Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Fonts and Screen Size in VNC

  • 04-05-2004 8:35am
    #1
    Red Alert
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 7,486 ✭✭✭


    Anybody tried using KWord or the like under VNC? I've a Slackware 9 server which i run my linux desktop on. I usually use MS Word so this problem only came to light by accident - when i open KWord, the actual characters all appear as little boxes. I'm guessing my VNC viewer on Windows isn't mapping the fonts correctly. I'm using the RealVNC version of the viewer and server, anybody got any idea?

    Also, is there any way of making openGL work over VNC? I haven't found any mention of it so i suppose not, and i can do remote-X if i have to, VNC is just a lot easier and quicker.

    Secondly, where does one change the config file to get 1024x768 display as opposed to the default which looks like 800x600. The WinXP machine is running at 1200x1024 so there should be plenty of room for a bigger unix desktop.


Comments

  • #2
    leeroybrown
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,563 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    VNC is based on a 'remote framebuffer' so all data is transmitted in pixel format using a combination of image compression techniques and other optimisations. As such the VNC client app shouldn't need to have any knowledge of the fonts on the server machine. Afaik they're just encoded into cached pixel symbols and referenced. Of course, it still doesn't explain the problems with them.

    Appending the geometry option should sort out the desktop size:
    vncserver -geometry 1024x768

    I generally use the TightVNC variant as it has been optimised for bandwidth usage.


  • #3
    Red Alert
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 7,486 ✭✭✭Red Alert


    sweet! i love my new desktop. if it's a remote framebuffer then that asks more questions than it answers, i'm guessing the 'fake' X-Server that VNC runs on the unix box isn't accessing the fonts. Would that sound possible?


  • #4
    ssh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 484 ✭✭ssh


    Yes, that's probably exactly what it is. You'll need to get the right fonts in the right place to ensure that this works. I can't remember the name of the font package in debian, but it was something like x-fonts-base. Does tightvnc work any better?

    Regarding OpenGL, technically, it might be possible, but an application doesn't write to the screen using pixels while using OpenGL. It emits opengl commands to the driver which in turn are translated into pixels by the device driver itself. Because the fake X server that vnc uses won't support this mode of operation, or any like it without specialised drivers, the result is just drawn as an empty box.

    The same applies to things like directshow, directdraw and direct3d in windows... hence you can't watch mpges in media player over vnc.


Advertisement