[Sane] SANE analysis: Improving Remote Access to Meetings (from James)

Tue Sep 29 12:47:13 EDT 2009

SANE Collaborators,

We've been working on streamlining the remote access to the VNC
servers for our weekly meetings, and we'd appreciate your input on a
new way of doing this.  We've setup the server to handle NoMachine NX,
a superior remote desktop implementation.

We'd like to test this setup before trying it during a meeting, so if
you have a minute, try to log in to our server and test that it works
with your computer.

There are 2 ways to do this:  the easy way which may not quite be
working perfectly yet, and the hard way, which I know works.  I'll
describe the easy way first.

The Easy Way: NX Web Companion

-Direct your web browser here:
http://twist.phys.virginia.edu/plugin/nxapplet.html
-A Java applet on this page will attempt to run.  If you need to
upgrade Java, it should let you know.
-The Javascript will attempt to install an NX client on your machine
automatically.  Allow an security certificates or firewalls to be
unblocked.
-Once the install is complete, you should be able to start the client
from, the applet.  Insert the standard Sane VNC password.
-It should offer you a selection of sessions to connect to, select
twist (sane) (Shadowed)

Email me with error messages or other problems.  I'm still
troubleshooting a few hiccups.

The Hard Way:  NX Client

-Download and install NX Client for your platform:
http://www.nomachine.com/download.php
-Start NX client and configure a new session.  The information you should
need:
Host:  twist.phys.virginia.edu  Port:22
SSH encryption is used, the dsa key is at the bottom of this email,
paste it into the correct box
Desktop Session Type: Shadow
-Login as "sane", password is usual SANE VNC password.
-It should offer you a selection of sessions to connect to, select
twist (sane) (Shadowed)

Let me know if you have any trouble.

Hopefully, with your help, I'll have this system working soon for our
weekly meetings.  Thank you for your patience and help,
James Maxwell

Below is the SANE DSA private key needed for the manual configuration.