VNC to HTPC without going headless? Amahi Ubuntu 12.04

[mfs34]

Hello everyone! I have been tinkering with Amahi on Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop for the past 2 weeks and I've had a lot of fun switching my HTPC to the Linux world. Greyhole is amazing, my video/audio drivers for my AMD APU HTPC settup actually work and I control the whole rig from my couch using a logitech keyboard mouse.

MY CONCERN:
I want to VNC to my HTPC without having to run headless AND without jumping into a new session

I seem to remember being able to VNC into the active desktop by using a Console connection in Ubuntu in the past, but I can't seem to replicate this functionality any longer with Amahi / 12.04. Do you have a recommended way of configuring your .vnc xstartup file so that this is possible?

[bigfoot65]

Have you tried the Amai VNC app?

http://www.amahi.org/apps/vnc

[mfs34]

Yes I am using the Amahi VNC one click app and my Ubuntu machine stops at the VNC server initialization prior to booting X on my HTPC monitor. I can then VNC the box using TightVNC/RealVNC from my windows machine but it doesnt appear as though its even functional, Terminal and any other application would fail to load after being clicked. I'm working through some storage issues at the time (overloaded my landing zone... crashed everything). Will try to get that fixed so I can revisit the VNC issue and get some logs or supplemental data out there.

I guess what I'm getting at is something along these lines: is the VNC Amahi App configured so that I can just control the session I have open on my TV or will this only allow virtualized desktops that are instanced if you will? Is there a way to do both? What would the configuration file look like for both of these scenarios? Is that even the right space where this could be controlled?

[bigfoot65]

The VNC session should be separate from any other session. We are trying to understand the issues as we tested on VM and do not have any issues.

It could be a driver issue, but hard to say until you can get some log data for us to review.

[bigfoot65]

I have made a change to VNC. Please uninstall, reboot, and reinstall. I hope this may fix the issues we have been having lately.

[mfs34]

I have just reinstalled my Ubuntu/Amahi settup and will get the new app a try. Thanks for answering my questions, so I suppose the functionality I'm looking for just may not be possible with this app. My goal is to have Ubuntu Desktop with Amahi loaded on my HTPC, htpc connects to my TV via hdmi, and for me to be able to remotely control it via VNC with a VNC app. I've done this with Windows and older versions of Ubuntu in the past, using RealVNC and a console connection, is there any specific tool or configuration that would allow VNC over a Console session? The goal would be to do this as I'm watching a TV show or Movie, a new session in a window would not be my first priority (although I'd like to use both if possible)

[bigfoot65]

It is possible. I have seen a tutorial on the internet for connecting VNC with SSH and a Viewer. I think this is it, but not sure if it will satisfy your requirements.

http://babilonline.blogspot.com/2012/06 ... login.html

[mfs34]

x11vnc sounds like it is exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks for the help Bigfoot! I'll let you know how this one works out.

[tsheeley]

I was able to get this working using the VNC built right into Ubuntu and then connect with the RealVNC viewer on my win 7 box. I've only got one user setup on the Amahi box, and that's set to auto log in.

I can even connect with a VNC app on my android phone.

Obviously this is without ssh, but since I'm just doing it from my home network, I'm not really concerned.

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