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Contributed by Tony Eckert (Oct 13, 2002)

So You Want to Connect from Home??

There are many methods on remote X server connecting, but I have found 2 simple, but effective ways to connect to OSU’s UNIX server.

One method uses a program called VNC (virtual network computing) to connect directly to the server. The VNC method will be used if you are connected through a router at home via Road Runner/SBC DSL/etc... It enables the use of CDE (common desktop environment), which is the desktop you view when in the labs and lecture rooms.

The other method is for the dorms. You will use a program called X-Win32, which also supports CDE interface.

For those connected to Road Runner/DSL:

• If you are networked through a router (device for ‘routing’ a single incoming connection to multiple workstations at home), you will need to forward a port (port 7100) to the IP address that the router has assigned your computer (ex: 192.168.0.3). In most cases, you can do this port forwarding by typing 192.168.0.1 into your browser’s address bar and finding a link that will say something like “Port Forwarding” or “Port Assigning”. If your router’s “home page” is not displayed, please use the router’s user guide for assistance on forwarding port 7100 to your computer’s IP address
• Download the program VNC from this address: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/dist/vnc-3.3.3r9_x86_win32.zip and then run the install program
• Click Start>Run and type cmd and hit enter
• At the prompt, type “telnet stdsun.cis.ohio-state.edu”
• This should have brought you to a login screen where you will need to enter your CIS username and CIS password that you normally use in lab
• You will see your last login time and then you will see the command line that is used in the Terminal during labs (ex: /n/bronze/14/username[m%)
• At the command line, type “subscribe” and hit enter. A list of Packages will be displayed. You need to enter the number of the Package “CONTRIB” and add this to your list of subscriptions. When you have added this, you should see your current subscriptions (ex: CONTRIB, GAMES, JDK-CURRENT)
• For these new settings to take place, type “logout” at the prompt and you should see the message “Connection to host lost”. You should be back at the original prompt when you started the “cmd” command. Reconnect to the server using step #4 in this tutorial and log back in with your name and password again
• At the prompt, type “which vncserver” and a password prompt will display. Type in a password that you will remember when using the VNC program. You will need this password to use VNC when finally connected to the server (more on this will come later in the tutorial). A prompt to verify the password will appear, just type the exact same thing again
• At the prompt, type “vncserver -depth 24 -geometry 1000x700” (if you wish, you can change the number 24 to whatever your color quality is (ex: 32bit, 24bit, 16bit...) and then you can change the 1000x700 to fit your screen, but I would hold off on changing these numbers until you run VNC.)
• After running this command, you will see your screen run lots of lines before stopping at the line “New 'X' desktop is xxx:##”. (The xxx will be a name, and the ## is your display number. This number is VERY IMPORTANT and it will be different every time you log in. Keep this terminal window open while doing the next steps.
• FINALLY, VNC! In the installed path, find the program called “WinVNC” and open it. An icon of the program may sit in the system tray in the lower right-hand corner. If this is the case, double click it. At the top of the menu, it should read “WinVNC: Current User Properties”. Check the box ‘Accept Socket Connections’, ‘Auto’, ‘Poll Console Windows Only’ and ‘Poll Foreground Window’. Everything else should be unchecked. Now, in the password box, type the same password that you entered for your “which vncserver” command. This password will be used to get into VNC. Click apply & OK.
• Now start the program “Run VNCViewer” (not the one that says listen mode). When this program is started, you will see a box that says VNC server:. Type ’stdsun.cis.ohio-state.edu:display# (where display# represents the number that was given to you back in step #11. (ex: stdsun.cis.ohio-state.edu:54) )
• If all the steps have been done correctly, you should get another box that asks for your session password. GUESS WHAT!?! It’s the password you entered for your ‘which vncserver’ command! I told ya you would need this!
• Well, if your password was correct, you should see your CDE desktop and all your stuff you see in lab will be on the screen. CONGRATS, you’ve done it! :-D
• When done using the VNC program, log out as you normally would in lab. This time however, your desktop will not go away, it will just say there until you X out the VNC window.
• When you’ve closed your VNC program completely, go back to your telnet terminal window and type the command ’vncserver -kill :display#’ (again where you will type your display number ex: “vncserver -kill :54”) If you skip this step, your VNC server will remain running. OSU’s CIS department and requested that we always use this command and exit the vncserver because it bogs down the system.
• So by now, you are probably thinking that this is too much work every time you want to get into your account from home. Well the hard part has already been done. From now on, just follow these steps:
  • Run> cmd and use the “telnet stdsun.cis.ohio-state.edu” command
  • Log into your account
  • When logged, type “vncserver -display 24 -geometry 1000x700” to get your display number
  • Run only “RUN VNCViewer” this time and type “stdsun.cis.ohio-state.edu:D# ”
  • Enter your password
  • Log out using step #16 and #17
  • Log out of your telnet account by typing “logout”
  • Done.
• Send all emails to eckert.58@osu.edu if you have any problems. I will do my best to help out.

So you want to connect from the dorms?

• You will be using the program X-Win32, download it from here: http://www.starnet.com/files/private/SNeval/q2/x-win540.exe
• Install the software and open up the program “X-Config” from the programs menu
• Click “Add” or “Add New Session” button
• Choose XDMCP and QUERY for the mode
• The session name can be anything you want to name your session
• The host name will be “stdsun.cis.ohio-state.edu”
• Under the “Session Flags” box, select “Switch to single” instead of “Default”
• Click save and now open up the program “X-Win32”
• You will see the start-up banner for the program. Now, if your session does not start up immediately after opening the program, right-click the “X” icon from either the upper left-hand corner of the window, or on the icon in the system tray in the lower right corner. When you right-click on the “X” highlight “sessions” and choose the session that you just created. This will bring up the same logon screen that you see in the labs. If you are not seeing anything but a black/gray screen, try to start the session again by doing the same steps involved in #9. If that still does not work, you will have to download the fonts for CDE. Here is where you can download these: ftp://ftp.starnet.com/xwin32/fonts/fon_cde.exe. If the fonts get installed to your desktop, you can simply create a folder anywhere on your computer and copy those fonts into the folder so your desktop won’t be filled with fonts. I recommend placing the folder somewhere that you won’t forget, like in “My Documents”
• To install the fonts (if you need to), open up the “X-Config” program again. Click on the “Font” tab and click “ADD”. This will open up a window so you can select the directory of the fonts. For example, if you moved your fonts to the My Documents folder, you will find My Documents and just click on the folder and click open, then click open again to assure that your fonts are inside. This will add those fonts to the program so it can use them to display the roper desktop image of CDE.
• Again start up the program and try to connect to your session. If this does not help, you can email me at eckert.58@osu.edu or you can check out their website’s support www.starnet.com