Remote access to Wayland desktops under Fedora 29

Bird's Eye View

Lead Image © M Tomczak, fotolia.com

Lead Image © M Tomczak, fotolia.com

Article from Issue 223/2019
Author(s):

In Fedora 29, you can enable a VNC server on Wayland with a few mouse clicks, thus enabling remote desktop access.

On Linux, the X Window System (short X11) still draws the graphical user interface on the screen in most cases. Thanks to its integrated network functions, it can even transport program windows from remote computers onto the screen if required. This facilitates remote maintenance and simplifies thin client setup. While the computationally intensive application runs on a powerful computer, the user looks at the output on their local PC, which requires very little in terms of resources.

In Wayland, the newly-developed X11 successor, these neat network functions are missing in the plain vanilla version. Although Wayland is leaner and significantly more secure than X11, it lacks some proven functions. If you want to share your desktop on Wayland, you need separate remote desktop software.

Pimped Up

The lack of remote access in Wayland was a thorn in the Fedora team's side. While they used proven components and protocols to restore these missing network capabilities, they had to adapt or slightly modify existing software to meet their goal [1].

[...]

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