[Bio-Linux] x2go client on Mac

[Tim Booth]

Hi,

While up in Liverpool with Simon earlier this week, we had some issues
getting x2go client working properly on a MacBook running "Mountain
Lion", but in the end it seemed to work nicely.  In particular, it
appeared faster than the old FreeNX and was reliably disconnecting and
reconnecting sessions, which was reassuring.  I thought I'd share what
we found...

     1. Fullscreen wasn't working, and this seemed to be an issue with
        XQuartz rather than x2go. If you are seeing just a black screen,
        try disabling "root window" in XQuartz.
     2. Disable shared folders completely in x2go.  Leaving this on
        caused various problems including "key error" messages and
        sessions freezing.  It may well be possible to fix and make it
        work but you can always transfer your data via SFTP.
     3. We had problems with scrambled keymaps, so typing would result
        in garbage in an editor or terminal.  The solution seemed to be
        (a) enable "follow system keyboard layout" in xquartz and (b) in
        the top right corner of the MATE desktop, right-click the
        keyboard icon and under preferences remove all the unwanted
        input methods and layouts.
   ( ie, XQuartz on the Mac should be worrying about keyboard settings, not Linux )

Also, as Tony Travis pointed out, the default font sizes in MATE do not
look good when viewed in x2go.  It's hard for me to pick a good global
default, but you can easily set what works best for you under
System->Preferences->Appearance->Fonts.

If anyone else has issues with x2go, or tips to make it work better, I'd
be interested to hear.

Cheers,

TIM

-- 
Tim Booth <tbooth at ceh.ac.uk>
NERC Environmental Bioinformatics Centre 

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Maclean Bldg, Benson Lane
Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford, England
OX10 8BB 

http://nebc.nerc.ac.uk
+44 1491 69 2705

-- 
Tim Booth <tbooth at ceh.ac.uk>
NERC Environmental Bioinformatics Centre 

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Maclean Bldg, Benson Lane
Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford, England
OX10 8BB 

http://nebc.nerc.ac.uk
+44 1491 69 2705