These method work for user abc123 on a Mac running at least MacOS X10.3 from outside cam.ac.uk.

Using X graphics

• Start X11 subsystem (not always installed by default, but it’s on the installation discs of older Macs. For newer Macs you’ll need to install the free X Quartz package from the Apps store)
• Start xterm if not started already
• Type

  ssh -X abc123@gate.eng.cam.ac.uk
  

  (the ‘-X’ enables X11 forwarding so that graphics are relayed to your machine from gate. With newer versions of ssh you may need to use ‘-Y’ instead). Use your engineering password.

• Programs that you run from gate should now display their output on your mac. But gate has few of the programs you need, so from gate type

    ssh -X ts-access
  

  to get into a fully equipped machine You can’t run a complete remote desktop this way, only individual programs. As a test, try starting the gedit text editor by typing gedit.

• If you get error messages like

    Gdk-ERROR **: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
       serial 1260 error_code 3 request_code 38 minor_code 0
    Gdk-ERROR **: BadAccess (attempt to access private resource denied)
       serial 1261 error_code 10 request_code 102 minor_code 0
  

  then upgrade MacOS if you can.

Using VNC (with the “Chicken of the VNC” software)

• From your home machine (assuming you’re user abc123) type

    ssh abc123@gate.eng.cam.ac.uk
  

• From gate type

    ssh ts-access

• Before the first time you run the VNC server you need to set a password for VNC by typing

  vncpasswd
  

• To start the server type

  vncserver

  It will reply with something like

    New 'X' desktop is scimitar:4
  
    Starting applications specified in /users/s/abc123/.vnc/xstartup
    Log file is /users/s/abc123/.vnc/scimitar:4.log
  

• From your machine type

  ssh -N -f -L 5904:scimitar.eng.cam.ac.uk:5904  abc123@gate.eng.cam.ac.uk
  

  (it’s 5904 because the desktop is number 4)

• From your machine run Chicken of the VNC setting it up as follows, taking care to set the display correctly.
  • • Host: Localhost
    • Display: 4
    • Profile: Default Profile

   

• Click on Connect to get a desktop running on ts-access.

This should start a desktop much like the one used in the DPO, but desktop icons and taskbars are missing. When you’ve finished, run

vncserver -kill :4

on ts-access to stop the vncserver program.

When vncserver starts, it runs the commands in your ~/.vnc/xstartup file. You can customise this file as follows:

   unset SESSION_MANAGER
   unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
   gnome-session
   vncserver -kill $DISPLAY

Which should result in your VNC session running a Gnome session very similar to the one you see in the DPO – and should ensure that the VNC server (usually running on ts-access) is shut down when you exit the VNC client.

Starting Lab Sessions

Lab sessions are often started by clicking on the icon in the taskbar. If this isn’t available you can type start from a terminal window instead – you’ll be shown a list of options.

Copying Files

To copy a file called foo.cc from your home folder on your Mac to your CUED home folder, open a Terminal window and type

scp foo.cc abc123@gate.eng.cam.ac.uk:.

To copy a file called foo.cc from your CUED home folder to your home folder on your Mac, open a Terminal window and type

scp abc123@gate.eng.cam.ac.uk:foo.cc .