VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing and is a freeware remote control app, similar to pcAnywhere.
With versions for MS Windows and Linux, this great little graphical app lets you take over another machine's desktop just as if you were connected to it through keyboard, mouse and monitor.
Essential equipment in any NetAdmin's toolkit, I reckon.
Download vnc-4_1_1-1.i386.rpm (or the current version) from RealVNC.com. To install the Linux RPM, change to the download directory and type:
rpm -ivh vnc-4_1_1-1.i386.rpm (change filename/version as appropriate)
You can control MS Windows from Linux and Linux from Windows, although the latter is a bit crap and I'd sooner use SSH. It's dead cool seeing a Windows er, window sitting on the KDE desktop, being run from Linux. The VNC Server allows control from other machines and the VNC Viewer does the controlling.
To run the viewer from linux, open a command shell from within X-Windows and type:
vncviewer hostname
where hostname refers to the name (or IP Address) of the computer to be controlled. VNC can even be run as a service, allowing remote control at any time.
- A.
