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Thread ID: 83176 2007-09-22 06:26:00 Xorg, ssh help needed Myth (110) Press F1
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593914 2007-09-22 06:26:00 I am in the process of finishing my poor mans media centre.
I have Gentoo installed on the media machine
Xorg is configured correctly, in that if I login locally on the media machine, and startx, I can then get mplayer playing files with mplayer -vo xv -fs ...
However, I don't want to have a keyboard or mouse on the media machine (children like to touch) and want to start it via ssh. SSH is all configured in that I can login to the remote [media] machine. But I need Xorg to start so I can use mplayer

How can I start Xorg remotely? (startx doesn't seem to work via ssh)
Neither computer is highly specced to use ssh -X
Myth (110)
593915 2007-09-22 07:01:00 Sounds very interesting and complicated at the same time. winmacguy (3367)
593916 2007-09-22 07:26:00 My sound like a stupid question BUT - Do you want to record TV programs, or simply use it to play music and watch DVD's avi's etc ?

The reason I'm asking is my media center while having all the software/hardware the recording TV side is never used, I use several media players all from a remote desktop if required. If this is what you want let me know and i'll post the links for free programs that work great. In fact Here (www.teamviewer.com) is the remote desktop software, set the IP's to static and log in - even works perfectly on wireless.
wainuitech (129)
593917 2007-09-22 07:48:00 How can I start Xorg remotely? (startx doesn't seem to work via ssh)Set the DISPLAY environment variable to 'localhost:0.0' before running startx, that should fix it. Even better, use rungetty to autologin and start X (that's what I do on my media box) - makes life much simpler.

Neither computer is highly specced to use ssh -XUse 'ssh -C -Y' then, it's tons faster :D.
Erayd (23)
593918 2007-09-22 08:20:00 easier using vnc, you just have to setup an enviroment for vnc remote session simular to want Bletch suggested I did it on for RH9 laptop for vnc sessions from my xp desktop. Just for the fun of it. beama (111)
593919 2007-09-22 08:28:00 Set the DISPLAY environment variable to 'localhost:0.0' before running startxWhere do I set this? Myth (110)
593920 2007-09-22 08:45:00 Addition: this is where I'm at so far. I have established that I can login and startx from the same console. However, I can't type any further commands from that same console. If I open another console and ssh into the remote machine, I can run any command I want, but it doesn't pick up any X. If I run startx, it says its already in use elsewhere. And I can't shut the first console, if I do, X shuts down; and I end up at the beginning again


So close ...
Myth (110)
593921 2007-09-22 08:58:00 easier using vnc.... I second that - VNC is so easy to use - don't have to use any CLI tools at all. johnd (85)
593922 2007-09-22 12:11:00 Addition: this is where I'm at so far. I have established that I can login and startx from the same console. However, I can't type any further commands from that same console. If I open another console and ssh into the remote machine, I can run any command I want, but it doesn't pick up any X. If I run startx, it says its already in use elsewhere. And I can't shut the first console, if I do, X shuts down; and I end up at the beginning again

So close ...Don't type 'startx', type 'startx &'. This will put the job in the background and allow you to continue using the shell for other things.

If you wish to close the shell after setting things up, but don't want to close the X session as well, then run it in screen.
Erayd (23)
593923 2007-09-22 21:44:00 My sound like a stupid question BUT - Do you want to record TV programs, or simply use it to play music and watch DVD's avi's etc ?Yes

I second that - VNC is so easy to use - don't have to use any CLI tools at all.I want to avoid GUI as much as possible. Also, I asked around on IRC, VNC wouldn't do exactly what I wanted

Don't type 'startx', type 'startx &'. This will put the job in the background and allow you to continue using the shell for other things.

If you wish to close the shell after setting things up, but don't want to close the X session as well, then run it in screen.Tried this, didn't work

Thanks all for the help. As Dr Frankenstein once said... "It's alive!!"
I asked a mate on IRC who knows Gentoo and linux well. He told me to do the following: (all this is via ssh)


**login to console**
# screen
# X

now press control + a + d (deattaches screen); at new prompt, type:

DISPLAY=:0.0 mplayer [options] /dir/to/file
Works perfect as I require
Incidentally, to reattach the screen, type:

# screen -r
Myth (110)
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