Using XDM By default, with XDM, once you install it, every time you boot your computer, it will bring you into X with a login prompt, this may get annoying for those who prefer the "startx" way of doing things. To disable it, simply comment out the line in /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers. For security reasons, XDM does not allow remote connections to it when you first install it, we have to edit the config files ourselves to enable it. Its actually a very painless procecedure. /etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess remove # from * for all hosts allowed by default XDM will not listen on any ports for incoming requests for logins. To change this, simply open up /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config There is a line that says: "DisplayManager.requestPort: 0" If you comment it out, XDM will listen on its proper port once restarted. Restart the XDM deamon ("/etc/init.d/xdm restart" in Debian). On the other, instead of invoking "startx" to start the X session, run "X -query 10.0.0.1" where 10.0.0.1 would be the IP of the computer running XDM. The only down point with this is that unless you have it configured so that normal users can start the X server using the "X" command, you must run it as root. The Xserver should start up and instead of your normal window manager you should see a login prompt which is connected to the XDM machine. Once logged in, you can run everything remotely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /etc/X11/default-display-manager echo "null" > /etc/X11/default-display-manager apt-get install xdm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XDMCP Protocol Configuration Using GDM as Display Manager apt-get install gdm echo "/usr/bin/gdm" > /etc/X11/default-display-manager /etc/gdm/gdm.conf | /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf [xdmcp] Enable=true [servers] #0=Standard # disable local server KillInitClients=false # If you use gdm and cygwin/X with the # -clipboard option, gdm will kill all X clients # including the clipboard application by default # (msg). So change the initial client killing # option in gdm configuration file to: # KillInitClients=false /etc/init.d/gdm restart Notes: No Local Server: See the --no-console option for GDM for an example. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XDMCP Protocol Configuration Using KDM as Display Manager apt-get install kdm echo "/usr/bin/kdm" >/etc/X11/default-display-manager /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc [xdmcp] Enable=true #to disable local server (console x session) StaticServers= /etc/kde3/kdm/Xaccess remove # from * for all hosts allowed #this step was not necessary on kubuntu... /etc/kde3/kdm/Xservers add # to prevent sessions on local displays /etc/init.d/kdm restart X-Win32 can now find the server via broadcast! Notes: According to an article on userful (http://userful.com/products/dm-config): # Disable/remove current local server(s) by prepending # to Xservers #:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X The Xservers file is the configuration files for KDM. Common locations for the Xservers file are /etc/X11/xdm/, /etc/kde3/kdm/, /usr/share/config/kdm/ or /etc/opt/kde3/share/config/kdm/, but this is different for each Linux distribution. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hummingbird's Exceed, X-Win32 or X-ThinPro XDMCP stands for "X Display Manager Control Protocol" and is a network protocol. It provides a mechanism for X-Server to emulates the X-Terminal to run on your PC (or MAC). This allows the X-Server to run on one or multiple X Window based applications that resides on a host machine. The X-Terminal can be displayed with an individual windows or multiple windows, based on your X client software capabilities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setup XDM Server on a Fedora Machine /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-conf bang/comment the last line saying: #DispalyManager.RequestPort: 0 /etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess uncomment/star the line #any host can get a login window /etc/X11/xdm/kdmrc /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf [Xdmcp] a) set enable=true b) uncomment Port=177 /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers This line defines the virtual terminal that xdm will start on by default. Comment this line out if you need the services of xdm but do not want it to take up a terminal at startup. :0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X (Red Hat) inittab comment out prefdm line xd:2345:respawn:/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon killall -HUP xdm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------