x2go documentation

x2go is a program that uses the NX protocol to offer remote access to a X server, with high responsiveness and low latency even on slow networks.

Homepage : http://www.x2go.org Downloads : http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php/download:start

You can also use the source code from: http://code.x2go.org/releases/source/x2goclient to compile the application from source. If you have questions on this topic, please check the Building From Source section.

For installing x2go client on a debian machine, first you will need to include the x2go repos into your system. For doing this you can follow the instructions in here: http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php/wiki:repositories:debian

For installing x2go on Windows, go to the following wiki page: x2go Windows

Once you are done with this, you can procede to install the program: sudo aptitude install x2goclient

x2go does not have too many dependencies and with this instructions you should be able to install the program with no problems.

For Mac installations, you will probably need to update some of the default X.11 settings (normally found in Applications/Utilities). At a minimum, change the preferences to accept remote sessions. Optional settings included enabling root sessions (for full screen access) and Remote Login settings for printing and sound.

Once the installation is completed you can run x2go client from → Application → Internet → X2GoClient. You will be welcomed by a cute phoca that will make your experience something you will never forget.

If you can create a new session by going to session → new session, where you will find the following screen:

The important fields here are host, login, sshport and session-type. Host: ip address for the server you want to connect. login: your username. sshport: most probably the standart ssh port which is 22. session-type: the default is kde, but in the CS department we generally use Mate. Some research servers use XFCE (ask your research advisor).

The nest tab is Connection:

Here you can adjust the dial based on your speed, for working on-campus you can set it to WAN or LAN, but off-campus you may need to use ADSL. You can also adjust the compression used for the data, using the default compression method should be sufficient for almost every case. If you need better frame rate you can lower the image quality.

The Settings tab will allow you to set some extra configurarion such as screen resolution, dpi, keyboard, sound and printing.

Here you can choose if you session will be fullscreen(requires more bandwith) or of a fixed resolution(smaller screen sizes offer better performance). You can modify some keyboard and screen dpi setttings if you need but the default ones should be correct. The features of sound and pinting have not beign tested yet.

You can get more info on the following links:

• http://www.x2go.org/
• http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php/doc:start

• Be sure to log out of x2go instead of just closing the window or killing the application. If you don't log off your connection doesn't close cleanly and you get orphan processes that use up resources. Doing this multiple times can prevent future connections.

The GIS Server is accessible using x2go.

The Rockwell Collins project server is also using x2go

During the COVID crisis the QBB244 lab is using x2go on machines lab01…lab20.