VNC on Mint 16
Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 9:32 pm
I have some difficulty with using VNC on Linux Mint 16. The standard desktop will not launch properly and fails to the fallback desktop when using DISPLAY :1 or :2 or any higher number.
This is awkward and hard to use.
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Context: I have used VNC on both Windows and Linux for many years. It is my preferred means of remote desktop and "cloud" style computing.
From 2003 to 2010 I used VNC with Red Hat, CentOS, and Kubuntu. I had no trouble with using display :1 or higher remotely.
In 2010 or 2011 I was forced to upgrade to Ubuntu 10 due to availability of a specialized library. For the first time, the preferred VNC display was :0 and attempting to use :1 or :2 resulted in program launch misbehaviors. I had to change out my GUI to resolve the problem.
My CentOS box (also KDE) continued to behave with VNC as I was accustomed.
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When I installed VNC on my MintBox (Mint 16 Petra, Cinnamon), I found that the virtual session would not start properly, and leaves me with the "fallback" desktop (not pretty, not really usable).
So my questions are these:
1) should I replace Cinnamon?
2) can I install a second GUI to use for displays other than :0?
3) will the upgrade to Mint 17 fix the problem with no further effort?
4) is the correct approach something different entirely?
Thanks!