating

I managed to get 2 & 3 running smoothly!!! Wow it is great!

I'm not sure why, but 1 is not working. Once I run the session it opens the window, shows me the image, then crashes. The image it shows is the native 19XX X 10XX resolution as it is on the TV. It doesn't re-size, but I haven't had the opportunity to try before the crash as its instant.My session settings are the same as your screenshot, except the resolution is 800x600.

Windows error:

Code:

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
  Application Name:    vcxsrv.exe
  Application Version:    0.0.0.0
  Application Timestamp:    54f2505d
  Fault Module Name:    MSVCR120.dll
  Fault Module Version:    12.0.21005.1
  Fault Module Timestamp:    524f7ce6
  Exception Code:    c0000005
  Exception Offset:    0000f608
  OS Version:    6.3.9600.2.0.0.256.48
  Locale ID:    1033
  Additional Information 1:    5861
  Additional Information 2:    5861822e1919d7c014bbb064c64908b2
  Additional Information 3:    3a20
  Additional Information 4:    3a20a93c34687143a5bf7d33f1cf3ccc

Session log:

Code:

NXPROXY - Version 3.5.0

Copyright (C) 2001, 2010 NoMachine.
See http://www.nomachine.com/ for more information.

Info: Proxy running in client mode with pid '4856'.
Session: Starting session at 'Thu Mar 19 10:23:36 2015'.
Info: Connecting to remote host 'localhost:31001'.
Info: Connection to remote proxy 'localhost:31001' established.
Info: Connection with remote proxy completed.
Warning: Unrecognized session type 'unix-kde-depth_32'. Assuming agent session.
Warning: Failed to read data from the X auth command.
Warning: Generated a fake cookie for X authentication.
Info: Using LAN link parameters 1536/24/1/0.
Info: Using pack method '16m-jpeg-9' with session 'unix-kde-depth_32'.
Info: Not using NX delta compression.
Info: Not using ZLIB data compression.
Info: Not using ZLIB stream compression.
Info: Not using a persistent cache.
Info: Forwarding X11 connections to display 'localhost:1'.
Session: Session started at 'Thu Mar 19 10:23:36 2015'.
Info: Established X server connection.
Info: Using shared memory parameters 0/0K.

Any Ideas?

[whoflungpoo]

Actually TiberiusT, don't stress.

I can access pcmanfm via any SSH terminal in the same manner as above with MobaXterm, I should have picked this up as gedit does the same thing.

If I run the command:

Code:

/usr/bin/lxsession -s Lubuntu

I can open the desktop on my local machine, it does present other challenges (like un-windowed full screen), but its working and I can keep all my sessions centralized in 1 window.

Some tests I can do for x2go:

1. Remove x11vnc to see if that's causing point 1's issue.
2. Try the x2go client on an Mint 17 laptop and see if the same issue is experienced.

Otherwise i'm satisfied with what you have educated me with, and I do appreciate it

Regards
W

[TiberiusT]

That's your Windoze x2go client crashing. I've only ever used the client on Linux I'm afraid and never had any problems - there must be issues with the Windows version.

For some reason the ssh method totally slipped my mind. Bcos Kodibuntu runs X you can ofc use the X switch in ssh like so

Code:

ssh -X [email protected] pcmanfm

and that brings up the filemanager for Kodibuntu...I assume this works in Windows!

Good luck...I bet you it all works on your Mint client

T

[pioneer00]

So I have some questions please:

1. How do I view the Kodi interface via x2go? Like VNC.
2. Is it possible to open more than 2 sessions?
3. How do I access the LXDE interface like VNC?

1. Create another Session in your x2go client and select "Connect to local desktop" in the x2go client Session Preferences, Session Type drop down box. The Kodi interface must be up and running on the Kodibuntu machine ofc.
2. Yes. Just open more instances of the x2go client on your client machine and open as many as yu like...it works fine here using the Linux client. Can't see any reason why Windows shud be any different.
3. A Ha! I just played around with it. Instead of using openbox yu can get open a Lubuntu session by selecting "Custom desktop" in the x2go client Session Preferences drop down box and entering this command into the custom command box to the right:

Code:

/usr/bin/lxsession -s Lubuntu

that then brings up the Lubuntu Desktop as if you had logged into it locally. So no need to bother with Openbox's peculiarities anymore. Strangely, whilst I can scale the 'Connect to Local Desktop" instance by dragging the corners of the window, I cannot do this with the Lubuntu instance. So, I set a custom Width/Height of 800x600 in the Display section of the Input/Output tab to get it to fit in a window on my client desktop. Dunno why that doesn't work...

If yu want to use this to watch videos on your client machine (I guess just bcos yu can ), remember that x2go updates only the screen pixels that change. Therefore the smaller the window on your client, the more likely you'll get smooth video playback. This also depends on your network speed and the client PC's power/ability to decode the compressed signal that the x2go host is sending it...so YMMV. As per the screenie I can watch Avatar playing in Kodibuntu in the size shown - I'm on a 200mb/s wireless connection so it's pretty good.







T

must thank you for this T, works great for my needs and is much better than X11VNC!

much appreciated,