I wrote in my last post about how I got SSH working on my Pi allowing me to connect remotely and run command line tasks on the Raspberry Pi.
The next step was to set up a means of running a remote desktop session from another PC, running any mainstream operating system be it Windows, Mac or Linux. This is best done using Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocol.
There are many tutorials out there with instructions on how to install various VNC packages on the Pi’s Debian-based operating system. Most seem to favour TightVNC as the package for the Pi.
I chose the instructions on the Penguin Tutor site - but I could equally have chosen those on the Adafruit site as both seem to be equally popular in terms of people recommending them.
Getting your system configured should be a simple case of following the instructions (carefully) and it will work. I had some problems getting my Windows 7 laptop seeing the VNC client on my Pi but I think that was because I wasn’t careful in checking each step I followed.
Anyway, now have TightVNC installed on my Pi (per the Penguin Tutor instructions) and loading each time it boots up. I haven’t gone as far as securing access, as at present I am just running it on my own local home network. It was when I started securing it that problems arose for me – but I am sure they were of my own making.
I’m also using VNCViewer (as recommended on the Adafruit tutorial) as my Windows client rather than the one recommended in the Penguin tutorial.
But the end result is that I am sitting now, at my Windows laptop, connected via VNC to my Raspberry Pi, using the Midori browser on the Pi to connect to my blog and write this post.
With VNC and SSH now up and running, I could in theory remove the Pi’s mouse, keyboard and monitor and use it entirely remotely.