Remote Desktop from the office, to home LinuxCNC

Hi all,

I've searched this forum for guidance on setting up a remote desktop connection, but what I have found has been a little complex for a new linux user. Or the guidance is for LAN.. I need WAN.

I don't have much time at home to spend on my hobbies, such as setting up my machine, so one way around it is to use my work lunch breaks to set up the software and get familiar with EMC2.

Only problem is, I live about an hours drive away from work.

Solution: using my work Windows 7 PC, graphical remote desktop to my Ubuntu LunuxCNC PC at home. I can leave it switched on along with the router, get to work and dial it up a few hours later.

What is the simplest / easiest way to do this?

Are there any beginners step by step / idiot proof instructions?

One problem I've had with the raspberry pi forum is that some users forget you're a total beginner when giving guidance, and skip basic details.

Cheers, Scott.

If you need a shell (command line) only it is easy, you can use ssh server in the linux side and putty for the windows side. There are probably others but this one works.

If you need like a remote desktop, I am not sure for WAN. I use something at home that I do not recall the name, but I think that it can only work inside my LAN (I use it to reach a server PC that does not have a monitor or a keyboard).

What about meeting services like: Webex, Join.me, etc..?

They may time-out or I may need someone at both ends to log in...?

Any ideas for an easy solution?

Cheers, Scott

Hi Andy, Thanks for the link!

I'm having moderate success, in that:

• I've registered with Log Me In.
• I've downloaded the .msi file to the LinuxCNC computer. Tried to run it, found I need Wine (as ever!).
• I've installed Wine, got Wine to install the LogMeIn.msi file.
• The installation didn't go to plan, it hung up with a black box for ages. I closed it off.
• In
Wine

, C:\Program Files\LogMeIn exists, and x64 and x86 directories seem full of Windows looking files.

Now this is where I think I'm becoming unstuck..

I go to LogMeIn website, and can see the pc in the list, but it shows as offline.

I don't think the application is running or configured on my LinuxCNC PC.. So I used "Top" to see what's running, and can't find it in the list, but this list is not complete...

I have rebooted to see if that helps..

In the Wine Menu, LogMeIn appears under Programs (below a nice bottle of Shiraz), but when I click on it, the taskbar at the bottom displays a "tab" (for want of a better word) saying "Opening LogMeIn.exe", it hangs around for a bit, then sods off, and I'm none the wiser.. So if I can't start the program where the settings are, I assume the background program is also not running.

What best to try next? (This is my first experience of Wine and LogMeIn, and one of very few experiences of Ubuntu).

Thanks in advance for any more help!
Cheers, Scott.

Aaah dude, never mind!

At least I now know why it wouldn't work! And have learnt a bit more about Linux in the process..

The link you just sent is good.. We use Team Viewer at work, and its great, but Windows only. VNC seems to be the way to go...

Will try to figure that out next!

Cheers, Scott

The first thing I would do is to either (best) see if I could get a static IP address from my internet service provider, or sign up with one of the free dynamic DNS providers, like no-ip.com.

This lets you identify your home computer from the "outside". With the static IP, you would simply have an IP number for your computer; with no-ip you would have a domain name, like scottbouch.no-ip.com. But the latter is more of a hassle to set up.

With this in place, you need to install e.g. vncserver on your linux machine and some vncclient on your Windows machine.

Then you need to ensure that you can connect to the vncserver port on your linux machine (there may be firewalls in the way, your router may use network address translation which means it would have to be configured correctly, etc).

This is not in any way straight-forward even if you know a bit about what you are doing. It _is_ possible though...

Hi Andy, yes, i did give the website another read and realised I'd missed tge beta version in my rush earlier! Thanks.

And thanks to Arvidb, this does sound like a more 'proper' route, but as you say, complex..

I think I'll give the Beta Team Viewer a go, as its software I'm familiar with in the windows world.

In all my messing around yesterday, I think I ended up updating Ubuntu, as I now have a power button in the top right hand corner. I think I'll do a fresh LinuxCNC install, to undo all of my failed attempts of Wine etc, then install Team Viewer.

Cheers, Scott

Thanks again, Scott