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remote desktop software?
Jarmer Oct 27
Hi everyone, just wondering what do you all use for unattended remote desktop access software? After all these years on linux, this is really the ONLY thing I continue to struggle with. It's such a pain point, and I have yet to figure out something that consistently works. Here's my setup:

HTPC in living room: popos (gnome variant) running plex. I need to remote into (unattended) the desktop to open filezilla and download stuff.
Client pc in office: opensuse tumbleweed (kde plasma).

I have tried SO MANY different things, and they never work consistently over time (like for months on end). I've tried:

1- regular ol built in vnc (with open port) - over time this will stop working for what reason I do not know - just says "client refused connection" and a reboot will fix it

2- nomachine - randomly crashes over time, requires reboot to reinitialize server side software. Also struggles with UI scaling, sometimes making it almost impossible to use (things will be scaled to 4k resolution and scaling won't change)

3- teamviewer - constantly complained about using wayland, sometimes worked, sometimes not

4- rustdesk - honestly I can't remember why this didn't work, but I did try it and got nowhere

5- anydesk - tried this last year at the same time as rustdesk, also couldn't get working but I don't remember why.

I think that's it. So what do you all use?? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
whizse Oct 27
The built in remote desktop in GNOME should be using RDP by default. Have you tried that?
Jarmer Oct 27
I tried just now. Using Remmina as the client to connect to the server via RDP, the connection is accepted after supplying credentials, but instantly closes. I can see some form of open window for like half a second, then it's gone. No clue. Also tried via VNC but it says "client refused connection".
mr-victory Oct 27
Thinlinc.
If the server does not have static IP, Thinlinc agent must be configured to redirect to the new IP each time IP changes, also there is no Wayland support. And Thinlinc is proprietary software. Other than these Thinlinc has been great for me, my connection was stable and fast where xrdp and xvnc struggled. It made a night and day difference.

Last edited by mr-victory on 27 October 2024 at 4:16 pm UTC
whizse Oct 27
I tried just now. Using Remmina as the client to connect to the server via RDP, the connection is accepted after supplying credentials, but instantly closes. I can see some form of open window for like half a second, then it's gone. No clue. Also tried via VNC but it says "client refused connection".
Odd. It might work better with GNOME Connections?
Jarmer Oct 27
Thinlinc.
If the server does not have static IP, Thinlinc agent must be configured to redirect to the new IP each time IP changes, also there is no Wayland support. And Thinlinc is proprietary software. Other than these Thinlinc has been great for me, my connection was stable and fast where xrdp and xvnc struggled. It made a night and day difference.

I'm using Wayland, so I suppose that is out. But thank you for the suggestion.
mr-victory Oct 27
Thinlinc creates a headless session for streaming. I could use Plasma Wayland on my PC and stream X.Org LXQT to iPad simultaneously.
LoudTechie Oct 28
The only thing I've used is team viewer(proprietary).
It works for my purposes although I'm slowly looking for a non-proprietary alternative.

Edit:
technically I've used openssh too, but that was on a local connection.

Last edited by LoudTechie on 28 October 2024 at 10:09 am UTC
kokoko3k Oct 28
I need to remote into (unattended) the desktop to open filezilla and download stuff.

If that's the use, I'd go for simple commandline ssh+lftp.
lucinos Oct 28
If what you want to do can be done in terminal, just use ssh.

For remote desktop the last I've used was anydesk, was working pretty good back then.

Has anyone else tried RustDesk? I haven't tried it but it looks good. (I have not tried anything recently)

Last edited by lucinos on 28 October 2024 at 11:15 pm UTC
iwantlinuxgames Oct 30
i used to use X over ssh years ago...not sure how well it works in the age of wayland.

it would spawn a graphical interface from the remote node to your display, allowing you to use GUI apps from the remote machine and changes taking place on the remote machine...no need for a full desktop

you can try the directions found here"

https://www.baeldung.com/linux/forward-x-over-ssh

but like i said...i've no idea if it will still work in the age of wayland

Last edited by iwantlinuxgames on 30 October 2024 at 7:33 am UTC
whizse Oct 30
i used to use X over ssh years ago...not sure how well it works in the age of wayland.

it would spawn a graphical interface from the remote node to your display, allowing you to use GUI apps from the remote machine and changes taking place on the remote machine...no need for a full desktop
The downside to X over the network is that you need to leave it running on the machine you're connecting from.

As soon as you close the connection the application lose contact with the X server and dies.
Jarmer Nov 1
over the terminal won't work for me since I also want to be able to update my steam games (my friends and I also game on that computer in the living room), and check files, etc... so I would want a GUI.

to update things from my side: I have basically gone back through all the tools, and thus far anydesk seems to be working. It definitely did NOT work last year when I tried it, so maybe some patches have helped it out, or some system updates on my end. Either way, it's working okay for now, so I will continue on with it. If it stops working for whatever reason I will give thinlinc a try.
BlackBloodRum Nov 1
  • Supporter Plus
I found this recently when looking for a way to remote-play games without requiring steam:
https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine

You can use it to control the desktop too, may be useful for you?

It works fairly well for letting me play a game on my laptop that's actually running on my desktop.
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