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  #1  
Old November 22nd, 2007
daflame daflame is offline
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Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

I have read so many posts on users having troubles installing the Seveas packages in Gutsy with a mild crippling of the program (unable to run KDE or Gnome desktops on AMD64) necessary to make it work. Or having to chase down some outdated client that is only available on remote sites and isn't 64bit ready. Also, I have become tired of Linux being consistently behind the ball game on the latest and greatest technology. Namely NX 3.0 protocol compression which is now 64bit ready, so in frustration I modded the FreeNX Debian packages to arrive on a solution that works on Gutsy extremely well using FreeNX 0.7.1. All other mods I've heard of need either an outdated client and server or require someone with sysadmin level knowhow to install and setup. The following is a guide to install and setup the Gutsy packages that I have compiled for everyone's convenience.

ATTENTION: These are GUTSY packages and I DO NOT GUARANTEE any usability especially on any other distribution prior to Gutsy. If someone would like to debuild packages for other debian versions I have also posted the sources here that I have used to make these packages as well as compilation instructions. My only request is that you make them available to me so that I may make them available to the community.

WARNING: All packages and files below are open-source and free according to the GPL license EXCEPT the nxclient-3.0.0 ones. This is the commercial nxclient, but it is still free to download and use according to the licensing on their site at www.nomachine.com. I have chosen the version below because it has been tested to work with these packages, you may use a newer one, but your mileage may vary. Do not bother to post about a newer version failing, as it has not been tested, it may not work so use the version supplied.

For those having troubles with the new nxclient 3.1.0 for Windows, here is a link to a compatible nxclient 3.0.0-83:
nxclient-3.0.0-83.exe
This is the recommended nxclient for Windows. I have tested this version and it definitely works well.

First add the following lines to your sources.list:
deb http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu gutsy main

Then add my key for authentication and update you package list:
Code:
wget http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/wjeremy.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
wget http://www.datakeylive.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/alivesoftware.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
Then install necessary packages:
Code:
sudo apt-get install expect openssh-server tcl8.4 libxcomp2 libxcompext2 libxcompshad nxlibs nxagent nxproxy nxclient freenx
(I'm not sure what other libs are necessary as I have them all installed already, but you MUST have a desktop (X minimal, KDE, or Gnome) installed,
please let me know if I'm missing anything.)

Please verify the above operation was successful by executing:
Code:
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-cache show expect openssh-server tcl8.4 libxcomp2 libxcompext2 libxcompshad nxlibs nxagent nxproxy nxclient freenx | grep "Unable"
If the previous command says unable to find .... (with a package name) you need to install that package first.
Otherwise it should just drop you back to the command prompt.
If you installed the files above you can skip this next section for compiling from source...

For those brave souls willing to compile from source first I will present the quick and dirty method (for Debian based ONLY):
Make sure you added the above package repository, then execute:
Code:
sudo apt-get install expect openssh-server tcl8.4 build-essentials cdbs autotools-dev debhelper patchutils autoconf automake1.9 bzip2 libjpeg-dev libpng12-dev libssl-dev libx11-dev libxaw7-dev xutils zlib1g-dev apt-build nxclient
Then execute:
Code:
sudo apt-build install libxcomp2 libxcompext2 libxcompshad nxlibs nxagent nxproxy freenx
Alternatively download these and try to build them yourself (I do not provide non-debian support):
nx_3.0.0.orig.tar.gz
nx_3.0.0-0.diff.gz
freenx_0.7.1.orig.tar.gz
freenx_0.7.1-0.diff.gz

verify that all of the above packages are installed correctly by first executing:
Code:
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-cache show libxcomp2 libxcompext2 libxcompshad nxagent nxlibs nxproxy nxclient freenx | grep "Unable"
If the previous command says unable to find .... (with a package name) you need to reinstall that package again or restart the build process since something didn't work.
Otherwise it should just drop you back to the command prompt.

(CONTINUING FROM PACKAGE CHOICE)

Drop to a console or use your favorite editor to edit /etc/nxserver/node.conf as root
eg.:
Code:
sudo nano /etc/nxserver/node.conf
Inspect the line that reads:
AGENT_EXTRA_OPTIONS_X="-fp (lots of font paths)"
Now open /etc/X11/xorg.conf and compare the font paths in there. My section looks like:
Code:
Section "Files"

        # path to defoma fonts
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
        FontPath     "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection
If you are missing this section from your xorg.conf configuration file I recommend adding it as without this FreeNX will die unexpectedly.
Once you are done checking make sure you update the -fp line above to include the font paths separated by commas.

Finally download the nxcupsd-wrapper script from Fabian to the client machine (the one that needs to connect) and save it somewhere that you can use it:
nxcupsd-wrapper

Change the permissions on the CUPS backend to allow access to the nxclient and
make nxcupsd-wrapper executable by executing this in the directory where you saved it:
Code:
chmod a+x nxcupsd-wrapper
sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/backend/ipp
When you setup connections make sure to change the path of the cupsd server to the nxcupsd-wrapper path. This is only necessary if you want to print to local printers.

Now if you want someone to log into the server you need to make their account ready for log in. At a conole prompt execute where xxxx is the name of the user you want to log in:
Code:
sudo nxserver --adduser xxxx
This should setup the user for you automatically.

If you want to be able to proxy and tunnel RDP (Windows Remote Desktop/Terminal Services) you need to install rdesktop.
From a console type:
Code:
sudo apt-get install rdesktop
rdesktop is the RDP client that FreeNX uses to proxy RDP through the NX protocol. I have found proxying RDP slightly more laggy on broadband, but it scales better and is much
faster over slower connections.

You should now be able to test this now by creating a connection to localhost using nxclient. I have disabled the mirroring and VNC proxy by default since it creates an X0 phantom connection and the X0 connection uses a VNC proxy to the physical desktop that does not work currently, instead you must always choose a new connection. Thus, disabling for now is the best option. If you want to log in from remote, remember that you NEED version 3.0 of nxclient NO PRIOR VERSION WILL WORK! If you need a Windows version it is posted above. Also, remember to open port 22 (or whatever port you want to redirect to it) in your router and firewalls!

Another little trick, if you need to get through a firewall at work, it can be done by making port 21 or port 80 the new SSH port or tunneling via some tunneling client, but make sure you do not have some other program using those ports first.

That should be all that you need. There are many other commands that you can execute on nxserver just use --help. Please post with your experiences!
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Last edited by daflame : 1 Week Ago at 02:25 AM. Reason: Fix PGP key signature instructions
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  #2  
Old November 22nd, 2007
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psypher psypher is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

I just tried installing and the install went fine, but i don't have the nxserver folder and cannot even run the nxserver command. I think you are missing a package or am I missing something?

Other than that, thanks for taking the time to do this!! You rock!!
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  #3  
Old November 23rd, 2007
daflame daflame is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

Quote:
Originally Posted by psypher View Post
I just tried installing and the install went fine, but i don't have the nxserver folder and cannot even run the nxserver command. I think you are missing a package or am I missing something?

Other than that, thanks for taking the time to do this!! You rock!!
Oops, you are correct, I forgot to put links to the freenx packages . You might not have a nxserver command without that package. The files are already there, so I will update the post. Thanks!!
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  #4  
Old November 23rd, 2007
daflame daflame is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

All x86_64 and i386 packages are now uploaded and ready for download. I apologize for any inconveniences. I have to make a few notes however. I have come across four known issues that I am working out.
1) VNC proxy and shadowing currently fail to work. I am working on a resolution as this is VERY important for me to have prior to Christmas (I am visiting relatives away from the office (3000KMS away) and I need to manage my employees).
2) The shares folders do not function correctly. It seems to create a folder that is the name of the variable %24(SHARES) instead of extracting the variable's value to know where to put the directory.
3) The nxclient dialogs failed to work for me correctly, so as a last resort I disabled them. Now you will get the ugly xmessage dialogs as a result, but they do work at least.
4) Printing does not work currently without the nxcupsd-wrapper mentioned above. You will need to put this on the computer that needs to log into the server in a place the user that needs to log in can access and make it executable.

I think problems 1, 2 and 3 might be related, but I have put in a request for answers from the maker of FreeNX, Fabian. I thank you all in advance for your help in making this a great forum.
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  #5  
Old November 23rd, 2007
Brazilian Joe Brazilian Joe is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

I have tried your packages, and it ALMOST worked, but the connection always timed out. it's a brand new installation to set up a printer/scanner/file server. I have uninstalled the packages but I will give it another shot.
build-essential etc are installed.

The connection always showed up a X0: vnc something as an option to resume a session which I never started. I assume there is a vnc remote desktop connection for gnome or something. anyway, I can't terminate this connection. If I try connect to it it bails out almost instantly. If I try to set up a new connection, It goes up to 'authentication completed', then stays on that stage for some time and quits. the log says something like 'no data received from proxy for more than 30 seconds'.

I shotgun-guess that nxagent is not being able to run because of something.
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  #6  
Old November 23rd, 2007
fm1234 fm1234 is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

I tried the installation in a fresh system. It was missing the package "expect", easily fixed with synaptic.

It would be nice to have here pointers or instructions to setting up the server.
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  #7  
Old November 25th, 2007
AkuKalle AkuKalle is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

Does this work in my scenario:

feisty server and seveas packages for freenx -> upgrade to gutsy-> and then i install these packages. Do i have to remove seveas freenx packages?
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  #8  
Old November 25th, 2007
fm1234 fm1234 is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

Hi,

I've instaleed as per above, nxserver is running, I've added a user, but I get an authentication error:

Code:
NX> 148 Server capacity: not reached for user: user123
NX> 105 listsession --user="user123" --status="suspended,running" --geometry="1280x1024x16+render" --type="unix-gnome"
NX> 127 Sessions list of user 'user123' for reconnect:

Display Type             Session ID                       Options  Depth Screen         Status      Session Name
------- ---------------- -------------------------------- -------- ----- -------------- ----------- ------------------------------
0       vnc-local        DACCC0BFC8331D4A98EBAA0A49A9CA42 --------       1280x1024      Running     X0 (Local)


NX> 148 Server capacity: not reached for user: user123
NX> 105 restoresession  --link="lan" --backingstore="1" --cache="16M" --images="64M" --shmem="1" --shpix="1" --strict="0" --composite="1" --media="0" --session="X0 (Local)" --type="unix-gnome" --geometry="1024x768" --client="windows" --keyboard="pc102/pt" --id="DACCC0BFC8331D4A98EBAA0A49A9CA42" --resize="1" 

cat: /var/lib/nxserver/db/running/sessionId{DACCC0BFC8331D4A98EBAA0A49A9CA42}: No such file or directory
cat: /var/lib/nxserver/db/running/sessionId{DACCC0BFC8331D4A98EBAA0A49A9CA42}: No such file or directory
NX> 280 Exiting on signal: 15
What should I look for? BTW, my win machine is 98 (I know with smaba there used to exist an issue with authentication)

I'm also confused as to why it says it is a vnc session. I thought it was other protocol?
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  #9  
Old November 25th, 2007
djtm djtm is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

Well, you can use VNC through NX as well. Maybe you chose that option.

Did you change any options from the standard in the NX Client? Can you connect with the NX Client from the Linux machine?

I don't know much about FreeNX though, I use the NX Server Free Edition...
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  #10  
Old November 26th, 2007
daflame daflame is offline
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Re: Installing FreeNX in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy

Quote:
Originally Posted by fm1234 View Post
I tried the installation in a fresh system. It was missing the package "expect", easily fixed with synaptic.

It would be nice to have here pointers or instructions to setting up the server.
Thank you, duly noted. I will make appropriate notes at the top. I apologize for the shack assembled version above. I had to assemble this site quickly as an offer to the community since I do programming by trade and I do not have much time to spend. This was the lease I could do to offer packages for a community hurting for updated software since I use FreeNX so much.
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