Alternatives to NoMachine and x2go for remote virtual desktops
Posted by yzqx@reddit | linuxadmin | View on Reddit | 12 comments
I'm considering getting a few NoMachine Terminal licenses for a few servers in an academic research lab. Users connect to the servers to do CAD work (some of which are 3D), so each user needs their own virtual desktop. We're currently using x2go which in general has been OK for this purpose, but sometimes sessions crash or are somehow left in a state where the user cannot reconnect or parts of the screen won't refresh right, among other strange issues. We tried an evaluation of NoMachine Terminal and we were very impressed with the performance, even when connecting from half-way across the globe.
NoMachine is unfortunately a bit pricey, so before making the investment, I wanted to know other alternatives (free or paid) to NoMachine and x2go. The important requirement is to allow each remote user to have their own virtual desktop session simultaneously.
PublicCampaign5054@reddit
Time flies and things change. These days, it’s probably easier to just solve this with free HelpWire
khanh0707@reddit
You're doing great by exploring options. Keep it up.
ArtooDetoo89@reddit
http://xrdp.org
project2501a@reddit
https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/computing/connecting-linux-workstation-xpra
junialter@reddit
there is also a wayland edition https://github.com/wayland-transpositor/wprs
jmakov@reddit
dead link
waspbr@reddit
I know this is old. but I stumbled on this while looking for wayland alternatives to X2go.
If you are still running X11, I can recommend Xpra.
gurpal2000@reddit
what do recommend for wayland?
AppropriateYam249@reddit
Also using Wayland, what are you currently using ?
superbly_average@reddit
I’ve used FastX for a few years in an academic setting for users accessing research workstation: https://starnet.com/
parzzivale@reddit
I just tested fastx along with x2g and NoMachine
Learnings are 1) no machine is wicked easy to setup. Literally under 15 minutes. 1hr reading every single config knob. It is reasonably fast for productivity but I’m not sure it’s designed for 3d work 2) x2g has the worst latency artifacting of them all. Also took 4 hours to setup and basically they’re only compatible with a couple desktop envs (see their wiki). 100% no go for me even for slow paced remote text editing on wired lab (how I tested ) 3) fastx was wicked fast and honestly comparable to the ultra expensive nice dcv that Amazon uses for their remote workstations and all their got cloud envs. It also took me an hour to setup and given the html access to the desktop and how easy they make it for you to manage everything it’s honestly a no brainer. MIT does pay for education license so that weighs in favor but honestly I’d shell out like 300 bucks a year personally for it. Unsure of how much it costs.
The RDP implementation for Linux also has the huge advantage of being extremely well documented and easy to setup (5 minutes or so ) . I don’t think RDP was designed for 3d work but the east of end user experience and how much “it just works” is amazing. I will certain have this as backup.
Last learning: wayland is a piece of shit and should be banned from the earth. Unfortunately most of the time spent figuring shit out was debugging wayland + gnome issues.
spechter0@reddit
I don't understand the context of the RDP comments above. Does Fastx support RDP clients in some manner? Like tsc.exe from Windows?