How to remotely use a computer from another computer over the local network?

Question

I have two monitors and two computers on the same network, one of the computers is less beefy then the other, the monitors are identical.

What I'm wondering is, how can I display the X11 Ubuntu GNOME desktop environment of the beefy computer on to the less beefy ones monitor (over the local network), and then control it from there?

The closer the experience is to simply just using the beefy computer directly the better. E.g. in terms of lag, latency, framerate, image quality, etc.

One solution would be TeamViewer, I haven't tried it over a local network yet but when I did use it over the internet the experience was less than ideal.

So, given this :

What is the best FOSS solution?
What is the best proprietary solution?

I'd imagine it should be possible given that Google Stadia will supposedly be able to do the same, even across the internet at 1080p 60 FPS (but with video games in mind).

Bonus Questions

Can this be done on a Raspberry Pi 4 as well?
Is the correct term a "thin client"?
How to do the same, but on Wayland?

I would recommend x11vnc. See this How to setup x11vnc to access with graphical login screen? for the initial setup followed by Ubuntu 18.04 LTS x11vnc no longer works for an updated fix. — user68186, Nov 29 '19 at 23:32
"Can this be done on a Raspberry Pi 4 as well?" This is either off-topic if you are using Raspbian or another distro, or it should be a new question. It is not clear if you want to access Pi from Ubuntu or access Ubuntu from Pi. — user68186, Nov 29 '19 at 23:52
If you don't want to switch to LightDM and stick with GDM as the login interface, then see this blog post. I haven't seen anything for Wayland yet. — user68186, Nov 30 '19 at 00:04

WinEunuuchs2Unix · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-30T00:13:03.210

3

As this detailed article describes it's simple to setup with built-in VNC software for gnome:

How to Set Up Remote Desktop on Ubuntu

Here's a screenshot (one of many from the linked article) showing the built-in gnome screen:

edited Nov 30 '19 at 00:13

answered Nov 29 '19 at 23:02

WinEunuuchs2Unix

102,282

@user68186 Fair enough. But then I could make the argument that no matter what software you use the other computer has to be turned on. If you have to go there to turn it on you might as well log into it. Besides a powered on computer not logged into and someone using it remotely is kind of scary no? – WinEunuuchs2Unix Nov 30 '19 at 00:09
This works and is probably the best answer, but the tech is really poor (e.g. poor framerate, even on local network). – 01AutoMonkey Dec 10 '19 at 09:49
I haven't tried this but OBS live streaming + Synergy may be a (better) option. – 01AutoMonkey Mar 10 '20 at 15:07
@01AutoMonkey If you do try it please come back and post an answer so others can learn from your knowledge. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Mar 10 '20 at 23:29
Tried OBS, not real-time enough. – 01AutoMonkey Oct 05 '20 at 12:19

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 29 '19 at 22:24

X11 was made for displaying remotely.

However, I found that modern window managers are not. So it is perfectly ok to run a heavy program wtih GUI on beefy, and display on 'light' running its own wm.

However, running the wm remotely is probably not a good idea. Use a lighter wm on 'light' like xfce, mate, or twm :)

How to remotely use a computer from another computer over the local network?

Bonus Questions

2 Answers2