News How to Use X Forwarding to Run GUI Apps via SSH

[Admin]

Forwarding an X session over SSH brings a remote GUI application to your desktop, so now all of your apps are in one place, and not in random VNC sessions.

How to Use X Forwarding to Run GUI Apps via SSH : Read more

 

[w_barath]

This was fine in the 90's when X protocol was lightweight. Back then we didn't have huge truecolour bitmaps, 100MB fonts, client-side rendered widgets, etc. Also, apps were being built to run on servers and have their display on your workstation, so developers were actually considering the X protocol bandwidth.

Today, running modern GTK or KDE apps over a forwarded X session is really not an option. Not only is the UI using orders of magnitude more data, but it's expecting to animate it with a local GPU, which doesn't get forwarded!

You're infinitely better off using Xpra instead. Xpra runs your app in a nested X server on the remote host, and then pipes its video and audio back to your thin client using modern audio/video codecs like HEVC/Opus, and it lets you scale the app, set the quality/framerate tradeoffs to achieve good latency and bandwidth.

Also, if your network isn't 100% reliable, you don't crash the application. You can power cycle your thin client, reconnect to the app later and it will be exactly how you left it.

If you absolutely must use X11 forwarding, use NXclient protocol 4 or later. It uses differential X protocol coding, compression, and caching to make the experience much more usable.

 

[icmn223]

For the Windows case, it's a million times easier to use MobaXterm. Like 3 simple steps vs. 25, just sayin':

1. Install MobaxTerm.
2. Use MobaXterm to SSH to your target.
3. Launch GUI app from your SSH session.

 

[otalado]

Forwarding an X session over SSH brings a remote GUI application to your desktop, so now all of your apps are in one place, and not in random VNC sessions.

How to Use X Forwarding to Run GUI Apps via SSH : Read more

I was always remotely accessing my RPIs and an Intel Linux PC using the RDP protocol. So when I saw your article, I gave X session forwarding a try. The first glitch was after I installed the Cygwin. There was no Xming X Server offered to be let through the firewall. So I temporarily disabled it and proceeded. But after I configured the putty and started the SSL session, the whole thing worked as if I did not have an X server available. I removed the Cygwin and retried the whole thing just to make sure I did not do something wrong or missed anything with the same result.

Then I saw the icmn223 suggestion about using MobaxTerm. I tried it and it worked on the first attempt. It even detected that it needs to be let through the firewall and offered to install the rule for it.

Later I'll also try the w_barath suggestion about using the Xpra and decide which to use if there are any differences worth mentioning.

 

[otalado]

Ok, I've tried to install just the Xming, rather than installing the Cygwin (and stuff). No issues with the firewall. I was able to start things like the lxterminal, pcmanfm. But I wasn't able to start the VS Code and the Chromium browser. So, until I figure out how & why I vote for the MobaxTerm .