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Author Topic: [solved - use tightvnc] remote xsession using putty and dropbear?  (Read 5367 times)

Offline bigpcman

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[solved - use tightvnc] remote xsession using putty and dropbear?
« on: September 19, 2009, 04:46:38 PM »
Is it possible to setup a remote xsession using a putty client and tc dropbear?

edit 3: OK I'm beginning to see the bigger picture here. TC is using a client only dropbear. A server version is required for x11 forwarding but I guess was never compiled successfully.

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=1559.msg14761#msg14761

http://lists.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/pipermail/dropbear/2009q2/000925.html

edit 4: Now that I have looked into this in more detail I realized my current solution of using tightvnc is probably a better solution after all. I though I was missing something and that the tc base system supported remote x11 connections but I was wrong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, adding tightvcn is not a problem since it is quite small and fast.

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edit 1: - not sure what this means regarding x11 forwarding with tc dropbear
 http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=1559.msg14761#msg14761

or if this thread is a definitive answer:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=877.0

edit 2:
The information at http://matt.ucc.asn.au/dropbear/dropbear.html states the features as:

    * A small memory footprint suitable for memory-constrained environments
       - Dropbear can compile to a 110kB statically linked binary with uClibc on x86 (only minimal options selected)
    * Dropbear server implements X11 forwarding, and authentication-agent forwarding for OpenSSH clients
    * Can run from inetd or standalone
    * Compatible with OpenSSH ~/.ssh/authorized_keys public key authentication
    * The server, client, keygen, and key converter can be compiled into a single binary (à la busybox)
    * Features can easily be disabled when compiling to save space
    * TCP forwarding support

But the dropbear options state:

Code: [Select]
tc@box:~$ dropbear -help
Dropbear sshd v0.52
Usage: dropbear [options]
Options are:
-b bannerfile   Display the contents of bannerfile before user login
                (default: none)
-d dsskeyfile   Use dsskeyfile for the dss host key
                (default: /etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key)
-r rsakeyfile   Use rsakeyfile for the rsa host key
                (default: /etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key)
-F              Don't fork into background
-E              Log to stderr rather than syslog
-m              Don't display the motd on login
-w              Disallow root logins
-s              Disable password logins
-g              Disable password logins for root
-j              Disable local port forwarding
-k              Disable remote port forwarding
-a              Allow connections to forwarded ports from any host
-p [address:]port
                Listen on specified tcp port (and optionally address),
                up to 10 can be specified
                (default port is 22 if none specified)
-P PidFile      Create pid file PidFile
                (default /var/run/dropbear.pid)
-W <receive_window_buffer> (default 24576, larger may be faster, max 1MB)
-K <keepalive>  (0 is never, default 0)
-I <idle_timeout>  (0 is never, default 0)
tc@box:~$

So I'm wondering where is the x11 forwarding configured?

Perhaps openssh with openssl-0.9.8h is the answer but that adds another 1.7MB that I would like to avoid to get a simple remote xsession working.
I suppose I should ask before making an assumption if remote xsessions work on tc openssh.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2009, 11:15:28 PM by bigpcman »
big pc man

Offline curaga

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Re: [solved - use tightvnc] remote xsession using putty and dropbear?
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2009, 02:35:20 PM »
There is nothing to configure with dropbear X: the only options provided by openssh (enabling it, and path to xauth) are specified compile-time. Dropbear *should* work as the SSH server for X apps, but I've had no luck with it either.

I have run X apps via openssh on TC, both ways work.
The only barriers that can stop you are the ones you create yourself.

Offline ^thehatsrule^

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Re: [solved - use tightvnc] remote xsession using putty and dropbear?
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2009, 06:06:58 PM »
For reference:

dropbear's ssh server supports x11 forwarding, and seems to be enabled by default.

Note that the client environment must have an X server (such as xming)

Offline bigpcman

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Re: [solved - use tightvnc] remote xsession using putty and dropbear?
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2009, 01:15:17 PM »
For reference:

dropbear's ssh server supports x11 forwarding, and seems to be enabled by default.

Note that the client environment must have an X server (such as xming)

I installed xming and followed the directions per:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsHuZJ5gORE&feature=player_embedded#

When I start a program in putty such as aterm I get:

Code: [Select]
tc@box:~$ aterm
X connection to localhost:10.0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).
tc@box:~$

Any ideas?

edit: OK I found the problem. Simple configuration error. Xming combined with putty does indeed work! Programs activated in putty bring up an xwindow on the remote desktop. That's good news.

So now I have two good solutions for remote access. VNC provides a remote desktop and the combination of dropbear, xming and putty provide individual program execution remote xwindows. Great!
  ;D
« Last Edit: October 11, 2009, 02:04:34 PM by bigpcman »
big pc man