Remotely using KDE

[D. R. Evans]

Donn said the following at 12/14/2007 11:29 AM :
>> 2. I want to log in to computer B (over ssh) and start KDE so that it
>> appears on another display on computer A
> You are opening a can of stinky worms my friend :)
> 
> The answer is X11 forwarding. But here's the rub, I have not in two years got 
> KDE to run that way once. I once got it to appear, but it just crashes. Now 
> Gnome is fine. Other WMs like Fluxbox also work well.

I have X11 forwarding working fine. For example, I can open X programs on
the remote machine and windows open correctly on my screen.

But using a window manager remotely is different because it requires a
(logical) display of its own on the local machine. I haven't been able to
figure out how to do that.

There was incomprehensible (to me) tech tip on something similar in "Linux
Journal" a couple of months ago, but I never could understand it.

> 
> I have an ssh connection between my Kubuntu desktop and my Windows Xp Home 
> laptop (the horror) and I use an app call Xming (I hope so, this is from 
> memory) on the Windows end. I have also use Cygwin on that end in the past - 
> works well too.
> 
> In broad strokes: you connect from the other machine to your main one via ssh 
> with the ssh -X flag.
> ssh -X donn at somePC.
> 
> Then you have to change the DISPLAY env var.
> DISPLAY=localhost:0.0; export DISPLAY

Possibly I'm being dense (in fact, possibly I'm being completely wrong),
but isn't 0:0 the display that is connected to the (remote) monitor? I
don't want that. There may be already someone logged in and using the
monitor, so I naturally don't want to interfere with that person.

Or am I confused? (Well, yes I am confused; maybe I should rephrase that:
"is my concern actually something that I don't have to worry about"?)

> 
> Then you run stuff:
> startkde
> 
> That's from my head, so I'm sure there'll be issues, but it's about like that.

Yes, plenty of issues:

----

n7dr at jcomputer2:~$ DISPLAY=localhost:0:0
n7dr at jcomputer2:~$ export DISPLAY
n7dr at jcomputer2:~$ startkde
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
xsetroot:  unable to open display 'localhost:0:0'
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
xset:  unable to open display "localhost:0:0"
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
xsetroot:  unable to open display 'localhost:0:0'
startkde: Starting up...
startkde: kpersonalizer not found! Please install to properly configure
your user.
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
ksplash: cannot connect to X server localhost:0:0
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
xprop:  unable to open display 'localhost:0:0'
usage:  xprop [-options ...] [[format [dformat]] atom] ...

where options include:
    -grammar                       print out full grammar for command line
    -display host:dpy              the X server to contact
    -id id                         resource id of window to examine
    -name name                     name of window to examine
    -font name                     name of font to examine
    -remove propname               remove a property
    -set propname value            set a property to a given value
    -root                          examine the root window
    -len n                         display at most n bytes of any property
    -notype                        do not display the type field
    -fs filename                   where to look for formats for properties
    -frame                         don't ignore window manager frames
    -f propname format [dformat]   formats to use for property of given name
    -spy                           examine window properties forever

_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
kdeinit: Can't connect to the X Server.
kdeinit: Might not terminate at end of session.
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
kded: cannot connect to X server localhost:0:0
DCOP aborting call from 'anonymous-10555' to 'kded'
kded: ERROR: Communication problem with kded, it probably crashed.
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
kcminit_startup: cannot connect to X server localhost:0:0
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
ksmserver: cannot connect to X server localhost:0:0
startkde: Shutting down...
klauncher: Exiting on signal 1
sound server terminated
startkde: Running shutdown scripts...
_X11TransSocketINETConnect() can't get address for localhost:0:6000: Name
or service not known
xprop:  unable to open display 'localhost:0:0'
usage:  xprop [-options ...] [[format [dformat]] atom] ...

where options include:
    -grammar                       print out full grammar for command line
    -display host:dpy              the X server to contact
    -id id                         resource id of window to examine
    -name name                     name of window to examine
    -font name                     name of font to examine
    -remove propname               remove a property
    -set propname value            set a property to a given value
    -root                          examine the root window
    -len n                         display at most n bytes of any property
    -notype                        do not display the type field
    -fs filename                   where to look for formats for properties
    -frame                         don't ignore window manager frames
    -f propname format [dformat]   formats to use for property of given name
    -spy                           examine window properties forever

startkde: Done.
n7dr at jcomputer2:~$

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