Xserver Setup

From Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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What is a Xserver

  • Xserver is a method of accessing graphical applications on a remote Linux Machine from your local computer.
  • This requires an Xserver program to be installed locally on your computer.

Mac OS X

  • Download XQuartz at http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/
  • Install XQuartz and be sure to restart the computer after the installation is done.
  • Open XQuartz by going to Go->Utilities->XQuartz

  • Type in the following to connect to a remote server
ssh -X username@destination.server.edu
  • The -X after "ssh" tells the computer to connect using Xserver
  • username - is your username
  • destination.server.edu - the server you would like to connect too (example: biologin.igb.illinois.edu)

Windows with MobaXterm

  • MobaXTerm includes an xserver. This is the easiest method on a windows computer
  • Download and install MobaXterm from https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/
  • Open MobaXterm and select Start local terminal

  • Type in the following to connect to a remote server
ssh -X username@destination.server.edu
  • The -X after "ssh" tells the computer to connect using Xserver
  • username - is your username
  • destination.server.edu - the server you would like to connect too (example: biologin.igb.illinois.edu)

Linux

  • Most versions of Linux has a Xserver built in.
  • Open a terminal window
  • Type in the following to connect to a remote server
ssh -X username@destination.server.edu
  • The -X after "ssh" tells the computer to connect using Xserver
  • username - is your username
  • destination.server.edu - the server you would like to connect too (example: biologin.igb.illinois.edu)

Testing

  • A good test is to run the program xterm. Most hosts will have this installed. It will open up a graphical terminal window.
[username@hostname ~]$ xterm

References