LTSP - how can I remote control a terminal?

I run a small (6 station) LTSP network to provide information to our
users. It works really well, except I can't really manage the
stations if there's a problem except by walking out to them. Is there
a way for me to control one station from another? I'm running
Mandrake 9.1.

Thanks!

maddman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I run a small (6 station) LTSP network to provide information to our
> users. It works really well, except I can't really manage the
> stations if there's a problem except by walking out to them. Is there
> a way for me to control one station from another? I'm running
> Mandrake 9.1.

If there is a user on the station, you could use x0rfb, which is a VNC
server much like that under Windows, in that it exports your current
display, it doesn't need to be setup as a server beforehand.

--
Cameron Kerr
(E-Mail Removed) : http://nzgeeks.org/cameron/
Empowered by Perl!

Cameron Kerr <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> maddman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > I run a small (6 station) LTSP network to provide information to our
> > users. It works really well, except I can't really manage the
> > stations if there's a problem except by walking out to them. Is there
> > a way for me to control one station from another? I'm running
> > Mandrake 9.1.
>
> If there is a user on the station, you could use x0rfb, which is a VNC
> server much like that under Windows, in that it exports your current
> display, it doesn't need to be setup as a server beforehand.

That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I couldn't find
anything on x0rfb, I googled for the home page but the site is down.
I did find out there's a package in KDE that essentially does the same
thing called krfb. Doesn't seem to work though. I think its because
these are not real machines but terminals. It connects to the address
but the service is all running on the same server.

Any ideas?

maddman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I couldn't find
> anything on x0rfb, I googled for the home page but the site is down.
> I did find out there's a package in KDE that essentially does the same
> thing called krfb.

Under Debian, there is a package called rfb that provides the non-KDE
version. I have no idea if there is a package for Mandrake.

> Doesn't seem to work though. I think its because these are not real
> machines but terminals.

A good point. The software would need to be running on the X-Terminal
itself, in order to export the display, I should think. Perhaps it
requires a particular X extension to be present (such as X-Test?)

> It connects to the address but the service is all running on the same
> server.

If you make it so the software runs on the X-Terminals themselves, this
problem would go away.

Perhaps it would be simpler to use vncserver sessions, and have the LTSP
nodes run xvncviewer when they log in perhaps. Would increase resource
use, but then you have a more resilient environment should a node crash.
This would also effect those people who wish to log in to multiple
workstations. Whether this is a good or a bad thing though is hard to
say.

--
Cameron Kerr
(E-Mail Removed) : http://nzgeeks.org/cameron/
Empowered by Perl!