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I have some simulations that take a long time to run and my work has a very messed up collection of Exceed and Go Global window shares. (I would much much prefer to have a simple VNC instead). So sometimes I need to run things from Go Global and then I need to share the simulation with others. So right now I have to quit the simulation change the $DISPLAY to the Exceed display and restart the simulation. It would be nice if I could just dynamically send the simulation to a new $DISPLAY without restarting it.

It seems to me like this should be do-able but I wanted to ask the experts to see if it is possible and if anyone has done it before.

Jaleks
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stephenmm
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  • Why is this community wiki? Seems fairly straight forward -- the answer is "no, you can't." – David Mackintosh Aug 25 '09 at 02:11
  • It didn't seem clear to me when I should make it community wiki. I usually default to have things more open so I selected community wiki. I guess maybe my default should be the other way since I would like annswers to get rep pts. It still does not seem clear to me when you should select community wiki or not. If you would like to enlighten me I would be happy to learn something new. – stephenmm Aug 25 '09 at 15:22

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Another solution is xpra. This is screen for X application - you attach and detach X apps just like console ones.

Nowaker
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  • xpra is great. The project is at http://code.google.com/p/partiwm/wiki/xpra . If you need a binary for Windows or OS X, winswitch bundles it. http://winswitch.org/ – sciurus Mar 10 '11 at 03:30
  • winswitch uses [this fork of xpra](http://xpra.org) which is more up to date – totaam Jan 02 '12 at 09:12
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There is this program called xmove that in theory can do this. I haven't gotten it to work all that well, but you may have more luck.

Thomas
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  • We don't have xmove installed by default so I would probably want to have IT install it so that it was generally available and as they are so concerned with security (supposedly) I am not sure they would be cool with it but I can ask. – stephenmm Aug 24 '09 at 18:34
  • Interesting from the wikipage on xmove -- "It solves a problem in the design of X, where an X client (an X application) is tied to the X server (X display) it was started on for its lifetime." -- They consider it a problem (aka bug) ? – stephenmm Aug 24 '09 at 18:35
  • It probably wasn't part of the original design. – Bart Silverstrim Aug 24 '09 at 20:46
  • It's a problem, yes. I want to have "screen" for X apps. – Thomas Aug 24 '09 at 21:16
  • Remember, X wasn't designed as a core part of UNIX at the time. It just sort of...happened. – Bart Silverstrim Aug 25 '09 at 01:37
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    `xmove` has been discontinued. – Nowaker Mar 10 '11 at 01:08
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    xmove has not been updated in over a decade. I'd recommend looking at xpra instead. – sciurus Mar 10 '11 at 03:32
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I don't think I've ever seen this done except maybe in Plan 9; I think the displays are kind of bound to where it's currently running.

If you're running a console application you can run Screen as a utility, which lets you suspend the display (running in the background) then reconnect from another login later at another location.

I personally would look at running VNC server (which if you're running Ubuntu is in desktop sharing: system->preferences->remote desktop), just as you mentioned, and control your different access needs by connecting to your central workstation. I also would do this using SSH tunneling to encrypt the connection password, too.

Hopefully I understood your usage scenario...

Bart Silverstrim
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  • I think you got it. I would love to use VNC again but our corporate overloards forbid it in the name of security. I would like to debate that reasoning with them but unfortunately our company was aquired by them and therefore we are incapbable of reason. Not that I am bitter or anything... :) Thanks for the reply. Everyone has been telling me its not possible. Just hoping... – stephenmm Aug 24 '09 at 16:51
  • How can you use X then, since it's not encrypted unless you're using SSH to forward everything, in which case you can easily tunnel the VNC connection? – Bart Silverstrim Aug 24 '09 at 17:29
  • I am not sure how exceed or go global are working under the hood but I assume they establish a secure connection through which you can start an xsession. I do not know for sure what that connection is but I would assume it is basically SSH with something proprietary thrown in there so that they can charge money for it. – stephenmm Aug 24 '09 at 18:31