I also downloaded a Windows version to run on my clanky old Windows 98 desktop. I downloaded the standard client (about 1MB) and the personal server version (about 6MB). NoMachine also has support packages available. While NoMachine has released the core NX technology under the GPL, the NX server is a commercial product and can be purchased online. The client is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris. The company offers personal, business, and enterprise-level server evaluation programs for various flavors of Linux and Solaris. I downloaded the evaluation version of the server from the NoMachine Web site. The NoMachine system adds compression and a wrapper of security around the whole data stream. The other mode lets a user see another user’s desktop(who happens to be on the NX Server machine) using VNC functionality. The user has a KDE desktop on his local machine, served by the NX Server. One mode allows a user to display a desktop (such as KDE) locally from a remote Linux machine, much like the LTSP. The NoMachine system has two modes of operation. I’d also have had to open various ports on my firewall, posing potential security problems. They provided the right functionality but weren’t very strong on security. VNC and x0rfbserver were also obvious choices. I thought about using the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) and straight SSH, but they give the user a remote desktop or command line, and my desktop had to be visible to the networked user.

NX had some advantages over the alternatives. The product worked across my LAN, although I was only partially successful going across a WAN. I turned up NoMachine‘s NX software, a terminal server application for Linux and Solaris hosts. All the obvious solutions had serious drawbacks, so I had to dig deeper to find an answer. I needed a way to display my desktop to a user at the other end of a network connection for an online training project.

Nomachine linux client