renzhi

Last time, we have installed VNC server in Linux, along with a window manager, and connect to the server via a VNC client. What we got was a TWM. In this post, we are going to install a more modern WM, OpenBox.

In the Distribution Management of Linux Installer, in none of the categories can we see any other WM that we can choose from. But that’s ok, we going to install via apt-get on the command line.

Start up terminal emulator, run the command linuxchroot, then run:

apt-get install openbox

As we can see below, we are really at home with Debian Linux:

Let’s install also other utilities:

apt-get install obconf tint2 lxterminal feh


While you are in the mood of installing, you might as well install some text editors that you are familiar with, such as vim, zile, or emacs, because you are going to need it to do some works.

Now that the needed packages are installed, we need to do some configuration. In your clhroot terminal emulator, do:

cd /root/.vnc

Then open the file xstartup in a text editor, and change the contents to the followings:

#!/bin/sh
export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
openbox-session&

This tells VNC server that we want to have an OpenBox session. Now, go to /root/.config/openbox, and create a file autostart.sh, and enter the following contents:

feh --bg-center /root/dragon.jpg&
tint2&

You can specify all the applications that you want OpenBox to start up. Here, we only set the background picture, and start up tint2, the taskbar.

Since I’m also using OpenBox as the main window manager on my laptop, I also copy my menu.xml file to /root/.config/openbox directory.

OpenBox is now configured, let’s go back to Linux Installer, and restart VNC server (if it is currently running). Then go to Android VNC Viewer, and connect to the server, and here’s the OpenBox desktop, with an LXTerminal and the menu:

By looking at the screenshot, we would have thought that it is captured on a desktop computer.

It looks nice. However, using this on a touch screen device, with no mouse, and a reduced keyboard, is quite painful. The Android soft keyboard and input method are pretty useless. Therefore, if you don’t have a hardware keyboard, good luck with that.

The other way is to install a better VNC client. The open source Android VNC Viewer is quite rough. I installed PocketCloud VNC client, and with its virtual mouse clicks and soft keys, it worked better. The best combination is PocketCloud VNC client and the Hacker’s Keyboard.