Introduction
The installation of a VNC server on Linux Mint -running the Mate desktop environment- can be accomplished by following this step-by-step guide. The procedure below is scoped to run the vnc server on demand, it is, only when required.
Procedure
First thing anyone should do is to trigger an update of the packages from the corresponding repositories. To accomplish this, simply run:
sudo apt-get update
I would say it should be good to upgrade the versionof the installed packages by running:
sudo apt-get upgrade
Now, install a VNC server. This guide will show the installation of tightvncserver. Check it out:
sudo apt-get install tightvncserver
This guide was written for a VNC server that runs on Linux Mint which uses the Mate desktop environment [1]. To start the VNC server and define (maximum length 8 characters) a password for the user that runs this, one must execute:
vncserver
See to an example output:
user@host:~$ vncserver You will require a password to access your desktops. Password: Verify: Would you like to enter a view-only password (y/n)? n New 'X' desktop is host:1 Creating default startup script /home/user/.vnc/xstartup Starting applications specified in /home/user/.vnc/xstartup Log file is /home/user/.vnc/host:1.log
Next, grant execution privilege to the xstartup file:
chmod u+x ~/.vnc/xstartup
and purge its contents:
> ~/.vnc/xstartup
That’s right, its default contents are not needed, so, that’s the reason of not even taking a backup of it.
Now, copy the following snippet to ~/.vnc/xstartup
#!/bin/sh unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS [ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup [ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources xsetroot -solid grey vncconfig -iconic & x-terminal-emulator -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" & x-window-manager & mate-session &
To make the VNC server catch the new configuration, execute these steps:
vncserver -kill :1 vncserver
This ends the installation and configuration of the VNC server on Linux Mint.
Client
To connect to the VNC server, it is required a client. There are many out there. This guide was tested using the VNC Viewer [2].
To connect, just input the IP (or name) in the client software, followed by the desktop number. I mean: <your_IP_or_address>:1
Conclusion
This guide showed how to install a VNC server on Linux Mint running the Mate desktop environment. It was scoped for on-demand usage; so, purposely wasn’t included a section on how to integrate the server to boot along the operating system.