Installing and running FreeNX on Fedora Core 6

by strikeforce — last modified Jan 30, 2008 01:35 AM

This how to will take you through the steps to install FreeNX and how to get it to run effectively.

Applicable to Fedora Versions

Fedora Core 6

Requirements

Explanation of requirements.

You will need to have a designated server to test it however you can use your own computer.
Note: Users installing NX on 64bit architectures should guarantee support for 32bit.
See here for further details.

Doing the Work

What we will do install the NXserver and client so that we can test it. For actual working purposes install the server component on the server and the client on the local client.

You will need to install the FreeNX.
Once that is installed you will also need to install compatibility libraries for the client.

su -c 'yum install freenx compat-libstdc++-296'

You will need to download the client from NoMachine NX the one you download is the NX Client RPM for Linux You will then need to install the NX Client You should download the client that is titled not requiring XFT libraries if you have xorg installed in Fedora Core 6 otherwise if you are running this from console download the one with XFT libraries.

su -c 'rpm -i nxclient-2.1.0-9.i386.rpm'

You should then find the menu item under Applications -> Internet -> NX Client for Linux -> NX Client for Linux. We will go through the steps for setting up the NX Client for linux.

You will then fill out the session details with what you would like to call our sessions. The host address is either the ip address of the server or the hostname of the server. For example to contact my own computer I would put 127.0.0.1 in the host address to test the configuration

The next setting is to select what you would like to connect to. You will be connecting to a Unix box to test it and if you are running gnome set it to gnome. Make sure you enable the SSL encryption on all traffic.

When you click next from the previous post you will have this window pop up. This is a summary of all your settings your host that you filled out will be there. You need to click on the key button to import the key into your NX client.

When you click on the key button like was suggested this window pop's up. You need to click on import then find the key that you placed in your ~/.ssh/ id_dsa_key When you have imported the key click the Save button

After you clicked save you would go back to the main configuration window. Once you click ok on that window this window will pop up. Enter your password and click the login button. You will then have X start to load on the server that you connected to.

Troubleshooting

How to test

Explanation troubleshooting basics and expectations.

You test it by attempting to login by using the following settings

Password = being your current password

Hostname = 127.0.0.1

Common problems and fixes

Freenx is heavily dependent upon SSH. For testing purposes, you can use the client.id_dsa.key to ssh to your server as nx. You can copy this file to your client users .ssh directory. Replace {NXSERVER} with the name or ip address of your NX Server. For example, you should get something like this:

      # This is to be done on the client machine, not the server
		mv ~/.ssh/id_dsa ~/.ssh/id_dsa.bak
		cp /usr/NX/share/client.id_dsa.key ~/.ssh/id_dsa
		chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_dsa
		ssh nx@{NXSERVER}
		HELLO NXSERVER - Version 1.4.0-02 OS_(GPL)
		NX> 105 quit
		quit
		Quit
		NX> 999 Bye
		Connection to {NXSERVER} closed.

If you dont get a connection, use this guide to help you troubleshoot.

If you get an xkb error do this as root:

    cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/rules
	ln -sf xorg-it.lst xfree86-it.lst
	ln -sf xorg.lst xfree86.lst
	ln -sf xorg.xml xfree86.xml
	# this last one may already exist
	ln -sf xorg xfree86

If installing the Linux client from NoMachine gives an error looking for libXcomp.so.1.4.0-03, you can link it to an existing file:
```
ln -sf /usr/NX/lib/libXcomp.so.1.4.0 /usr/NX/lib/libXcomp.so.1.4.0-03
```
Freenx is extremely fast. You will be able to use much higher resolutions than previously used with VNC. Play around: You will be impressed.
Freenx does not need to be setup as a service or added to rc.local. NX uses no memory when not in use and you won't find it by doing a ps aux, because it is a shell that only runs when your client ssh's to your machine. By issuing:

/usr/bin/nxserver --stop

Freenx renames the authorized_keys2 file, making it impossible to logon as nx.

More Information

Any additional information or notes.

Disclaimer

We test this stuff on our own machines, really we do. But you may run into problems, if you do, come to #fedora on irc.freenode.net

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