I am not sure if this should be here or Networking but I have a working ssh connection to the remote machine but am having real trouble getting a remote desktop working.
The remote machine in question is my HP=Z640-1 workstation which is running openSUSE Tumbleweed (TW) on KDE desktop with plasma Wayland display.
My local machine is a Lenovo W530 laptop, again with TW and KDE but I think X11 display using NVIDIA drivers.
I have wasted hours trying to get a remote desktop working using tigervnc so am asking for help and advice please using a remote desktop that might work?
You neither describe what you did nor what problems you observed, so it is rather difficult to comment.
KDE has native desktop sharing support, did you try it?
Otherwise you need to explain what you are trying to achieve. Sharing of the existing local session? Starting completely new independent remote session?
OK, good point and I apologise for detailing all that I had tried. In short I have been trying to access my workstation at home in UK while I am in NZ and had been too busy to set up vpn, let alone a remote desktop.
I now have a reasonably effective solution which in brief is:-
Tailscale network connections to required devices,
XRDP on remote machine (which runs KDE desktop on Wayland display,) so I have set up an X11 session on the remote machine to work with XRDP.
Remmina on local machine.
Why I had been calling for some advice was that I ran into real difficulty with the VNC + Wayland solution but I had been on a steep learning curve and probably made mistakes on the way.
Now I have a working solution I have the luxury of being able to ask my question again and would appreciate your advice on the “best” route for the future. In fact some of the remote machines do not run Wayland but are X11 only so what I have now is perhaps still OK. I am intrigued to know more about the KDE solution you mentioned so will research that now and thanks, I had no idea KRFB and KRDC existed.
Many thanks for the steer.
Budgie2
These may be of interest to you:
Hi Dean,
Many thanks for the links. I shall check these out but since I have the secure link with Tailscale I am also going to check out KRFB with vnc. My interest now to to minimize latency as the connections are a bit clunky given the distance and any benefit is worth pursuing.
Will report if there is anything worth telling.
Thanks again,
Budgie2
I replied as a response to your comment…
Hi,
I am still playing catch-up here so am sorry if I appeared ungrateful and thanks again. The links are appreciated and please forgive me if I seemed unappreciative.
I had been interrupted by some problems setting up the Tailscale network on my Leap 15.6 machines because the installation script fails. It works well on Tumbleweed but not yet on Leap 15.6. Trouble is I am trying to sort it out from my laptop while some 12,000 miles away.
@Budgie2 just ask @deano_ferrari to swing by for some hands on support… 
Sure, I’ll assist on my way home from work 
Hi Dean,
I’m in Hokitika, too long a drive I think but thanks for the thought!
Alastair.
@Budgie2 Ahh the West Coast, be just like home with the English weather 
Hi Dean,
I am trying to get KRDP to work. I have removed XRDP to avoid conflicts but I am working remotely from command line and I cannot get KRDP to run. I have tried restarting krdp and also full reboot but so far no luck. I have in ~/.config/krdprc I have:-
[RDP]
enabled=true
user=alastair
but I think I am missing something or there is a compatibility issue. I have the firewall with port open and opi codecs installed including h.264 drivers.
Please could you advise what I might have wrong and how I can connect using cli only.
You are right, just like weather at home in Scotland but slightly warmer and spring time whereas at home it was cold dark and wet.
I have no such configuration file. I just configured the remote desktop via System Settings > Networking > Remote Desktop
Are you referring to the openSUSE firewall? Can you share the current firewall configuration?
Ensure that the RDP server is enabled and that the required (remote login) username is configured. I use KWallet to store the credentials.
In an effort to assist, I used a Windows laptop and connected via a remote desktop without issue. I did get prompted about an expired security certificate (as I had that enabled in the KDE RDP server), but I just chose ‘Yes’ to connect anyway and it succeeded as expected. FWIW, I’m using Plasma Wayland to test with.
Are you staying clear of the midges? (Similar to those in Scotland?)
My daughter warned me but I think it is still too cold and we are only a mile from the beach so I am hoping they are not yet lurking and waiting to pounce.
Hi Dean,
A regret I still have a black remote screen. I have given up on KRDP because I could not get it to run and made X11 the default on the remote sceen. I have reverted to XRDP but still get a black screen. All and any help would be much appreciated.
Alastair.
The remote firewall is here:-
alastair@HP-Z640-1:~> sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
[sudo] password for root:
internal (default, active)
target: default
ingress-priority: 0
egress-priority: 0
icmp-block-inversion: no
interfaces: eno1
sources:
services: dhcpv6-client mdns nfs samba-client ssh
ports: 5901/tcp 3389/tcp
protocols:
forward: yes
masquerade: no
forward-ports:
source-ports:
icmp-blocks:
rich rules:
alastair@HP-Z640-1:~>
But, this had been working before so I doubt the problem is a fw issue.
the xrdp server is running:-
alastair@HP-Z640-1:~> sudo systemctl status xrdp
● xrdp.service - xrdp daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2024-11-01 01:55:26 GMT; 56min ago
Invocation: a6589508e6a54041ae179de091f71a55
Docs: man:xrdp(8)
man:xrdp.ini(5)
Main PID: 32571 (xrdp)
Tasks: 2 (limit: 76945)
CPU: 1.714s
CGroup: /system.slice/xrdp.service
├─32571 /usr/sbin/xrdp --nodaemon
└─33792 /usr/sbin/xrdp --nodaemon
Nov 01 01:55:26 HP-Z640-1 systemd[1]: Started xrdp daemon.
Nov 01 01:55:26 HP-Z640-1 (xrdp)[32571]: xrdp.service: Referenced but unset environment variable evaluates to>
lines 1-15/15 (END)
The username is saved in my Reminna client and I enter the pwd myself. I will get KeePassXC going when I have things working reliably.
I shall try a reboot again and see if I can observe any other issues which flash past.
All I can add is that if I reboot I get the lightbulb and gearwheel and then instead of finishing with my desktop I get a black screen.
I’m not using the xrdp.service at all. I only have the krdpserver daemon active (as configured via KDE Plasma).