VNC hostname

Forum: Networking
Topic: VNC hostname
started by: Patrick

Posted by Patrick on Sep. 22 2005,13:31

I run vncviewer on a Windows-PC and want to connect to the vncserver on my DSL-stick. (if i use ip-address it allways works, but i want to use the hostname of the machine) I changed the hostname of my DSL-pc to "Patrick" (boot-options DSL 1.5) but vnc can't find it (it can however find BOX). What's the deal?

Just curious :-)

PS: i am now able to remotely take over a MS-box and from a MS-box remotely take over the DSL-box :-)

Posted by cbagger01 on Sep. 23 2005,04:48

You will be unable to use the hostname as your address unless your local network's DNS server knows of this name. If you have a home network, you probably don't even have a DNS server.

Anyways, an alternative is to set up your DSL computer with a static IP address and then manually add the hostname to your local Windows computer.

For Windows 2000/XP, the host file is located at:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

or

C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Edit it with notepad or wordpad and add it to the list. For example, you might have mydslcomputer located at 192.168.1.4 so you add

192.168.1.4 mydslcomputer

to the bottom of the file and then save it.

Posted by samsocal on Oct. 27 2005,05:17

1. how did you change the name of your linux box? i'm running dsl 1.5 and no matter what i try it seems to keep the name box.

2. i also remember seeing someplace to reduce the number of workspaces but now i can't find it again.

3. i'm interested in how dsl 2.0rc compares to 1.5. is it worth taking the time to upgrade? any glaring bugs?

thanks,
samsocal

Posted by newOldUser on Oct. 27 2005,11:59

cbagger01,
If it's a DNS problem, why is Patrick able to find the machine when he uses BOX. I was thinking the same thing you were but why can he find BOX?

samsocal,
When you boot dsl there are parms you can include. One of them is host=xxxxxxx. If you boot with DSL host=dsl4me then that's what your machine will be called. Search the forum for host= to get a better explanation.

Also.... once you're booted you can reduce workspaces from the menu. Right-click the desktop....Desktop....Workspaces....RemoveLast. You should be able to change the number of workspaces in one of the config files so it's that way all the time. I'll let one of the smarter guys answer that one.

Good luck

Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Oct. 27 2005,16:26

To keep the changes permanent, go to /home/dsl/.fluxbox/init and change

session.screen0.workspaces: 4
to
session.screen0.workspaces: 1 (if you want 1 workspace)

This file should be backed up by default.

I haven't used 2.0 yet. I am waiting for others to work through the upgrade problems.

Good Luck,

Posted by cbagger01 on Oct. 27 2005,17:08

Good Point. Maybe BOX was somehow registered with an external DNS server, or maybe the router DOES do DNS and uses the computer name that was returned during the DHCP handshake to enter into the DNS table. Then maybe the DSL computer renaming cheatcode processing happens after the DHCP request is already sent in?

I dunno. I'm just grasping at straws here.

However, if the target machine's IP address is static (does not change), you can skip the whole DNS problem by simply following my advice above.

Posted by samsocal on Oct. 28 2005,03:24

Thanks Fuzzy and newOld,
1.I never even knew that the /home/dsl/.fluxbox folder existed. It's not visible in Emelfm for some reason but I was able to chdir there and now I can see the init file.
2.As for the host name, I am running from my hard drive and I changed the /boot/grub/menu.lst file to add host=boo. I also changed the /etc/hosts and /etc/mailname to use boo. However it still comes up as host=box. When I boot from the LiveCD and specify host=boo, the host name is changed.
3.Another thing I'm investigating now is how to get DSL to use the Linux Swap partition that I created at hda5. I'm booting from hda1.
samsocal

Posted by newOldUser on Oct. 28 2005,11:07

Hostname stuff...
There was a good post by Henk1955 a while back (maybe a year now) that had some info. A post I found quickly was this one < Post on Hostname change > It's old and may be out of date for the newer versions of DSL.

Not seeing files in Emelfm...
You can't see the files in emelfm because they are hidden. Click on the "H" button below the word Bookmarks at the top of the emelfm screen. The "H" button toggles the viewing of Hidden files.

Swap partition...
As far as I know if you set up a partition and initialize it (mkswap or something like that....) DSL will find it on boot up, auto-magically.

Search the forum. I know there a plenty of messages about it. Make sure you search From the Beginning and connect multiple word searches with "AND"

good luck.