NX too hard to use [LWN.net]

NX too hard to use

Posted Aug 1, 2005 20:22 UTC (Mon) by kobserver (guest, #30087)
In reply to: NX too hard to use by scripter
Parent article: The Arrival of NX, Part 1 (Linux Journal)

"NX far too difficult to setup and use (...)"
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/me thought it was dead easy, honest....

"Why does NX need a second, conflicting key?"
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/you can setup NoMachine NX with your own custom key pair, and you can choose to use the same as you use for your other machines. You should maybe pay a visit to the most excellent Knowledge Base section of the NoMachine website: www.nomachine.com/kb/

"There can only be one key imported at a time. I regularly connect to several separate remote machines, so this is unworkable."
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They recently released 1.5.0 NX Client has a "key management" built in. Easy as pie now to select the correct key before you connect.

"The NoMachine NX client on Windows uses Cygwin, but their cygwin instance (cygwin.dll) conflicts with the one that I already had on the machine."
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Go to their Knowledge Base. It is explained there how to resolve that. NoMachine's NX client always needs an X server to display the remote GUI, even on Windows clients. That's why they install (currently) Cygwin/X. And they need to ship a bug-fixed *.dll that works for their client. You can take that one as a drop-in replacement to the one that is already installed...

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NX too hard to use

Posted Aug 2, 2005 19:22 UTC (Tue) by scripter (subscriber, #2654) [Link]

It would be nice if NX were easy to use out-of-the-box instead of having to search the excellent knowledgebase. Indeed, that's how I found answers to several of problems previously. I'm glad the client is improving, but I think it still needs to be easier to use. I don't want to have to copy down a client key just so that I can connect. I already have a user account plus ssh, so why can't that be good enough?

As for Cygwin, I hope NoMachine is getting their enhancements merged upstream. I've customized my copy of cygwin, remapping /cygdrive/c to /c and so forth. The NX cygwin instance doesn't play well with my existing config, making my pre-existing install nearly unusable. Also, the NX Windows client doesn't work for non-admin privileged user accounts. Believe it or not, I don't run as an admin on my Windows machines.

NX too hard to use

Posted Aug 12, 2005 19:41 UTC (Fri) by kobserver (guest, #30087) [Link]

"I've customized my copy of cygwin, remapping /cygdrive/c to /c and so forth."
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Congratulations! You've managed to make your life more complicated than it was before.

"The NX cygwin instance doesn't play well with my existing config,..."
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Didn't I warn you about this? You cooked your soup, now eat it.

"...making my pre-existing install nearly unusable."
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So what? Are you _really_ trying to complain about this here? Stop whining, dude. Fix your own Cygwin install instead. Or remove NX. No-one forces you to use it.

"Also, the NX Windows client doesn't work for non-admin privileged user accounts...."
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Of course it does!

"It would be nice if NX were easy to use out-of-the-box"
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It would be even nicer if idiots were not expecting any new software install to work on their self-inflicted messed-up systems.

NX too hard to use

Posted Aug 13, 2005 20:06 UTC (Sat) by scripter (subscriber, #2654) [Link]

One of the things I've enjoyed about reading LWN is that most people, by and large, tend to be polite and less inflammatory than in some other linux related forums. I suppose one of the risks of making comments publicly is that someone may respond and resort to character attacks rather than intelligent dialog.

In any case, I hope my comments about NX difficulties will help others to be aware of and avoid trouble. I'm also sure that NX will continue to improve over time. It's a cool project and has great potential.