Amahi Forums

OK I'm sure this has been explained some but i cannot find definitive answers anywhere right now i have a ubuntu sever running from which i run an ssh server, a sftp server as well as vnc and x forwarding. as far as i can tell from other posts you can still vnc into Amahi and get a full desktop (fedora if im right) that i would still be able to do all of this on and the Amahi is run on top of that and is accessible as webpages. that's how i understand by reading all the posts but nowhere does it say that exactly. so am i right or is the Amahi interface the only gui you can get to? hopfully that makes sense to more than just me thanks for the answers!

Amahi isn't really a GUI, but a bunch of programs, scripts and config files built to work together. It currently only runs on top of Fedora linux (release 9), but I've read that an Ubuntu release is also being started (very alpha stuff still). The "GUI" for Amahi is basically a bunch of webpages from which you can enable or disable functionalities (adding shares, users, installing repackaged programs etc).

Now for the "remote desktop" part: this is quite complicated stuff but I'll try to explain it as easy as possible.
VNC is a server-client model that basically pushes a full desktop to a client, using it's own protocols. X-forwarding is using the architecture of the X-Window system, a set of protocols that are developed for pushing graphics to a screen. Now in most cases this will be the locally attached monitor, but this is not mandatory. Basically you can start any X application on an X client. A small example: I have installed "xming" on my Windows box (X-client for windows). I run an ssh session from my windows box to my server. In this ssh session I start an X application (e.g. Xeyes, gnome-system-monitor, firefox, nautilus, solitaire...) This application is forwarded to my locally attached monitor on the windows box. So what do I see? Of course I still have the ssh session running, but I don't get a full desktop, but only the application that is X-forwarded. The beauty of this is that I (and other users) can start all the programs installed on the server but have them displayed on the local monitor. How many instances can be run is now dependent on the resources of the server.

in conclusion: VNC basically emulates a locally attached monitor and gives you the whole desktop, while the X-Window system forwards only the parts you request.

also keep in mind that Amahi is basically a suite of programs rather than a whole separate linux distro. this means that anything you can set up in fedora can be set up on an Amahi box...even if it isn't provided "out of the box."