Tunneling X over SSH

(Original instructions by Bob Morris, rewritten for our purpose - local machine being Ubuntu 9.10 - by Gregor Hagedorn)

1. On the local linux desktop, start ssh with -C and -X options:

ssh -C -X YOURUSERNAME@biowikifarm.net

2. In the resulting ssh shell window (logged in on the remote machine) type:

xterm &

This will open an xterm terminal window running on the remove host, but displaying locally (opening may be slow - wait at least 15 s). Note: just typing "xterm" without "&" would block the ssh window until the xterm window is closed with "exit" again; the "&" put the xterm executable in the background (where it is able to read keyboard input directly from the X mechanisms on the local host, thus not conflicting with the ssh terminal).

3. The xterm window again has a command line. Here you can start any gui-based program that you know would start a window if you had a desktop running on the remote machine itself. The trick is to find out exactly what is the binary program that corresponds to some functionality you are familiar with on a gui basis.

Examples:

 synaptic &
 /usr/sbin/synaptic &
 sudo /usr/sbin/synaptic  &

4. Type

exit

from the xterm terminal window to regain control in the ssh window.

Cool!