I am having difficulties related to X Windowing system. Being a novice and basically overwhelmed by the X.org documentation. I present below the separate but related issues which can be summarised as: (1) displaying files from remote machines, possibly over secure shell; (2) projecting a window or entire screen onto *multiple* remote displays (monitors); and (3) using the same display when logged on as distinct users in xterm windows.
In the example, I am on the host machine is hpsl5 (IP: 192.168.10.4) running SL5.0 and the remote machine is inteksl52 (192.168.10.20) running SL 5.2. Any assistance would be appreciated. ============================ ISSUE 1 ========================= Displaying *.pdf *.ps files from a remote machine using secure shell ssh -XY, whereas it used to work (in the distant past). I get the message: "Unable to open the diplay" . Even trying to open a specific display (192.168.10.4:0, on tinysl5) with the xlsfonts command, I still get the message "Unable to open the diplay". Unfortunately, I do not have a very clear idea how X works; the manpage X(7) is not too helpful, and dmesg does not issue any messages. Example output: [...@hpsl5 ~]$ ssh -XY [email protected] [email protected]'s password: Last login: Fri May 1 00:45:23 2009 from 192.168.10.4 [...@inteksl52 ~]$ printenv |grep -ie display [...@inteksl52 ~]$ dir *.ps tsi.comp.POST.SENT-13032007_pages25_26.ps [...@inteksl52 ~]$ gv tsi.comp.POST.SENT-13032007_pages25_26.ps & [1] 23151 [...@inteksl52 ~]$ gv: Unable to open the display. [...@inteksl52 ~]$ [...@inteksl52 ~]$ xlsfonts -fn '-*-*-*-*-*-*-0-0-0-0-*-0-*-*' xlsfonts: unable to open display '' usage: xlsfonts [-options] [-fn pattern] where options include: -l[l[l]] give long info about each font -m give character min and max bounds -C force columns -1 force single column -u keep output unsorted -o use OpenFont/QueryFont instead of ListFonts -w width maximum width for multiple columns -n columns number of columns if multi column -display displayname X server to contact -d displayname (alias for -display displayname) [...@inteksl52 ~]$ [...@inteksl52 ~]$ [...@inteksl52 ~]$ xlsfonts -d 192.168.10.4:0.0 -fn '-*-*-*-*-*-*-0-0-0-0-*-0-*-*' xlsfonts: unable to open display '192.168.10.4:0.0' usage: xlsfonts [-options] [-fn pattern] where options include: -l[l[l]] give long info about each font -m give character min and max bounds -C force columns -1 force single column -u keep output unsorted -o use OpenFont/QueryFont instead of ListFonts -w width maximum width for multiple columns -n columns number of columns if multi column -display displayname X server to contact -d displayname (alias for -display displayname) ============================ ISSUE 2 ========================= How can I display a given window (xterm, pdf file, etc.) on a number of remote terminal? For exmple, I would want that the pdf file I am scrolling through is also visible to my remote audience on their screens. This is probably related to ISSUE 1. ============================ ISSUE 3 ========================= How can I be logged in as 2 distinct users (e.g., wss and wsshu or root) in terminal windows and still be able to view files *.pdf and *.ps files or choose my X windows display? On some machines, I I can view the files, possibly with some complaints, but fails on others, complaining about being unable to open display. (Unfortunately I cannot reproduce the failure on this machine, in what is given below.) Xnest does not seem to permit it. How can I go about this? Example output: [...@hpsl5 ~]$ Xnest :1 [1]+ Stopped Xnest :1 [...@hpsl5 ~]$ bg [1]+ Xnest :1 & [...@hpsl5 ~]$ xterm -display :1 AUDIT: Mon May 4 01:59:19 2009: 27279 Xnest: client 1 rejected from local host Xlib: connection to ":1.0" refused by server Xlib: No protocol specified xterm Xt error: Can't open display: :1 [...@hpsl5 ~]$ su Password: [r...@hpsl5 wss]# xterm -display :1 AUDIT: Mon May 4 02:00:23 2009: 27279 Xnest: client 1 rejected from local host Xlib: connection to ":1.0" refused by server Xlib: No protocol specified Warning: This program is an suid-root program or is being run by the root user. The full text of the error or warning message cannot be safely formatted in this environment. You may get a more descriptive message by running the program as a non-root user or by removing the suid bit on the executable. xterm Xt error: Can't open display: %s [r...@hpsl5 wss]# exit exit [...@hpsl5 ~]$ su wsshu Password: [ws...@hpsl5 wss]$ xterm -display :1 AUDIT: Mon May 4 02:01:44 2009: 27279 Xnest: client 1 rejected from local host Xlib: connection to ":1.0" refused by server Xlib: No protocol specified xterm Xt error: Can't open display: :1 [ws...@hpsl5 wss]$ cd [ws...@hpsl5 ~]$ xterm -display :1 AUDIT: Mon May 4 02:02:33 2009: 27279 Xnest: client 1 rejected from local host Xlib: connection to ":1.0" refused by server Xlib: No protocol specified xterm Xt error: Can't open display: :1 [ws...@hpsl5 ~]$ Xnest :2 & [1] 27357 [ws...@hpsl5 ~]$ xterm -display :2 AUDIT: Mon May 4 02:03:07 2009: 27357 Xnest: client 1 rejected from local host Xlib: connection to ":2.0" refused by server Xlib: No protocol specified xterm Xt error: Can't open display: :2 [ws...@hpsl5 ~]$ evince icegov2008-registration-noCardDetails-wss.pdf & [2] 27386 [ws...@hpsl5 ~]$ (evince:27386): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed. ** (evince:27386): WARNING **: Service registration failed. ** (evince:27386): WARNING **: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken. [2]+ Done evince icegov2008-registration-noCardDetails-wss.pdf [ws...@hpsl5 ~]$ William.
