How to setup VNC on your Pine64 (Debian, SSH, headless)

[pine64nutz]

Since I couldn't find any info here about this I was thinking to write a little tutorial, maybe it going to help.

I got my Pine64 recently and I don't have any display or keyboard available so the only way to get desktop environment was over VNC (or RDP). This tutorial is for Debian 8 Jessie with MATE and how to VNC.

How to VNC

1: login into terminal via SSH

2: update server packages

Code:

sudo apt-get update

3: install vnc4server 

Code:

apt-get install vnc4server

4: create a password for your vnc server

Code:

vnc4passwd

5: setup the xstartup script to get mate environment on VNC

Code:

sudo nano ~/.vnc/xstartup

 
 overwrite with this code

Code:

#!/bin/sh

# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
# unset SESSION_MANAGER
# exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
-terminal-emulator -geometry 80x20+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
mate-session &
mate-panel &

6: start the vnc server with vnc4server -geometry <resolution> -depth <16,24 whatever depth you want>

Code:

vnc4server -geometry 800x600 -depth 24

 
 you should get a message like this

Code:

New '<hostname>:1 (<your_username>)' desktop is <hostname>:1

Starting applications specified in /home/<your_username>/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/<your_username>/.vnc/hostname:1.log

this means that a VNC server has started on your at port :1 (5901) if it said :2 in means port 5902 and so on...
user a VNC viewer (Real VNC, Ultra VNC) to login to your VNC server, usually is <your_local_ip>:5901 

If you get only a grey screen change the permissions on xstartup file

first stop the server 

Code:

vnc4server -kill :1

then

Code:

sudo chmod 755 xstartup

start the server again

Update #1
How to run VNC server as a service automatically

make sure you kill the server first

Code:

vnc4server -kill :1

make a new script where you can setup the VNC server

Code:

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/vncserver

paste the code bellow (here you can put your desired resolution and depth)

Code:

#!/bin/bash
PATH="$PATH:/usr/bin/"
DISPLAY="1"
DEPTH="24"
GEOMETRY="1024x768"
OPTIONS="-depth ${DEPTH} -geometry ${GEOMETRY} :${DISPLAY}"

case "$1" in
start)
/usr/bin/vnc4server ${OPTIONS}
;;

stop)
/usr/bin/vnc4server -kill :${DISPLAY}
;;

restart)
$0 stop
$0 start
;;
esac
exit 0

save the file and make it executable

Code:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/vncserver

now make a unit file, that will describe the service and tell the server how to work with the service

Code:

sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/vncserver.service

paste the code bellow (make sure to put your user under User=)

Code:

[Unit]
Description=Manage VNC Server

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/vncserver start
ExecStop=/usr/local/bin/vncserver stop
ExecReload=/usr/local/bin/vncserver restart
User=pine64user

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

reload systemctl and enable VNC server

Code:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable vncserver.service

reboot and see if it's works

Coming next: connect to VNC server over SSH.
Have fun!