[Atrix 4G General] salinmooch:
I recently got a lapdock fo $50 and am impressed with how usful it is, especially with webtop2sd and ubuntop. I essentailly use my atrix as my biking laptop (much lighter than my normal gear!)- I either hook it up to an extra monitor in my office or bring along the lapdock. I need to connect to a lot of other powerful computers for my work - usually this is via ssh, but I have fired up the citrix client a few times and rdesktop as well. For linux desktops I have used VNC, but have been stuck with either vinagre which is ok, but lacks some compression features for ease of use over slower connections, and vncviewer (xtightvncviewer) which is quicker, but does not do well in full screen (looses focus, a fix in xresources is possible but the xrdb is broken on my system - sigh). So I looked into NX as I have used it in the past and it offers everything vnc does with much better speed and usability.

I saw some posts on NX in webtop but not much followup so I thought I'd put my findings here in case someone else wnat to try this.

What you need is a webtop with apt-get working and the dependencies and repositories fixed. The easiest way to get this IMO is to install ubuntop.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1726916

On the server side you need a NX sever - I did not have much luck getting qtnx to work with the latest official NX server and I could not see a way to use the offical client on the webtop (since its not opensource). So I used freenx on ubuntu 12.04 but it should work from 9.10 onward.

On webtop:

Once you have apt-get working install qtnx and ssh (if you havn't already)

sudo apt-get install qtnx openssh-client

Make sure you can connect to the server machine. I open a port in my router and redirect to a workstation in my house .e.g. for a ssh on poer 2222:

ssh -p 2222 user@houseip.net

This will allow you to accept the new key (which stoped my qtnx from connecting - its not very smart).

On the server:

I essentially stole this from this article:

http://www.humans-enabled.com/2012/05/how-to-install-freenx-on-ubuntu-1204.html

who in turn got most of it from here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX

I'll put the instructions here for simplicity.

First install the freenx repository (9.10 or higher):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freenx-team

Then install the freenx server:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install freenx

Then install the nxsetup script which is missing from the ppa:

Grab the tarball:

wget https://bugs.launchpad.net/freenx-server/+bug/576359/+attachment/1378450/+files/nxsetup.tar.gz

untar:

tar -xvf nxsetup.tar.gz

copy:

sudo cp nxsetup /usr/lib/nx/nxsetup

Then we will run setup with the default nomachine keys so it works with qtnx:

sudo /usr/lib/nx/nxsetup --install --setup-nomachine-key

Now we need to edit the node.cfg so it starts up unity 2d instead of unity (which doesn't work well in NX). You can make it start your favorite WM here. Now use leafpad/gedit/vi to edit /etc/nxserver/node.conf and add these lines to the bottom:

#Use unity 2d for client sessions
gnome-session --session=ubuntu-2d

or run this command as root:

echo -e "\n#Use unity 2d for client sessions\nCOMMAND_START_GNOME='gnome-session --session=ubuntu-2d'"|sudo tee -a /etc/nxserver/node.conf

Now restart the freenx server:

sudo /etc/init.d/freenx-server restart

Now back to webtop

Open a terminal and start qtnx:

qtnx

This is so you can follow along for errors (and to enter yes if you have not previsous ssh to a machine)

In qtnx click configure. Create a session name (whaterver you like) put in the server name and the specific port number you used for your ssh server (or port forwarding from your router). Keep default ket checked. For desktop pick platform: UNIX, Type: GNOME, and LInk: (whatever you think will work for your connection - I usually can use LAN or WAN). For geometry I usually use full screen for my isital connect as the remote NX desktop seems to behave better (i.e. the top status bar will fill the whole screen). In the advanced tab "use ssh tunneling" should be checked. Hit ok to go back to the connection box.

Enter the username and password of the user you wish to connect as. Click connect. The first time you connect, the server will have to create a desktop so it may take a little longer. Hopfully you will eventually get a full screen desktop on your webtop.

Some tips:

To exit fullscreen do a ctrl+alt+shift+f do the same to go back to full screen.

Sometimes I find the unity-2d panel does not appear - its there - just click on the top left and it the bar will appear.

When you exit qtnx it will ask you if you want to end or disconnect. The former will kill the desktop the latter will create a persitent session you can reconnect to later.

I usually close qtnx completely after I disconnect or end a session and restart it when I need it again - it seems to seg fault if I don't.

Don't run an NX session with a user you are logged in to the server with already - firefox and other apps may complain

It is fast fast fast even remotely. It is a vast improvment over vnc and I'd say better than citrix. Hoefully this will help someone else.

Cheers!