XFCE running on Camelot 🎉 🎉 🎉

Chapters:

Networking

🎉 Confirmed — that’s XFCE running on Camelot, viewed from Frodo over TigerVNC.

That beautiful foresty bridge background? That's the Fedora XFCE default wallpaper — which means:

✅ VNC server is up
✅ XFCE desktop is functioning
✅ Port 5901 is open and reachable
✅ Your .xstartup is working
✅ The whole pipeline: CLI → X → VNC → Viewer — is verified end-to-end

You’ve successfully bridged Frodo ↔ Camelot graphically. Well played.

It's only good if you can toggle back and forth

💚 Glorious blink confirmed — Camelot lives again!

You've now got a clean, elegant way to switch display modes with:

./display-mode.sh graphical   # 🖥️ Local monitor mode
./display-mode.sh headless    # 🛰️ VNC-friendly mode

And it even sweeps the floor after itself. If you’d like a status check or desktop environment auto-detection (GNOME, XFCE, etc.), just say the word.

For now: Camelot is back on the big screen.
Onward, brave rider of the transport layers! 🛡️

🧭 Optional Next Steps

If and when you're ready:

1. Systemd-based VNC (non-deprecated)

Instead of running vncserver :1 manually:

Enable a vncserver@1.service unit
Starts at boot
Manages session lifecycle cleanly

Let me know if you want a one-liner or walkthrough for that.

2. Security hardening

VNC by default is not encrypted
Options:
- SSH tunnel (easy, scriptable)
- TLS mode via TigerVNC (advanced)
- Or just stay on 10.20.30.x and keep it LAN-only — safe enough for home

3. Display resizing, clipboard sharing, etc

XFCE + TigerVNC supports:

Dynamic resolution (if client supports)
Clipboard integration
Per-user theming

Perfect — let’s tighten up your TigerVNC setup so it's easy to start, and cover those bonus questions:

✅ Goal Recap: Frodo → Camelot via TigerVNC

You already have:

vncserver :1 working on Camelot
XFCE GUI appears via vncviewer from Frodo

Let’s make this easier to restart, and answer your questions.

🛠️ Easy Start Option (Without systemd autostart)

You don’t need it to launch on boot, but you do want this to be fast.

📁 1. Create a wrapper script on Camelot

Example: ~/start-vnc.sh

#!/bin/bash
vncserver -kill :1 2>/dev/null
vncserver :1

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/start-vnc.sh

Now you can just:

~/start-vnc.sh

From Camelot via SSH, or from Frodo:

ssh tux@camelot '~/start-vnc.sh'

Boom — VNC ready.

🔄 Firefox Won't Launch? Yes, It's “a Thing”

If you try to launch Firefox in more than one session, and it's already running somewhere else (like on tty0 or another VNC/X session), it often does this:

Firefox is already running but is not responding...

That’s normal for Firefox — it locks its profile directory.

🧩 Solutions:

✅ 1. Use `--new-instance`

firefox --no-remote --new-instance -P vnc

…but you first need to create that “vnc” profile with:

firefox -CreateProfile vnc

That avoids shared profile lock issues.

✅ 2. Use a different browser (like you're doing with Brave)

Easiest. Brave or Chromium doesn’t profile-lock in the same way. You're totally fine to use this workaround.

❓What else is VNC used for?

VNC = remote GUI access for:

Use Case	Notes
Headless servers	Like Camelot — no monitor but full GUI access
GUI software that doesn’t run well over SSH	gparted, virt-manager, graphical debuggers
Teaching / demo systems	Like desktop sharing, but on your terms
Sysadmin tasks	XFCE tools, firewall GUI, etc.
Kiosk machines / wall displays	Remotely manage digital signage UIs
Containers with GUIs	VNC lets you expose container desktops to the host

🎥 Is VNC Related to Desktop Sharing in Linux?

Yes — but older school and more flexible.

GNOME and KDE have built-in “Screen Sharing” tools (based on VNC protocol under the hood)
But those often share your logged-in session, not an isolated one
What you’re doing (TigerVNC) is more like running a second full session in parallel

You could call it:

“Desktop sharing for people who actually admin desktops.”

Let me know if you want to:

Clean up /tmp/.vnc session clutter
Try clipboard sharing or dynamic resolution
Move to multi-user VNC sessions

Or just keep it simple and clean. You're in a strong spot.

In search of the Camelot Desktop

Absolutely. Let’s retrace your footsteps to the Scene of Camelot, and rebuild a clear picture of your display sessions and tools across this VNC/RDP landscape.

🧭 Step-by-Step: Rediscover the Scene of Camelot (from Frodo)

We’ll identify what’s running, what kind of session you’re connecting to, and how to get back in cleanly.

1. 🕵️‍♂️ What display servers are active on Camelot?

From Frodo, SSH into Camelot:

ssh camelot

Then check for active VNC sessions:

vncserver -list

[CML] tux@camelot …/home/tux $ vncserver -list
WARNING: vncserver has been replaced by a systemd unit and is now considered deprecated and removed in upstream.
Please read /usr/share/doc/tigervnc/HOWTO.md for more information.
TigerVNC server sessions:
X DISPLAY #	PROCESS ID
:1		750097

Or manually check running processes:

ps aux | grep -E 'Xtightvnc|Xvnc|Xorg|xrdp|vncserver' | grep -v grep

You might see something like:

vncuser   1543  ... Xtightvnc :1 ...
root      1202  ... xrdp-sesman ...

[CML] tux@camelot …/home/tux $ ps aux | grep -E 'Xtightvnc|Xvnc|Xorg|xrdp|vncserver' | grep -v grep
root      707857  0.0  0.0  10708  4868 ?        Ss   Jan31   0:00 /usr/bin/xrdp-sesman --nodaemon
xrdp      707858  0.0  0.0  22052 10896 ?        Ss   Jan31   0:00 /usr/bin/xrdp --nodaemon
tux       750097  0.0  0.4 1180300 64984 ?       Sl   Feb01   0:00 /usr/bin/Xvnc :1 -auth /home/tux/.Xauthority -desktop camelot:1 (tux) -fp catalogue:/etc/X11/fontpath.d -geometry 1024x768 -pn -rfbauth /home/tux/.vnc/passwd -rfbport 5901

That means both a VNC session :1 and an old xRDP service might be running.

2. 🧼 Clean Up (Optional Reset)

Perfect—thanks for sharing that output. You’ve absolutely been to Camelot, and here’s the forensic reconstruction based on what’s running:

🧩 Current Camelot Display Scene

🖥️ 1. VNC is Active ✅

/usr/bin/Xvnc :1 ...

User: tux
Display: :1
Geometry: 1024x768
Port: 5901
Status: ✅ Active and working

This means a real VNC server is live on Camelot, directly running under tux. This is the clean, non-RDP, classic VNC setup.

🪞 2. xRDP is also running ⚠️ (but unused)

/usr/bin/xrdp
/usr/bin/xrdp-sesman

These are RDP listeners.
They can spawn VNC-backed sessions under the hood, but they're often minimal and janky (as you noted).
These may have been left running from an earlier test.

Recommendation: If you’re done with RDP entirely, you can disable it:

sudo systemctl disable --now xrdp

🧭 What You Should Do Now from Frodo

Use the clean VNC path that connects to what’s already running:

vncviewer 10.20.30.1:1

I'm getting the black screen again that says push F8 on TigerVNC viewer. We solved that yesterday!!!!!!!

🛑 Optional: Retire RDP for Good

If you never want to see that xRDP blue login again:

sudo systemctl stop xrdp xrdp-sesman
sudo systemctl disable xrdp xrdp-sesman

This will:

Prevent future session conflicts
Clean up startup time and logs
Make your docs match reality again 🫡

🗃️ Suggested Doc Snippet (for your records)

2026-02-01 – Final Working Display Stack:

- Active: VNC (Xvnc :1 as tux)
- Access from Frodo: `vncviewer 10.20.30.1:1`
- Deprecated: xRDP stack (xrdp, xrdp-sesman)
- Notes: RDP no longer used. Clean Fedora desktop served via native VNC.

Let me know if you want to create a “reset-to-clean” script for Camelot that shuts down all display services and just launches VNC for tux.

Back to your regularily scheduled list....

3. 📦 Pick Your Display Type

Now, re-activate a proper VNC session.

✅ Preferred: Vanilla VNC on Fedora

From your vncuser:

vncserver :1

Make sure your ~/.vnc/xstartup contains:

# On Camelot (as tux)
echo '#!/bin/sh
unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
exec startxfce4 &' > ~/.vnc/xstartup

chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
vncserver -kill :1
vncserver :1

Then:

chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup

4. 🖥️ Connect from Frodo

On Frodo:

vncviewer 10.20.30.1:1

You should see your full Fedora XFCE desktop. 🎉

I'm getting the black screen again that says push F8 on TigerVNC viewer. We solved that yesterday!!!!!!!

Yes—you are absolutely right. Yesterday (and prior), you deliberately rendered Camelot headless by:

Running: sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target
Disabling the display manager (or just never fixing the greeter)
Running XFCE via VNC only (vncserver :1)
Avoiding X.org on :0 because it was too messy / slow / unpredictable

That worked because you were doing:
✅ Remote terminal work
✅ File sharing
✅ VNC-only desktop (clean, no frills)

But now...

🧑‍🎨 You want the Camelot screen back because:

🧠 You're running Visual Studio or something GUI-intensive locally.

So: it’s time to undo the headless mode and bring Camelot's display back to life.

[CML] tux@camelot …/tux/sh0re $ ll
total 8
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 tux tux 303 Feb  2 21:50 display-toggle.sh
drwxr-xr-x. 2 tux tux  24 Feb  1 13:24 rescue-desk
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 tux tux 187 Feb  2 21:45 setvnc.sh
[CML] tux@camelot …/tux/sh0re $ vi display-toggle.sh
[CML] tux@camelot …/tux/sh0re $ sh display-toggle.sh 
🔁 Switching to graphical (local) display...

🧭 TL;DR: To Get to Camelot From Frodo (Today)

ssh camelot
vncserver -list                  # See what’s running
vncserver :1                     # Start one if needed

# Then from Frodo
vncviewer 10.20.30.1:1

—for the record and for the Camelot Chronicles.

🖥️ What Do You Call This Display Connection?

You're accessing Camelot’s graphical desktop remotely via VNC. So, you can refer to it as:

✨ “Camelot: VNC Remote Desktop Session”

Or more technically:

VNC session on Camelot (:1)
XFCE desktop over TigerVNC
Remote GUI via VNC on port 5901
Headless GUI on Camelot, displayed from Frodo

If you’re keeping notes or labeling saved connections:

Camelot VNC – XFCE Desktop (display :1)

You can also label it in your .vnc or vncviewer config as:

[camelot-vnc]
address=10.20.30.1:1
name=Camelot XFCE

🌱 What Is XFCE?

XFCE (pronounced “eks-eff-see-ee”) is:

A lightweight, fast, and modular desktop environment for Unix-like systems.

🤓 In other words:

It’s the thing that draws your desktop: panels, windows, icons, menus
It’s an alternative to GNOME or KDE
It’s known for being:
- 💨 Lightweight (good for VMs and old boxes)
- 🧩 Modular (you can swap out parts)
- 🧘‍♂️ Stable and simple

🧰 XFCE Components You’re Using:

xfwm4: The window manager (move/resize windows)
xfce4-panel: The taskbar / menu bar
xfdesktop: Manages background, right-click menu
Thunar: The file manager

You’re seeing all of this because Camelot starts XFCE inside your VNC session.

🧾 So the Full Scene Right Now:

Frodo is running vncviewer 10.20.30.1:1
This connects to Camelot, which has a TigerVNC session running
That VNC session (:1) is running the XFCE desktop
It’s not the same as Camelot’s physical display (:0), unless you toggled graphical.target
And it's exactly the setup that lets you manage Camelot from the couch, cleanly and quietly

Let me know if you want to rename Camelot’s xstartup or VNC logs to reflect this properly too!

TigerVNC

XFCE running on Camelot 🎉 🎉 🎉

🧭 Optional Next Steps

1. Systemd-based VNC (non-deprecated)

2. Security hardening

3. Display resizing, clipboard sharing, etc

✅ Goal Recap: Frodo → Camelot via TigerVNC

🛠️ Easy Start Option (Without systemd autostart)

📁 1. Create a wrapper script on Camelot

🔄 Firefox Won't Launch? Yes, It's “a Thing”

🧩 Solutions:

✅ 1. Use --new-instance

✅ 2. Use a different browser (like you're doing with Brave)

❓What else is VNC used for?

🎥 Is VNC Related to Desktop Sharing in Linux?

In search of the Camelot Desktop

🧭 Step-by-Step: Rediscover the Scene of Camelot (from Frodo)

1. 🕵️‍♂️ What display servers are active on Camelot?

2. 🧼 Clean Up (Optional Reset)

🧩 Current Camelot Display Scene

🖥️ 1. VNC is Active ✅

🪞 2. xRDP is also running ⚠️ (but unused)

🧭 What You Should Do Now from Frodo

I'm getting the black screen again that says push F8 on TigerVNC viewer. We solved that yesterday!!!!!!!

🛑 Optional: Retire RDP for Good

🗃️ Suggested Doc Snippet (for your records)

Back to your regularily scheduled list....

3. 📦 Pick Your Display Type

✅ Preferred: Vanilla VNC on Fedora

4. 🖥️ Connect from Frodo

🧑‍🎨 You want the Camelot screen back because:

🧭 TL;DR: To Get to Camelot From Frodo (Today)

🖥️ What Do You Call This Display Connection?

✨ “Camelot: VNC Remote Desktop Session”

🌱 What Is XFCE?

🤓 In other words:

🧰 XFCE Components You’re Using:

🧾 So the Full Scene Right Now:

✅ 1. Use `--new-instance`