[vox] Connecting to a 'headless' Windows box (Was re: OLPC XO ("$100 laptop") available to public)

[Jeff Newmiller]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007, Norm Matloff wrote:

>
> I am a frequent user of VNC.  I run the server on my Linux machine in my
> office, and connect to it remotely from public terminals running
> Windows, usually at the UCB libraries.
>
> I tried the server once on a Windows machine.  Installation is extremely
> easy.  However, I was very disappointed to find that it doesn't work the
> same way it does on Linux.  On the latter, one gets a virtual console
> which operates entirely independently of the physical one.  In other
> words, if user X is physically at the console and I log in using VNC, my
> virtual console is independent of what user X sees, and we don't
> interfere with each other.  In the Windows case, my virtual console was
> entirely in sync with the physical one, and what I did interfered
> completely with user X.  That would be fine for the "headless" Windows
> case being discussed in this thread, or for remote usage when there is
> no user X, but not otherwise.  Does anyone know anything about this?  We
> don't have users set up on the Windows box; is that the problem?

Windows is a multi-processing system, but is typically licensed as a
single-user OS... ergo, remote logins are reflected on the main console.

BTW: I regularly use Krdc (Remote Desktop) through a virtual private
network connection.  I don't think I would trust it over the open
internet.  Nor would I ever use a public terminal to log into my
home/office machine remotely... too much possibility of a keylogger.
I do occasionally pipe Krdc over ssh from my laptop.

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