X windows session over ssh on Mac/Linux

Hi,

I'm sure everyone knows how to do this, but I see a lot of people running tightvncserver to run an X session remotely whereas running X over ssh is much more efficient as the poor old Pi doesn't have to do as much compression and/or drawing the screen.

On a mac (and linux) it's just a matter of running the command

Code: Select all

ssh -X pi@YOUR_PI_IP_ADDR

Your Pies(?) IP can be seen by typing

Code: Select all

ifconfig
OUTPUT:eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr b8:27:eb:bc:d7:79 
          inet addr:192.168.2.3  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0


Once logged into your Pi, you will notice the usual pi@raspberrypi prompt, plus an X session will start on your Mac. Running any X windows program will display the results on the Mac.

Try

Code: Select all

 xeyes

To run a complete session, type

Code: Select all

lxsession

into the ssh window to start a LXDE session on the Mac (but running on the Pi).

Sound works (it comes out of headphone socket) if you do a

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe snd_bcm2835

For best results make sure to change prefs for X11 - output->fullscreen, otherwise it can a bit muddly, or just move to a seperate clear desktop (mac) and minimise the original terminal (don't close it or this will logout from the pi)

To quit, it's best just to do a 'sudo reboot' otherwise things get confusing, though you can ctrl-c the original terminal to terminate the lxsession.

You will have to setup ssh on the pi :-

Code: Select all

   cd  /boot
   sudo mv boot_enable_ssh.rc boot.rc

Now reboot pi and ssh should work.

If anyone else can confirm this works on their Debian squeeze 19-04-2012, on a virgin install, it would be useful. I may have inadvertantly setup a package to facilitate this, but it should work straight out of the pi-box.

I think there is a version of X for windows, but as usual you'll have to jump through a lot more hoops.

This also works for me and I would agree that it is a better solution than VNC. I don't think it needs any extra packages.

Ok, that's good.

I wish I could edit that post because I made an error which limits a few things, such as remembering settings and the 'Other' menu.

Instead of

Code: Select all

lxsession

Type

Code: Select all

/etc/X11/Xsession

Probably not the ideal way of doing this, hopefully someone with more knowledge of X will be along shortly.

Just tried this and it works on a fresh install of Debian squeeze 19-04-2012. On the local machine I had to do "xhost +" to allow the pi to connect to the x server, may or may not be needed depending on how X is set up on the local machine.

it works like a charm

Conf :

- Fresh Debian Squeeze image with no installed package but updated to the latest (as of June 14) kernel and firmwares via rpi-update.
- OSX 10.7.5 with Standard X11 "XQuartz 2.6.4 (xorg-server 1.10.6)"
- "ssh -X pi@MyPiHostIP" then "pi@raspberrypi:~$ /etc/X11/Xsession" to launch the session from the OSX terminal

And of course it just works as well from iPad using iSSH or any client supporting X11

I'm using the new wheezy testing image and I've hit a couple of snags.

1) The LXDE task panel along the bottom no longer displays.
2) Scratch will not display. X Application window comes up bit is empty and unresponsive.

Is there any way to get this running in a new virtual window? Ie have my local gnome running on F7 and Pi's LXDE running on F8?

I'm running OS X as my X server so it does not quite work as Linux.

I have tried the X server in both full screen and windowed mode. No difference

Is there any way to get this running in a new virtual window? Ie have my local gnome running on F7 and Pi's LXDE running on F8?

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8455

it works like a charm
...

And of course it just works as well from iPad using iSSH or any client supporting X11

Yes. I've had success with iSSH on the iPad.

it works like a charm
...

And of course it just works as well from iPad using iSSH or any client supporting X11

Yes. I've had success with iSSH on the iPad.

Would you mind explaining how to get it working with iSSH?
I can connect to rpi, type

Code: Select all

/etc/X11/Xsession

but the x display is just greyed out.

it works like a charm
...

And of course it just works as well from iPad using iSSH or any client supporting X11

Yes. I've had success with iSSH on the iPad.

Would you mind explaining how to get it working with iSSH?
I can connect to rpi, type

Code: Select all

/etc/X11/Xsession

but the x display is just greyed out.

No problem:

From the x-term (text) window in iSSH, (after logging into RPi remotely) type

Code: Select all

export DISPLAY=xx.xx.xx.xx:y

where the IP address and Display are the value shown on the x-window panel in iSSH.  (e.g. 108.168.0.101:0)

Then, in the x-term panel of iSSH, run an x window program, e.g.:

Code: Select all

scratch &

or 

Code: Select all

leafpad &

move to the x-window panel and there it is!

If that doesn't work, still, you may need to enable X11 forwarding on the RPi. (see known issues for iSSH at 
http://www.zinger-soft.com/support_e_1.html )

eg:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/ssh/ssh_config

change line that reads:

Code: Select all

#X11Forwarding No

to 'yes'.

you'll need to reboot.

Thanks for the information on this thread. I've just tried it (Xquartz and default Rasbian distro) and the desktop generally works fine.

One comment though: the Rasberry Pi's desktop icons aren't clickable. I can run Midori etc from the menu successfully, but clicking on the Pi desktop icons just takes the OS X focus back to Finder.

This sounds like an Xquartz issue; any ideas?

Thanks all!

Mark

One comment though: the Rasberry Pi's desktop icons aren't clickable. I can run Midori etc from the menu successfully, but clicking on the Pi desktop icons just takes the OS X focus back to Finder.

This sounds like an Xquartz issue; any ideas?

Mark,

You need to enable full-screen mode in XQuartz. Command-, to open preferences, then select Full-screen Mode on the Output tab. Your LXDE window will probably disappear; use Command-Option-A to toggle the display of the new full-screen view.

G

I can connect, and get the RPi display on my Mac. Icons are clickable. But I cannot get the task bar to display. Any ideas?
OS X 10.7.5
XQuartz 2.7.4 - Prefs for full screen
2012-10-28-wheezy-raspbian - virgin except changes to configure wifi and regenerate ssh keys

Thanks in advance!
-Mark

I am joining those having difficulty getting a RaspPi XWindow to display on my Mac. Mountain Lion, XQuartz. Occidentalis v.2.

I can ssh into the RP with ssh -X pi@<IP> from the XQuartz xterm, login. But when I try scratch&, I get:

Executing: /usr/lib/squeak/4.4.7-2357/squeakvm -encoding UTF-8 -vm-display-x11 -xshm /
-plugins /usr/lib/scratch/plugins/:/usr/lib/squeak/4.4.7-2357/ -vm-sound-alsa /
/usr/share/scratch/Scratch.image
No protocol specified
Could not open display `(null)'.

I tried export DISPLAY=<MAC IP>:0.

I set X11Forward yes in ssh_config.

When I change the initial ssh command from the Mac to ssh -Y pi@<RPi IP>, I get the Adafruit logo splashed across both the monitors on my Mac with my Mac dock on top of that.

Help!

Thanks,
Rick

What if I want to SSH into my RPi, then do something like start Mplayer and watch a movie, but on the monitor the RPi is connected to? I've wondered this before with SSH, but now I'm even more curious because my RPi just came in and I have no keyboard!

What if I want to SSH into my RPi, then do something like start Mplayer and watch a movie, but on the monitor the RPi is connected to? I've wondered this before with SSH, but now I'm even more curious because my RPi just came in and I have no keyboard!

The proper way to do this is to set up your user to auto login, then set up mplayer to start up from the .bashrc, in slave mode, in the background (&). You can then send commands from your PC over ssh through the slave mechanism you set up (such as a pipe or fifo).

If you need more detail, I'll start a different thread. This one is for XWindows over ssh (aka, the sidekick mode: http://www.raspberry-python.blogspot.com/2012/09/sidekick.html )

François

This doesn't work for me from OSX 10.8.3. When I try to start a session, nothing happens.

What am I missing?
Thanks

What am I missing?
Thanks

Maybe the OSX developer tools with X11?
It would also help if you gave us some idea of the result too, what does ssh say when left to timeout?
Can you even ssh into the pi without the X window session (remove -X)? ssh needs to work before you try forwarding sessions to things that may not be installed.

You can also add -vv to the ssh to see more debug info, more v's = more debug info.

Also to RTFM: 'man ssh'