====== Using VNC on Linux ======

Unlike many other operating systems, Linux uses an X server for graphical display, which allows network redirection. This me
ans that you can easily have a secure remote display without using VNC by tunneling through ssh using 'ssh -X'. None the les
s, if for some reason you would still like to use VNC, this page describes the process for getting it to work.

===== Setup =====

==== Download and install a secure shell client ====

Modern Linux distributions typically come with a secure shell client, ssh. If you find that you need a copy, a free implemen
tation, openssh (and a dependency, openssl) is available at http://www.openssh.org.


==== Download and install a VNC client ====

We recommend using [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TightVNC|TightVNC]] as it includes a number of nice features over the [[http://www.realvnc.com/download.html|official VNC client]].Download a copy at the [[http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html|TightVNC download page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vnc-tight/]].The viewer is available as a pre-compiled binary or as source code. Only download the source if you are familiar with building packages or have an OS which doesn't have pre-built binaries. Optionally, install the VNC client to a system directory. Of course, first take a look at the README.


===== Connecting =====

Each time you want to connect using VNC, do the following:

  * Use ssh to forward a local port to the VNC server. The following would work for Grace Hopper:

  ssh -L 5901:localhost:5995 grhopper@mote.cs.vassar.edu

  * Start the VNC client:

  vncviewer -encodings "tight hextile" :1

  * When you finish your Unix session, log out of Unix as you normally would, quit vncviewer, and exit from your ssh session.