Topic: How To
I've been using the nifty x2x proram to let me use a single keyboard and mouse with all the machines I have around. I have my main dual monitor Debian system in the middle of my desk, with a third monitor attached to a different Debian server to the left and sometimes a fourth system to the right.
With this setup, I can just use the same mouse and keyboard on all these machines (and potentially more) just by moving my mouse off the edge of one monitor to the adjacent one.
Basically, to use x2x to my other Debian machine (192.168.1.27) I just set up one machine to allow X11 access (on port 6000) to my main machine (192.168.1.28):
192.168.1.27> xhost +192.168.1.28and then on the main machine run the command:
192.168.1.28> x2x -to 192.168.1.27 -west &I also had to reenable listening to TCP. Since I'm using Gnome, this setting was in /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf and set the DisallowTCP setting to false. If I hadn't been using Gnome, I would have changed the line in /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc from:
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcpto:
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100
For machines running KDM, you also need to hunt down the -nolisten tcp option in /etc/kde3/kdm/Xservers.
When trying to enable this on a Redhat ES machine, I tried all the usual things, but had no end of problems getting the Redhat X11 server to listen. Finally I found Redhat's firewall configuration program lokkit buried in /usr/sbin and enabled port 6000, and I was finally good to go. If lokkit is anywhere in Redhat's system menus, I certainly couldn't find it. (Incedentally, I don't know why the dumbasses at Redhat can't ever put /sbin or /usr/sbin in root's PATH. You're not using root unless you NEED to use the utilities in /sbin or /usr/sbin anyway. And why the hell can't they give you a modern Vi?)
The lesson? Redhat sucks. Oh what a surprise.