Basic multi-user question

My computer runs Linux. Wife's computer runs Linux. We both run Slackware 9.1/
KDE 3.1 We are connected via a router to share the DSL line. I'm
198.168.0.101 and she is ..... .102.

On my machine I set up a user for her called 'wife' and a password of 'abcxyz'

Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to my
computer as "wife" ? Or is this not possible.

Al



Al C.

Al C. wrote:

> My computer runs Linux. Wife's computer runs Linux. We both run Slackware
> 9.1/ KDE 3.1 We are connected via a router to share the DSL line. I'm
> 198.168.0.101 and she is ..... .102.
>
> On my machine I set up a user for her called 'wife' and a password of
> 'abcxyz'
>
> Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to
> my computer as "wife" ? Or is this not possible.
>
> Al

Have her do this on her system:

telnet 198.168.0.101

she should get a logon prompt on her machine asking for her username (wife)
and her password (abcxyz). Once she has logged in she will be "on" you
machine just as if she was physically sitting in front of your machine.

Note that this is dependant on you having the telnet and xinetd services
active (at least on RedHat 9 these are required to be able to make a telnet
connection to my RedHat 9 machine from my Windows machine).

--
---
Stefan Viljoen
Software Support Technician
Polar Design Solutions

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Al C. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> My computer runs Linux. Wife's computer runs Linux. We both run Slackware 9.1/
> KDE 3.1 We are connected via a router to share the DSL line. I'm
> 198.168.0.101 and she is ..... .102.
>
> On my machine I set up a user for her called 'wife' and a password of 'abcxyz'
>
> Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to my
> computer as "wife" ? Or is this not possible.

ssh -l wife yourmachine
wife@yourmachine's password: ******
[wife@yourmachine wife]

Did you mean something different? I don't see how the presence of any
account on her machine stops her from logging into your machine.

--
-eben (E-Mail Removed)m home.tampabay.rr.com/hactar
GEMINI: Your birthday party will be ruined once again by your explosive
flatulence. Your love life will run into trouble when your fiancee hurls a
javelin through your chest. -- Weird Al, _Your Horoscope for Today_

Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> Al C. wrote:
>
>>My computer runs Linux. Wife's computer runs Linux. We both run Slackware
>>9.1/ KDE 3.1 We are connected via a router to share the DSL line. I'm
>>198.168.0.101 and she is ..... .102.
>>
>>On my machine I set up a user for her called 'wife' and a password of
>>'abcxyz'
>>
>>Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to
>>my computer as "wife" ? Or is this not possible.
>
>
> Have her do this on her system:
>
> telnet 198.168.0.101
>
> [snip]

.... or ssh. Between two computers on a home network, it probably makes
little difference, but it's better to avoid nasty habits (telnet) IMHO.
sshd doesn't need inetd/xinetd, either.

Al C. wrote:

> Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to
> my computer as "wife" ?

Which login prompt?

The usual non-X login can't do this. She would have to login to her machine
and then run a remote shell tool (like ssh or telnet[1]) to connect to your
machine.

The more complex graphical login systems on the other hand (GDM and KDM) do,
if I remember correctly, have the facility to perform remote logins. I
can't remember the specifics and gdmXnest isn't playing nice right now so I
can't test it.

[1] Well, not so much like telnet - no encryption.

--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me.uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is

David Dorward wrote:

> Al C. wrote:
>
>> Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to
>> my computer as "wife" ?
>
> Which login prompt?
>

The non-X login you get at boot time if you are not using X. I'd bring her
down to run level 2 or 3 (I know that 4 is X and I don't want that.)

> The usual non-X login can't do this. She would have to login to her machine
> and then run a remote shell tool (like ssh or telnet[1]) to connect to your
> machine.
>

OK. That makes sense. I assumed that because we were on a directly connected
network that she could access the 'wife' account on my machine without having
to first log into her own machine.

So she would ssh into my machine the same way I ssh into my web server
machine. Makes sense. Of course, I'll need to turn on the ssh service. In my
initd.conf I see a telent service, but not an ssh. Do they both use the same
protocol or do I have to add an ssh server to my machine?

I was trying to use her machine as a dumb terminal to my machine but I guess
it does not work that way on a LAN. Out of curiousity, how would you set up a
dumb terminal? What would it plug into on my machine? Or are those days dead
and gone?

Al

Al C. wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> So she would ssh into my machine the same way I ssh into my web server
> machine. Makes sense. Of course, I'll need to turn on the ssh service. In my
> initd.conf I see a telent service, but not an ssh. Do they both use the same
> protocol or do I have to add an ssh server to my machine?

ssh and telnet are different. You'd have to install sshd on your
machine and ssh on hers.

> I was trying to use her machine as a dumb terminal to my machine but I guess
> it does not work that way on a LAN. Out of curiousity, how would you set up a
> dumb terminal? What would it plug into on my machine? Or are those days dead
> and gone?

You could plug the serial port on her machine into the serial port on
your machine using a null modem cable. Run a tty on your machine
connected to the serial port. Run a serial client on her machine
(minicom or kermit for Linux, HyperTerminal or kermit for Windows,
etc.). Even if you're in X, her machine is just a "dumb" terminal, or
as dumb as the terminal emulation program gets, anyway. She'd get
exactly what you get when you ctrl-alt-F1 from X, for example, except
she could never ctrl-alt-F9 (or however you're set up) to get X.

There are HOWTOs out there for this kind of setup, although I've never
used them.

Al C. wrote:

> My computer runs Linux. Wife's computer runs Linux. We both run Slackware
> 9.1/ KDE 3.1 We are connected via a router to share the DSL line. I'm
> 198.168.0.101 and she is ..... .102.
>
> On my machine I set up a user for her called 'wife' and a password of
> 'abcxyz'
>
> Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to
> my computer as "wife" ? Or is this not possible.

It should be, but the details depend on what she's trying to do. For
example she should be able to access file shares or connect using ssh or...


--

(This space intentionally left blank)

"Al C." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> My computer runs Linux. Wife's computer runs Linux. We both run Slackware 9.1/
> KDE 3.1 We are connected via a router to share the DSL line. I'm
> 198.168.0.101 and she is ..... .102.
>
> On my machine I set up a user for her called 'wife' and a password of 'abcxyz'
>
> Assuming I put her at a login prompt on her machine, how can she login to my
> computer as "wife" ? Or is this not possible.
>
> Al

Hi,

if you want your wife to run GUI programs at your machine, you have
two options: to set KGM/GDM/etc. to allow remote logins and set your
wife's computer to login remotely (how - depends on the Linux distro
you are using), or (better, more secure) if you want her just to run
one or two applications, let her use 'ssh X11 forwarding'. She should
login to your computer with 'ssh -X 198...', and then just type the
name of the GUI program she wants to run. The program will run on your
computer, but the window will be in her X session.

Cheers,

Peter O

www.dialore.com

Peter O wrote:

>
> if you want your wife to run GUI programs at your machine, you have
> two options:**to*set*KGM/GDM/etc.*to*allow*remote*logins*and*set*your
> wife's computer to login remotely (how - depends on the Linux distro
> you are using), or (better, more secure) if you want her just to run
> one or two applications, let her use 'ssh X11 forwarding'. She should
> login to your computer with 'ssh -X 198...', and then just type the
> name of the GUI program she wants to run. The program will run on your
> computer, but the window will be in her X session.
>

Thanks for all the help. I will give this a try and report back.

Al