1

I have a number of P4 512MB Ram PC's in my network. Those PC's are winXP joined in a windows domain. I was asked to find a solution as to how they can be utilized to work with newer versions of windows still joined in the domain. So I set them with Xubuntu and installed remmina. Each PC starts automatically on boot remmina and connects to a VM via RDP. What I tried to do is use remmina from ubuntu server because I really don't need the graphical environment but I fail because it cannot start the graphical interface of the app. Can Anyone tell me how to configure xorg so that it can open remmina?

Kostas
  • 43
  • 2
  • 5
  • If you don't need a graphical environment, why not use a remote terminal solution such as ssh instead? – steeldriver Apr 27 '19 at 23:06
  • Because I want the users to connect to windows VM's and work as if they were working a windows desktop. Because of financial problems I cannot replace the old PC's but there is quite good ESXi where I can have those VM's . So what I want to do is make those old pc's a kind of thin clients. I have already achieved the goal with xubuntu but since the only function the pc's will have is to just run remmina to connect to the VM's I don't need the GUI so I'd prefer not to have it so to have all the resources to remmina – Kostas Apr 27 '19 at 23:17

1 Answers1

0

If I understand this correctly, you are trying to configure a 'homebrew' kind of thin-client setup.

Ubuntu server will need to have xorg server running first before being able to start remmina.

Taken from this how-to: https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-run-x-applications-without-a-desktop-or-a-wm

Install your xorg server:

sudo apt-get install xorg

Test start your application:

xinit remmina $* -- :0 vt$XDG_VTNR

If that works, then you would want to look at having this start automatically. I would think that the login prompt in the RDP window would be enough security, so I would have the local linux user login automatically, and then start the xorg server with remmina.

Auto login taken from here: How can I get autologin at startup working on Ubuntu Server 16.04.1?

Setup autologin:

sudo systemctl edit getty@tty1.service

Add this in the editor (Change "myusername" to the username on the machine you want to autologin.):

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noissue --autologin myusername %I $TERM
Type=idle

Auto start application taken from here: Start ubuntu without a desktop environment but start an X application

Auto start remmina:

To start the X session automatically, open your user's .bashrc file nano ~/.bashrc and add something like this to the end of the file:

if [ $(tty) == "/dev/tty1" ]; then
    while true; do xinit remmina $* -- :0 vt$XDG_VTNR; echo "Again [$?]..."; done
fi

This will respawn the X server, so if your application quits for any reason, it will restart the X server automatically.

G Trawo
  • 1,761
  • G Trawo just tried it. Thank you very very much. Works like a charm.Just one more question to make it complete and if it's not much trouble for you. Remmina has an option to start to a default connection using the remmina - c filename.remmina option. I tried to run xinit remmina -c filename.remmina $* -- :0 vt$XDG_VTNR but it crashesI also tried to put the -c filename option at the and of the command but it crashed also. Do you have any possible idea in how to accomplice that? Thank you again for your response – Kostas Apr 29 '19 at 04:26
  • @Kostas You may have to put the whole command into quotes, since xinit thinks that '-c filename' is a command for it. Try changing it to xinit 'remmina -c filename.remmina' $* -- :0 vt$XDG_VTNR and see if that works. I have to admit that I don't have a machine right now to test this. – G Trawo Apr 29 '19 at 11:52
  • G Trawo. Thank you again for the speedy response. I just tried your suggestion and unfortunately it didn't work. I 'll continue to try to find a solution. Anyway I am gratefull for your help – Kostas Apr 29 '19 at 13:29