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JesperE
Asked: 2012-03-03 00:05:16 +0800 CST

VNC Alternative

  • 772

Is there an alternative to VNC available which is on par with the features in Windows Remote Desktop?

  • No configuration except possible switching it on. Authentication should be done just like a local logon.
  • Automatic adjust the screen size/resolution to match the remote client.
  • Automatically disable any UI features which are not compatible with the remote client (such as 3D acceleration).
software-recommendation rdp vnc remote-desktop

6 Answers

  1. Your options in order of personal preference:

    • Older technologies such as XDMPC
    • VNC (As you said)
    • Local X server running remote programs or remote desktop (see xwin-32)
    • RDP on linux (mentioned above)
    • Nomachine
    • x2go

    Nomachine and x2go (contrary to what was commented above) are as click-and-go as you'll get in ubuntu. To install

    sudo apt-get install x2goserver OR sudo dpkg -i nx* (after download of nxserver,nxnode,nxclient from nomachine)

    Then you just download the client. Both of these support dynamic scaling of the window even after a resolution has been chosen. They are much faster than VNC (and not really any slower than you are seeing from windows desktop connection--maybe a tad).

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  2. Best Answer

    You can use X11RDP it gives you the same capabilities that Windows RDP gives. read this and visit links inside and you can download the script so easy and try.

    • 3
    • Authentication: yes, you may want to try Window Switch for something that detects machines automatically via mDNS and provides simple authentication
    • Adjust screen: This is not supported by VNC or RDP (could be wrong about xfreerdp) although it is supported by the protocols they speak, so I don't think you will get this feature on Linux.
    • This really depends on how you want to use the remote desktop feature: if you want to shadow an existing session (via NX or VNC) then it will just scrape the screen without changing anything about the existing session. (X11 does not support removing features on the fly - and probably never will). If on the other hand you don't mind starting a brand new desktop session (again via NX or VNC) then you can choose which desktop environment to use (ie: a lighter one), and by default the VNC and NX sessions do not have 3D or other UI extensions (although they can be enabled if desired). Winswitch should make it easy to do all that.
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  4. As of 2017 just look at

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC/Servers

    and

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC/Clients

    Servers and clients are all listed there, and information is up to dat

    • 1

  5. ThinLinc, might be the solution for you, you can control which session size you want from client side, the next version of ThinLinc will also support automatic session resize that will make the session fit to client window size.

    ps. ThinLinc is free to use up to 10 concurrent users.

    See following installation video of ThinLinc server on Ubuntu:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEJ0KrnXyP0

    • 0

  6. x11rdp is the right solution. It has been answered with automated script in this post

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