On 05-Dec-98 Duncan L.Strang wrote:
> suse Linux 5.2
>
> I sit here on my Win95 PC and run the built in telnet client and
> telnet into my user account on the Linux box in the corner of the
> room.(TCP/IP in case there's any other way?)
>
> There is no indication that anything is happening at the other end
> apart from a short period of disk access. The console(the screen)
> display remains set at the login prompt, in fact if the screen is
> blank the login process doesn't even wake it up.
That is exactly the way things should be. There are two seperate process
handling the login from the console and from the telnet session. Each program
should not affect the other.
> However.
>
> When I get the Linux prompt in the telnet window I can apparently
> do anything I like as a user INCLUDING running XWindows (is it right
> to call fvwm XWindows???).
> Anyway, whatever happens when I type startx from the command line-
> when I am logged in to the linux box and sitting at the terminal-
> also happens when I type startx from the telnet delivered prompt
> (seems reasonable to me) BUT, the remote computer starts fvwm and
> displays to the console screen giving a 'window' to my account !!.
> Obviously this is a bad(feable) idea.
> Perhaps you shouldn't run startx from a telnet prompt, but that never
> stops anyone from doing it!
Ah... It seems that you don't quite understand the concept behind X.
Let me provide a quick description of how X works.
X is based on two main component, the X server (eg. XFree86) and the X client
(eg. Netscape Navigator). An X client such as Netscape would do all the stuff a
program is normally expected to do, such as download a webpage, send email,
etc. But the X client is not capable of displaying it's data to the screen or
reading data from the keyboard and mouse.
Here's where the X server comes in. The X server recieves commands from the X
client via the network and handles the display on the screen. It'll also read
data from the keyboard and the mouse and send it to the X client.
Let me provide an example. When you specify a URL using the URL box of Netscape
Navigator, the data generated by the keyboard is first recieved by the X
server. This data is then sent to Netscape which will request for the
appropriate webpage from the server you have specified. Netscape will recieve
the webpage when it arrives, read it and figure out how it should be displayed.
It will then send out the appropriate commands to the X server which will then
draw out the webpage on the screen based on the command which it has recieved.
When you ran "startx" from the telnet session, the "startx" process is infact
running on the Linux box and not on the win95 box. The "startx" process will
start the X server on the box it is running on, hence the display will be on
the Linux box. You should only run "startx" when you are at the console.
If you want to run Linux programs from your Linux box and have it display on
the win95 machine, you will need to run an X server on the win95 machine first.
I can't recomand any since I hardly ever use win95, but I'm sure that someone
else on the list could. After the X server is running, you can run Linux
programs such as the Linux version of Netscape Navigator on your Linux box and
have it connect to the win95 box for display.
Incidently, it's not right to call FVWM XWindows. FVWM is a window manager,
which is nothing more than a special X client, while X is the server. Secondly,
the correct term for refering to X is either "X" or "X Window System".
> The output of man telnetd in the Win95 telnet window is all over the
> place.
I'm guessing that this is due to a misconfiguration in the terminal setting.
Maybe someone else could help you with that (I've never used the win95 telnet).
> If I disconnect the telnet session the wm closes down and you're
> back at the plain old login prompt.
> The thing is the login prompt is exactly the same as it was before
> starting fvwm.
> The screen doesn't even appear to have been refreshed !!!!
When you disconnect the telnet session, all the process started via that telnet
session will be terminated by default. This includes the X server which was
started by the "startx" process. Hence, the window manager will close down and
return you to the old login prompt.
> Is there a configuration file somewhere that I can play with ??
> For example, how would I set some of the available 'features'
> (that's probably not the right word but it's as near as I can get).
Try obtaining a win95 based X server first. Once you got that up, the rest is
simple.
Cort
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
