[mdlug] A big opportunity for Linux?

[Carl T. Miller]

Raymond McLaughlin wrote:
> Right, VNC is great for forwarding a whole desktop. For forwarding a
> single app (i.e. less band width required) Putty won't do it to windows,
> no local X display. I floated the idea of a small footprint Linux in a
> virtual machine to provide a local x display. What do you suggest?

I missed the part about the virtual machine.  You're right that
there is no free and easy answer that does everything, as far as
I know.

It's a lot easier to use putty and the Windows version of VNCviewer,
although it does mean you'll get the entire desktop.  If bandwidth
is a concern, I believe that VNC can be configured to use less data
for screen updates than what x can.  Also I think it is possible to
use compression in the ssh tunnel to improve really slow connections.

Is it worth the extra requirements to set up a virtual environment,
create a virtual machine, install an entire OS, and then run a single
app inside a window inside the virtual machine?  It depends on what
you're doing.  However, if I did want to run a single app in its own
window, I wouldn't want a virtual machine.  I would look into getting
a good x-server for Windows.  The good ones aren't cheap, which is why
I like the putty/vnc connection at the price of getting a full desktop.

Of course, it would be possible to customize such a desktop so that
only one application runs and the connection is dropped when the app-
lication closes, but I haven't had the need to set up such a desktop.

c