Virtual Network Computing (VNC)

What is vncviewer

vncviewer (virtual network computing) client allows one to interact with a remote computer’s graphical desktop environment. It’s run inside the docker.

vncviewer Setup

File Directory

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├── docker
│   ├── startup.sh
│   └── xstartup
├── docker-compose.yaml
├── Dockerfile
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
└── workspace

• In docker file:

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RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y software-properties-common && \
    add-apt-repository universe && \
    apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y tigervnc-standalone-server x11vnc && \
    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
RUN apt-get install tigervnc-standalone-server x11vnc -y
WORKDIR /root/.vnc
COPY ./docker/xstartup ./
RUN chmod u+x ~/.vnc/xstartup

# set up noVNC
WORKDIR /usr/lib
RUN git clone https://github.com/novnc/noVNC.git -o noVNC
WORKDIR /usr/lib/noVNC/utils
RUN git clone https://github.com/novnc/websockify.git -o websockify

WORKDIR /
COPY ./docker/startup.sh ./
RUN chmod u+x startup.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["./startup.sh"]

• In docker/startup.sh, we set vnc server, start it, and start noVNC, a VNC client.

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#!/bin/sh
# set vnc passworld
x11vnc -storepasswd $VNC_PW ~/.vnc/passwd
# start vncserver
vncserver :1 -localhost no -geometry=$VNC_GEOMETRY -depth=$VNC_DEPTH
# start noVNC
./usr/lib/noVNC/utils/novnc_proxy --vnc localhost:5901
tail -f /dev/null

• In docker/xstartup

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#!/bin/sh
unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
export GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
export QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
export XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
/* export LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 */
/* fcitx -r */

# disable screen blanking
xset s off
xset s noblank

startxfce4

• In docker-compose.yaml:

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version: '3.4'
services:
  sad-workspace:  # single docker service
    environment:
      - VNC_PW=abc123
      - VNC_GEOMETRY=1920x1080
      - VNC_DEPTH=24
    build:
      context: .
    image: deep-blue-slam-rico
    volumes:
      - ./workspace:/root/workspace 
    ports:
      - 46080:6080
      - 45901:5901

Then, do docker compose up -d, the docker service sad-workspace is run in the background. To see the desktop,

• go to localhost:46080, click vnc.html
• put in the password abc123, hit connect
• then, voila

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