On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 1:56 PM, John R Pierce <pierce at hogranch.com> wrote: >> Having the X libs installed so you can run a gui program with a remote >> display doesn't bother a server much. And it's sometimes handy to be >> able to run wireshark like that if you need to peek at a few packets >> in real time. > > painfully slow over a remote link. if I need to sniff traffic, I'll > use tcpdump. if I need fancier analysis, I'll tcpdump it to a file, > and scp the file to my local system and analyze it with wireshark. I normally have at least one box per location (at least per location with slow networking...) where I can park a freenx desktop session. Then I can connect to that with NX (which runs over ssh). And from there I can work mostly in xterms ssh'd to the other nearby systems. The advantages are that the desktop stays stable with all open windows even when I disconnect and reconnect (even across different locations/OS's on the connecting NX client), and that starting GUI programs in those xterms opens a very nicely performing window on my NX client, wherever that might be. > also, I'm documenting a procedure for operations that I'm trying to > automate and simplify as much as possible... And, having to explain > how to setup a remote X session, then how to do something with > pointy-clicky would be painful, a one line command replaced with pages > of screenshots? ugh. Different mindset, maybe. While I'd prefer a text line that I can cut/paste even if it is long and complicated, other people here are mostly used to windows and expect screenshots in the docs and drop-down picklists for options. Anyway, I think it is worth setting up freenx/NX even to run a bunch of xterms, and once you have it, GUI programs work too. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com