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    HOWTO XDMCP for 18.04

    HOWTO and FAQ: XDMCP for 18.04 ESR

    Since I seem to be one of the few people who use it, even with all the "thin computing" this and should be taking place... Certain factions in the Linux arena seem to do their best to break, damage, and remove this as much as possible.

    So...

    First... the background.

    SDDM which is the new hotness window manager, is not so hot. It has no support for XDMCP... The KDE manager, KDM was assassinated recently for some reason!! (??)

    So that leaves LightDM as the last manager standing...

    The gotcha in 18.04 is there is NO KDE GREETER TO USE WITH LightDM! ! ! (Again removed why??)

    You will get half baked answers on how to do this which might work for the standard Debian and other related distros which are NOT USING KDE! When KDE comes into play, these solutions will leave you with NO X WINDOW DESKTOP!

    The usual result is a purple screen with "Failed to init session..." errors and there it dies...

    So the fix?

    You REQUIRE LightDM AND a GREETER! So how to ensure this happens?

    Code:
    sudo apt-get install lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-settings lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
    You may or may not need the "settings" packages.. I chose to add them just for completeness.

    Do this, and it will run dpkg-reconfigure as part of the setup, SELECT LightDM for your manager... and on you go...

    NEXT

    You have to create a file to enable XDMCP!

    Just like in 16.04, and 14.04...and the WRONG AND MISSING info on every search result is this:

    THIS FILE DOES NOT EXIST BY DEFAULT AND NEVER HAS EXISTED BY DEFAULT!

    Just do this:

    Code:
    cd /etc/lightdm/
    sudo nano lightdm.conf
    
    in the file paste:
    
    [XDMCPServer]
    enabled=true
    port=177
    Save the file and then you either need to

    1)
    Code:
    sudo systemctl restart lightdm
    OR

    2) Reboot

    Either will enable the XDMCP option...

    Then you can use your favorite X program to access... via LAN or SSH...

    Code:
    $ Xephyr -retro -screen 1368x768 :2 -query IP/host
    You can explore the exact options needed... retro is optional... I like it as it functions the way remote X should...

    And with that..

    BAM!

    you have remote access to your system!

    WARNING! DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT INSTALL LightDM via SYNAPTIC! ! ! ! ! ! ! It will attempt to bring in over 300MB worth of stuff that is NOT NEEDED! !!

    ! ! What ever the settings are in synaptic something is seriously wrong! It likely will also BREAK YOUR SYSTEM if you do it...DON'T DO IT! USE CLI apt-get!!!!

    The above works, and it brings in the above, and only the above...This was done one a FRESH INSTALL from USB stick, then updated to full latest releases including 4.15-049 kernel... Then the above was done... Works great...

    There is ONE BUG.. which is not releated LightDM, from what I am finding... When you login remotely you will get an error "Can not manage network connections..." This seems to be some issue with polkit Which I've not used in the past... The workaround right now is enter your sudo password for the box...

    BUT

    XDMCP works...

    #2
    I mean, it's your choice ...

    And I suppose you have your reasons, but then there's this Wiki

    And maybe Ubuntu is wrong.
    The next brick house on the left
    Intel i7 11th Gen | 16GB | 1TB | KDE Plasma 5.24.7 | Kubuntu 22.04.4 | 6.5.0-18-generic

    Comment


      #3
      Purge outdated info

      Originally posted by jglen490 View Post
      I mean, it's your choice ...

      And I suppose you have your reasons, but then there's this Wiki

      And maybe Ubuntu is wrong.
      That thing IS ANCIENT AND WRONG! its one of the pages that lists "edit lightdm.conf" WHICH DOESN'T EXIST TO START WITH!

      GDM has been borqd for XDMCP for at least 5-6 YEARS.

      99% of that thing is outdated and wrong.

      For KUbunutu and you want XDMCP you have NO CHOICE but LightDM...and follow what I posted.

      Comment


        #4
        Calm down ...

        It's open source, fix it yourself, make your own PPA, and get people to use it.

        So if it's not a security problem, then rebut the Wiki entry.

        Don't just bitch about it, that's the last thing that anyone wants to hear ...

        It's Linux, exercise your right to choose.
        The next brick house on the left
        Intel i7 11th Gen | 16GB | 1TB | KDE Plasma 5.24.7 | Kubuntu 22.04.4 | 6.5.0-18-generic

        Comment


          #5
          That thing IS ANCIENT AND WRONG! its one of the pages that lists "edit lightdm.conf" WHICH DOESN'T EXIST TO START WITH!
          https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LightDM#Configuration

          If you do not have an /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf, I believe that you just create one adding the desired variables. Also, one can be added to /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/, where it can contain just the specific variable you need, and named something like 'my_lightdmn_xdmcp_settings.conf' or whatever you want.

          Comment

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