GUI Applications with x2Go (Legacy)

Note

x2go is considered a legacy option for CRNCH RG as we migrate to use Open OnDemand. We strongly encourage you to use VNC instead of x2go or test out Open OnDemand for your application.

Here we cover how to use x2go client on the CRNCH Rogues Gallery machines to access and manipulate GUI-based applications. As an alternative to using VNC, X2go is an open-source implementation of NoMachine or NX that requires fewer steps to setup and use.

How do I quickly get started using X2go on CRNCH resources?

As a baseline just to get started you need to do the following:

  1. Download an x2go client from the official webpage. Note that MacOS uses XQuartz to help render the GUI if you have not already installed it.
  2. Open the x2go client and put in the destination address you want to use with a GUI client. For our purposes, we will select flubber2.crnch.gatech.edu. We recommend using XFCE as the default window manager. Your login is your GT username and your password is your standard RG password.
  1. You may want to change the size of the GUI window and also turn off the sound (media tab - not shown here).
  1. If you are on not on campus VPN, you need to add the “proxy setting” for the X2go client to use rg-login.crnch.gatech.edu as your login or jump host proxy. Set the proxy to use the same login and password as the x2go server.
  1. Click OK to save your session, and then you will need to click on the seal icon to start your session. Enter your GT passport username and password. If successful, a new terminal will pop up.
  1. After 15-30 seconds you should see a default blue GUI background. You can then open a terminal to run GUI applications or click on the existing Desktop icons for Xilinx tools.

As an example, if you source the OneAPI tools environment script in a terminal (or have it sourced in your .bashrc) you can then launch the GUI version of vTune for profiling.

  1. When you are done with your session, go back to the main client windows and click the circle button marked “Terminate”. This will end your session rather than just pausing it. We reserve the right to end X2Go sessions if they are running longer than a day without any user interaction.

Troubleshooting

If you are having trouble copying and pasting from your local desktop to the x2go client session, try disabling the primary clipboard in the x2go client settings (Options–>Settings–>X.Org Server Settings–>Do not use primary clipboard). Make sure to fully restart your x2go client (kill via command-line, if needed) to see the change.

x2Go Installation

On Ubuntu, installation is relatively easy. You may want to install xfce-desktop if you have not already done so for VNC sessions.

sudo apt-get install xfce-desktop x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On Redhat 7 run the following:

sudo yum groupinstall xfce
sudo dnf install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

Redhat 8 requires the use of EPEL to get XFCE as an available desktop - see here.

//Install EPEL and XFCE
sudo dnf -y install epel-release
sudo dnf -y groupinstall Xfce
sudo dnf install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession