Vicky, many thanks for information. In short, things I need to do can
now be made to work. Some details:
1. I installed Xming and worked with the Unix guru (who is also the
sysadmin and a developer for the project).
2. We used Logmein (free version) so he could fly my Vista laptop
remotely. Logmein worked well - it was an effective tool.
3. Working on both the PC and the remote systems, we (mainly he) got
things working well enough to show feasibility, including some of the
things you mentioned related to X-Windows and ssh (which fortunately was
part of my Cwrsync installation). After that, there were other issues,
but they got resolved, or at least worked around.
4. Along the way, I saw some of the same errors as before. So, we
assume Cygwin can be made to work (if one survives installing it on
Vista). That's for next week, maybe, after we redo things more
systematically and document what works.
Thanks again for your help - much appreciated.
-Andy
Vicky Staubly wrote:
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008, Andy Gallant wrote:
I want to run X-Windows on my Vista Home Prem laptop. I've been
trying to make Cygwin work, but it was a struggle even to get it
installed. I have access to a Unix expert but he has never run
Cygwin on Vista. Google ("is my friend" (tm)) helped locate hints to
help get the Cygwin package to install without apparent errors, but
we can't get Cygwin's X-Windows to work - there are a number of errors.
Has anybody succeeded with getting Cygwin's X-Windows to run on
Vista? Is there a reasonable alternative, preferably both stable and
free (Xming?)? Can anyone help with these questions? Thanks in advance.
I've used X-ming myself on XP, and found it very good. Two links I've
found for it are:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming
http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/
I have used Cygwin, but not their X-server (a plain cross-compiled
XFree86, I think).
Have you used cross-machine X windows before? Do you know how to
set up your DISPLAY environment variable. There are 2 general ways
you can run X windows... plain unencrypted, and tunneled via ssh.
For the first way, just log in to the remote machine (where the
programs will reside whose displays you want on your Vista machine).
If your
Vista machine has an IP address of 1.2.3.4, then in your shell on
the remote machine (probably either telnet or an ssh client like Putty)
set an environment variable DISPLAY to "1.2.3.4:0". Either of
setenv DISPLAY 1.2.3.4:0 (csh)
DISPLAY=1.2.3.4:0 ; export DISPLAY (sh or bash)
You probably will also need to open the X ports in your firewall
control panel on the Vista machine (TCP ports 6000, 6001, etc.).
To tunnel via ssh, tell your SSH to "forward X" or "forward X ports"
(there's a checkbox in the Putty options if that's what you're using).
Then, when you login with that SSH client, it should automatically
set the DISPLAY variable to something like "localhost:10" or similar.
You won't need to open any ports in your Vista firewall.
Let me know if you have more questions.
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