[kwlug-disc] GUI Remote Access

[Peter Melse]

So far this list has covered every free method I've tried so far, so i'll offer up the solution I'm using now, though it has a few caveats.

tldr: vmware horizon (view) virtual desktop infrastructure. It's non-free, takes a lot of hardware, but offers domain authenticated, responsive gui connections to Ubuntu(14.04, 16.04), and windows desktops. 

The cost for home lab use:
a vmug advantage subscription (about 200 usd a year.) this gets you a year's worth of all the VMware products needed.

Plus a windows server 2008 R2 vm for the connection server


Compute overhead:
A vmware esxi virtualization host,
a samba or active directory domain controller, vcenter, and a windows server for running the connection server.

About 18gb of ram for the above (a used server is a good idea)

By accessing the connection server with a free downloaded client from vmware, a thin client*, raspberry pi, or by browser (tested firefox, chrome) you get usb pass through, dynamic window resizing, clipboard, capable of streaming a youtube video or netflix on the same lan, and reasonable latency over the internet. 

*A note on thin clients. For linux vm support, only the newer vmware blast protocol is supported. (My selection of fleamarket thin clients only support pcoip, so I'm stuck with a windows vm for my tv, thin client desktops)

~Peter


On Jun 24, 2017, 10:02 PM, at 10:02 PM, "Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)" <aklists at mixdown.ca> wrote:
>> On Jun 24, 2017, at 5:18 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I tried ssh -Y because it is the simplest path, with no extra
>software
>> nor configuration on either side.
>> 
>> It works, but it is painfully slow, with a huge lag. Both sides are
>on
>> the same WiFi network.
>> 
>> Still exploring alternatives ...
>
>The best solution I’ve found so far is still NoMachine NX. It’s not as
>good as the old stuff, but it’s multiplatform and snappy. Neat features
>it *does* have that the old stuff doesn’t is device extrusion (such as
>USB devices) and remote multimedia support.
>
>-A.
>
>
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