Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Optional /usr merge in Gentoo

[J. Roeleveld]

On Tue, August 20, 2013 08:06, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On 20/08/2013 07:38, J. Roeleveld wrote:
>> On Mon, August 19, 2013 22:51, Alan McKinnon wrote:
>>> On 19/08/2013 22:32, joost@××××××××.org wrote:
>>>>> X11, well that's another story and probably way off topic. It was
>>>>>> designed for hardware and architectures that haven't existed for 20+
>>>>>> years. Almost all factors that made X11 awesome in the 80s and 90s
>>>>>> simply are not there anymore.
>>>> X11 was still really awesome in 2002. When we used remote graphical
>>>> logons to different machines.
>>>> It also helped with performance of certain desktop applications.
>>>> Running
>>>> the application on a different machine (with better CPU) then the
>>>> machine I was working at always made people wonder why the same
>>>> application was performing so badly on theirs ;)
>>>>
>>>> But these days. Having fast reliable performance locally is better.
>>>> With
>>>> a decent RDP that can connect to an existing desktop without having to
>>>> set it up as shared from the beginning is more useful. Any ideas on
>>>> that?
>>>
>>> Agreed. I've gotten so used to all that local *GL* goodness that
>>> running
>>> almost any app (except maybe xterm) remotely is just so painful it
>>> makes
>>> me cry...
>>
>> For remote access, I can live without all the special effects.
>>
>>> I'm also lucky in that when I managed to foist all the oracle with java
>>> installers off onto some other team of luckless suckers, I was left
>>> with
>>> just the best remote interface ever - ssh and bash. So I can afford to
>>> be smug :-)
>>
>> ssh -Y <host> works really well for those.
>> I always feel smug when others first need to figure out how to get a
>> remote-X connection to the server because they use MS Windows.
>> They often claim that a VNC-server is a valid pre-req...
>> Take it from me, that is NOT a requirement to install the software.
>>
>>> I don't know how to make your RDP problem easier - I treat that the
>>> same
>>> as allow/deny rules for ssh (or any other kind of access really) and
>>> just accept that sometimes I need to ask first for something to be
>>> allowed. again, I can afford to be smug here too as the only things I
>>> need to RDP to are terminals set up for that very purpose and
>>> VirtualBox
>>> VMs (that is one more check box at the create stage).
>>
>> For me the usage case is as follows:
>> 1) I start to do something on my desktop at home
>> 2) I go to the office or customer site
>> 3) I need to continue/finish what I was doing (it's usually for a
>> customer
>> in that case)
>> ...
>>
>> At this point, I can't continue. Unless I remembered to run a VNC server
>> and used vnc to localhost for step 1.
>>
>> With a MS Windows desktop, it is usually (sometimes I get a "clean"
>> desktop and still can't continue) possible.
>>
>> One option would be to be able to redirect an application to a different
>> X-server and when that one dies/disconnects/... it will reconnect to the
>> initial (my desktop) one.
>> This is also not something I found yet either.
>
> I don't think you can do that, I've never seen a way to change DISPLAY
> for an X-client on the fly.
>
> What you are describing sounds a lot like screen for X11, no?
> A thread last week was about remote desktop apps and what folks use. I
> didn't pay much attention, but ISTR a mention in that thread of
> something like that

Yes, saw it too.
Window Switch seems to be what I need, except it doesn't work well with
KDE-apps. (Guess which desktop I use...)

I will simply keep looking and remember to start VNC whenever it seems
likely I might need to continue at a later date.

--
Joost