CSCI 4190 Introduction to Robotic Algorithms
Remote X
You may find remote X useful when working on your assignments, particularly if you're doing your programming on the CS dept.
Suns. Since Amos Eaton is closed on the weekends and on weekday nights, it's pretty tough to get in and use the `24-hour'
labs. For the projects in IRA you need X to run your programs, which means that while you can write code remotely, you can't
really run/test it. My recommendation for this is remote X. If you're doing your programming completely on your own
machine, don't bother to read this.
Remote X From *nix
Here is the simple (but not very secure) way to do remote X from a *nix machine. On the local computer (that you want stuff
to be displayed on), just do xhost +remote.machine.ip.address. On the remote computer (that the program will
run on), log in and run export DISPLAY=your.ip.address:0 (assuming you are using bash; if you're using a
different shell, just set the environment variable DISPLAY according to the shell's rules). That's it, now you should be
able to run your program from the remote computer and it should display on your local terminal.
Remote X From Windows
As you can imagine, this is a little more complicated that remote X from Unix. You will need to install an X server on your
windows machine that can accept and process requests from remote clients. There are a number of options, but most of them
cost an arm and a leg. Here are a couple:
- X-Win32: This is the most commonly used X server for windows, though it isn't free.
You can, however, download a trial version for 30 days, etc...
- Cygwin/XFree: This one is free and is the one I recommend if you aren't averse
to installing Cygwin. Follow the instructions on the site (which look pretty complicated) for setting it up.
I haven't got any experience with either of these so I won't be able to help much. I would assume remote X is fairly simple
with both, and that instructions are in the documentation. The remote computer setup will be the same as if you were using
remote X with Unix (set the DISPLAY environment variable).
Firewalls
If you're behind a firewall that you control, you'll need to open up port 6000 (which is used by the X server for incoming
connections). If you're behind a NAT, forward port 6000 to the computer you want the program to display on.
Kris Beevers [beevek@gmail.com]
Last updated 1/30/03