KDE Desktop [plug] X forwarding SOLVED

[Craig Ringer]

Just adding some more info and clarifying:

Craig Ringer wrote:
> Marc Wiriadisastra wrote:
> 
>> Are you able to get a kde or gnome desktop across ssh.
> 
> I'm a little confused by that statement. If your intent was "Is it 
> possible to get a KDE or GNOME session across ssh" then the answer is yes.
> 
> ssh -X $REMOTE_HOST_NAME startkde
> 
> should do it nicely for KDE. That will _only_ work if you do not have a 
> window manager running, and is best done from a new X session with just 
> an xterm.

You can start a new X session with just an xterm with a command like 
this, run from the console:

startx `which xterm` -- :1

the :1 tells X to use display number 1, as you may already have an 
existing server running on :0 . Yes, you can run multiple X servers at 
the same time. In fact, on my home PC I've been known to spawn a new X 
server for running a full-screen 3D OpenGL game, so I have my normal KDE 
session in one X server and the game in another. Works great.

> It may be possible to do something like this (must play with 
> that idea):
> 
> startx /usr/bin/ssh -X $REMOTE_HOST_NAME startkde

Tested, worked great using ssh-agent but no luck using passwords; 
perhaps startx redirects stdin.

> A another way, at the cost of efficiency, may be:
> 
> ssh -X $REMOTE_HOST_NAME startx -- /usr/X11R6/bin/Xnest
> 
> (requires Xnest).

That is to say, you must have the Xnest X server installed on the REMOTE 
machine you want to run the session on. It's not required on the local 
machine you want to display it on.

I realise my explanation has been rather brief - I don't have the time 
to get into an explanation of what's going on and how it all works right 
now. Yell if you continue to have trouble.

--
Craig Ringer