Thanks for the tips.  I've been investigating, and wrestling with some
mis-configuration of unknown origin.

Currently, the systems I'm going to be doing this between are all
attached to the "inside" of the same hardware gateway/router, all on the
192.168.2.0 network.  In the next month or so, his will remain "there"
and mine will be on the road, probably using PPP.  In the longer term,
I'm hoping mine will be settled behind it's own hardware gateway/router,
attached to some broandband connection down under.

Starting with the current setup, which is my practical lab and
classroom, how does one system find the other?  All the machines are
getting their IP via DHCP, so it's not guaranteed to be the same.  The
system names aren't available in any DNS scheme I know of (I'd love to
hear about a facility for this).  I can put entries into /etc/hosts if
the IPs were static, but they aren't, and certainly won't be when I'm
connecting by PPP.

We are already connecting through IM protocols, using gaim.  Conceivably
I can simply tell him my IP when I connect, but I'm wondering what is
the canonical way to handle this?  How do I handle it now, when the IP
is dynamic (even though it's unlikely to change I want to work on the
general solution while it's easy to do it - while I have my hands on all
the systems).  The power fails here periodically, and the cable modem
he's on renegotiates it's IP each time - even that's not static.

Thanks for info,
Bret

On Tue, 2003-08-12 at 17:44, Peter Hardy wrote:
>  Morning!
> 
> On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 04:02:13PM -0400, Bret Comstock Waldow wrote:
> > I mean how do I do these things:
> 
> There really should be a HOWTO for things like this...
> 
> > 1) Run a program on someone else's machine.  Both console and X.
> 
> ssh.  You use it to get a shell on a remote computer.  It's also the
> most secure and simple way to run X programs remotely.  This is usually
> as simple as running it with the -X option.  Check the X11 and TCP
> forwarding section of the ssh man page for details.
> 
> If you want the party at the other end to also see what you're running,
> keep reading.
> 
> > 2) Show them a program I'm running on mine.  Both console and X.
> 
> In console, you want to be using screen - kind of a window manager for
> the terminal.  Run your programs inside screen, and the other party will
> be able to log in to your machine with ssh, and connect to your screen
> session in a listen-only mode.  Again, check the man page for details.
> An alternative that I've never used before is vtgrab.
> 
> The easiest way I've found in X is with VNC - an alternative to straight
> X11 that will feel very familiar (but a little slower) if you've ever
> used Microsoft's terminal server.
> 
> The vncserver will start a seperate X server that you will both need to
> connect to.  There's a program called rfb which will export your current
> desktop, and it also has a listen-only mode.
> 
> > 3) Do it securely over the Internet.
> 
> You can tunnel console, X and vnc traffic over ssh.  Read the ssh man
> page or the full online manual at the OpenSSH website for details on TCP
> forwarding.
> 
> Or you can look in to setting up a VPN connection.  Much more flexible,
> but will take a bit more work to get off the ground.  For two Linux
> machines, I'd suggest freeswan (http://www.freeswan.org/), because it's
> what I know best.  Somebody else may have other suggestions.
> 
> > 4) Transfer files (besides attaching to email).  Do I need to set up an
> > ftp server on both machines?
> 
> No.  The ssh package will include sftp - essentially ftp over ssh.  It
> will also have scp, to securely copy files back and forth.
> 
> > 5) Can I do 1, 2, and 3 for more than one person (I'm the Alpha Geek in
> > my family).
> 
> Both screen and vnc will let multiple clients connect.  Bandwidth may
> start to become an issue with multiple vnc clients.
> 
> -- 
> Pete
-- 
bwaldow at alum dot mit dot edu

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