KDE won't run under tightvncserver

[jcoxen]

I'm trying to get tightvncserver to run on my home system. I want to be able to remote in from another location and see the KDE desktop. My home system is a fairly generic 64-bit install - aside from dual-screen I'm not doing anything fancy inside KDE.

I've installed tightvncserver and setup a startup script as follows:

#!/bin/sh -e

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: tightvncserver
# Required-Start: networking
# Default-Start: S
# Default-Stop: 0 6
### END INIT INFO

PATH="$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin/"

# The Username:Group that will run VNC
export USER="*****"
#${RUNAS}

# The display that VNC will use
DISPLAY="1"

# Color depth (between 8 and 32)
DEPTH="16"

# The Desktop geometry to use.
#GEOMETRY="x"
#GEOMETRY="800x600"
#GEOMETRY="1024x768"
#GEOMETRY="1280x1024"
GEOMETRY="1280x800"

# The name that the VNC Desktop will have.
NAME="homesys-vnc"

OPTIONS="-name ${NAME} -depth ${DEPTH} -geometry ${GEOMETRY} :${DISPLAY}"

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
start)
log_action_begin_msg "Starting tightvncserver for user '${USER}' on localhost:${DISPLAY}"
su ${USER} -c "/usr/bin/tightvncserver ${OPTIONS}"
;;

stop)
log_action_begin_msg "Stopping tightvncserver for user '${USER}' on localhost:${DISPLAY}"
su ${USER} -c "/usr/bin/tightvncserver -kill :${DISPLAY}"
;;

restart)
$0 stop
$0 start
;;

esac

exit 0

My ~/.vnc/xstartup file is:

#!/bin/sh

# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
xterm -geometry 80x24+50+50 -sb 1000 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP" &
startkde &

When I run the startup script the local log files contains:

01/02/12 14:51:39 Xvnc version TightVNC-1.3.9
01/02/12 14:51:39 Copyright (C) 2000-2007 TightVNC Group
01/02/12 14:51:39 Copyright (C) 1999 AT&T Laboratories Cambridge
01/02/12 14:51:39 All Rights Reserved.
01/02/12 14:51:39 See http://www.tightvnc.com/ for information on TightVNC
01/02/12 14:51:39 Desktop name 'homesys-vnc' (homesys:1)
01/02/12 14:51:39 Protocol versions supported: 3.3, 3.7, 3.8, 3.7t, 3.8t
01/02/12 14:51:39 Listening for VNC connections on TCP port 5901

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
        If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
        and start again.


Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.

 ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

And when I startup vncviewer on the remote machine I get a blank desktop with no window manager. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get KDE to work here?

Thanks,

John

[james147]

startkde &

Dose startkde want to be backgrounded? Don't know about vnc startup scripts but I know xsession scripts should not return until the user wants to log out (normally by waiting for the window manager or desktop environment to return).

[jcoxen]

I've tried it both ways and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

[james147]

What happens if you run the command manually? And what do you get if you echo the command in the script (remember to escape the quotes)?

[jcoxen]

I ran the vncserver command from the command line and the log output was exactly the same. I echoed the command in the script and it showed the following...

su ***** -c "/usr/bin/tightvncserver -name homesys-vnc -depth 16 -geometry 1280x800 :1"

[jcoxen]

OK, I figured some of it out with the help of this thread http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/XVNC_Server

I trimmed my ~/.vnc/xstartup file down to this

#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/kwin &
/usr/bin/startkde

and KDE started working...sort of. KDE starts up but then locks up partway through the init screen.

[perspectoff]

Personally I have always liked X11VNC better. I use it many times a day (and have for years) on many computers without a problem.

[jcoxen]

X11vnc worked. No muss, no fuss. Thank you very much for the suggestion.