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So I have a laptop, an older box, and one monitor. The former has some work stuff which is sensitive, I want to use the other one for anything web browsing etc. Both run linux (manjaro the first, pop-os/ubuntu20.04 the second).

I could switch display port (HDMI vs VGA) back and forth, but that is rather unpractical. Also, requires two mouses, two keyboards on my desk. So I thought I want to access the older box from the main one via some remote desktop.

I first tried vnc, but first it appears horribly laggish, but even more it requires me to boot directly into the user on the other machine, as I was not able to set it up as to be presented with the login screen first.

Are there other options? 20 years ago I remember using Xserver directly onto the remote box, but I am not sure if there are better options today?

transient_loop
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  • Are sure you don't just want to use a KVM switch? – raj Feb 08 '21 at 15:07
  • What's that? I would prefer not having to buy anything, and possibly nothing big. But if that is the best solution, I would consider. – transient_loop Feb 08 '21 at 15:09
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    It's a small box that allows you to use one monitor, keyboard and mouse with multiple computers. You usually switch from one computer to another with a specific key combination. There are small versions for only 2 computers or bigger for 4 or 6. – raj Feb 08 '21 at 15:11
  • some options: `ssh -X`, `vnc`, `x2go`, `rdp` – ctrl-alt-delor Feb 08 '21 at 15:13
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    see https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/626804/4778 – ctrl-alt-delor Feb 08 '21 at 15:15
  • Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It seems that due to my networking situation (and/or the nature of the protocols) neither vnc nor ssh Xforwarding are working performantly. Not sure if I want to try out x2go, looks like the last code update there was > 2 years ago. Maybe the switch is the best bet, I'll see what I'll be doing. Thank you again. – transient_loop Feb 09 '21 at 13:51

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