Desktop Applications for Debian Based Linux Distributions

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vncserver as a boot service

A VNC server is a program that shares a desktop with other computers over a network. Vino is the default VNC server in Mint Linux. x11vnc is another VNC server that uses tcl/tk based GUI and is not dependent on any one particular graphical environment.

The default VNC Server only lets you connect remotely once the user has logged into Cinnamon. This is not useful for a remote headless system. To configure the VNC Server to start with the system and listen before a user is logged in locally the vncserver must be configured to start with the system services. For this it is the most simple to install x11vnc. In this guide we will configure vncserver as a boot service.

If you reboot the system you can still get in as this will allow vnc server to share the login screen. Screen resolution adjustment after login may cause the connection to reset, however, you can reconnect and you're in like Flynn.

Vino is crap, we'll remove it, install x11vnc and set a default password, which is the password client will use to connect. 

sudo apt-get -y remove vino
sudo apt install x11vnc
sudo mkdir /etc/x11vnc
sudo x11vnc --storepasswd /etc/x11vnc/vncpwd

Now to make x11vnc server start as a system service 

sudo vi /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service

Now you're in the text editor and you need to add the following lines: 

[Unit]
Description=Start x11vnc at startup.
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/x11vnc -auth guess -forever -noxdamage -repeat -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc/vncpwd -rfbport 5900 -shared

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and exit vi, go back to command prompt and type: 

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable x11vnc.service
sudo systemctl start x11vnc.service
  • verified: Mint 18.3 Sylvia 2/15/2018, Mint 19.2 Tina 8/30/2019

Troubleshooting:

Check to see if x11vnc.service is running 

sudo systemctl status x11vnc.service

View log when no default path is specified in ExecStart 

cat /var/log/syslog|grep x11vnc

Wine

The Windows emulator, I mean, Wine Is Not an Emulator...

To use a current version of wine we do not want to go though the Software Manager in Mint. A current version of wine is available from the wine repository.

  1. open the "Software Sources" control panel and click "Authentication Keys"
  2. At the bottom click "Download a key" and enter: https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/Release.key (** If this fails, see "add key via console below") JUST USE CONSOLE
  3. Click "Additional repositories" choose "+Add a new repository" and enter: deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ xenial main SEE NOTE BELOW FOR VERSIONS
  4. Click the "Update cache" button
  5. From console type: sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable -y
  6. Configure: winecfg

note 1 ***: Add key via console, goto terminal and enter (instructions for step 2) 

sudo wget https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/Release.key
sudo apt-key add Release.key

or try the legacy method 

apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 76F1A20FF987672F


WINE REPOSITORY VERSIONS

  • Mint 18.3 deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ xenial main
  • Mint 19.x deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main
  • Mint 21.x deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ jammy main

see also: Wine as a resource to using wine and installing windows software.

X.org Foundation Utilities

The X.Org Server and xlib are the reference implementation of the X protocol, and is commonly used on Linux and UNIX; it is the fundamental technology underlying both the modern GNOME and KDE desktops and older CDE desktop environment; applications written for any of these environments can be run simultaneously.

Along with reference implementation of X protocol X.org Foundation hosts development of several utilities and example applications, including xcalc on-screen calculator, xclock simple digital and analog clock, xedit text editor, xload periodically updated histogram of the average system load, xterm terminal emulator, and xeyes which shows a pair of eyes that follow the cursor.

XWindows Desktop Clock aka Xclock comes installed on Linux Mint. One useful way to launch it is from the command line so that it detaches and remains when the terminal is closed. 

xclock -update 5 &

gives you a nice little clock that updates every 5 seconds. I run this on my secondary monitor desktop so that while running full screen software on the primary I can still monitor the time.


Related

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