Redhat: vnc to remote server

NOTE: if the vncserver insists on starting on a port other than 5966, like 6099, wipe the ~/.vnc directory and start over again. If that doesn't help, change the second instance of 5966 below to 6066 in the port forwarding ssh command, e.g. '-L 5966:localhost:6066'.

1.  as remote root on myhost
1. yum install tigervnc
2. yum install tigervnc-server
3. yum install libXfont pixman
4. yum install fluxbox
5. yum install firefox
2. as a remote user, myuser, on myhost
1. vncserver :66 -localhost
1. set a password, call it mypassword
3. as local user
1. ssh -L 5966:localhost:5966 myuser@myhost
1. leave running and do next step in another local term
2. vncviewer -encodings 'copyrect tight zrle hextile' localhost:5966
1. authenticate with mypassword
4. as a remote user, myuser, on myhost
1. export DISPLAY=:66
2. xterm &
3. fluxbox &
4. firefox &

xvfb

1. sudo apt-get install xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-scalable xfonts-cyrillic
2. sudo apt-get install xvfb
3. sudo apt-get install xtightvncviewer
4. apt-get install x11vnc
5. sudo apt-get install fluxbox
6. export DISPLAY=:1
7. Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1024x768x16 &
8. fluxbox &
9. x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -listen localhost -xkb
10. export DISPLAY=:0
11. vncviewer -encodings 'copyrect tight zrle hextile' localhost:5900
12. you should see fluxbox running within another window which you can navigate
13. try, for fun
1. export DISPLAY=:1
2. xterm
3. pkill fluxbox
4. fluxbox &

Gets weirder

1. close the above vncviewer window
2. x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -listen localhost -xkb
3. x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -listen localhost -xkb
4. x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -listen localhost -xkb
5. vncviewer -encodings 'copyrect tight zrle hextile' localhost:5900
6. vncviewer -encodings 'copyrect tight zrle hextile' localhost:5901
7. vncviewer -encodings 'copyrect tight zrle hextile' localhost:5902

Launch apps in the new display

1. sudo apt-get install firefox
2. DISPLAY=:1 firefox &

Note: if vncviewer is not available on the CLI, use xtightvncviewer instead, same thing

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvfb