How to get a window from a remote box, command line only?

Question

I've got a remote Ubuntu box (a Linode) that I need to run a Java program which is not headless (it has a GUI window). I am having the worst time trying to get this to work. I don't need a whole desktop, just a window. Starting with a minimally installed Ubuntu, can you recommend a lightweight strategy for doing this?

Answer 1

Do the following to get it running on your VPS. Once you SSH in, do the following:

sudo apt-get install vnc4server openbox
vncserver # enter password, verify
vncserver -kill :1

• Now open up ~/.vnc/xstartup, comment out the last line x-window-manager & and insert openbox-session & instead.

• Start VNC with vncserver -- ensure port 5901 incoming is open if you have a firewall enabled.

• Connect to display 1 (or port 5901) with any VNC client. You'll get the gray openbox-session background along with a default xterm and some VNC options:

  

• Start your programs which need a GUI, etc. Right-clicking anywhere will let you open more terminals. You can change the default terminal to something other than xterm by installing another terminal emulator. I recommend sakura as it's lighter than installing gnome-terminal, etc.