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!

[kiltman]

Thank you for this post.   
It was very usefull for me.

Could you please add information about getting VNC automatically at startup?

[pine64nutz]

Thank you for this post.   
It was very usefull for me.

Could you please add information about getting VNC automatically at startup?

Updated. Enjoy!

[ibhoopin]

Are you a part of the Reddit Pine64 sub?  If not, would you mind if I share your instructions?  I feel like this would be a valuable post there.

[pine64nutz]

Are you a part of the Reddit Pine64 sub?  If not, would you mind if I share your instructions?  I feel like this would be a valuable post there.

I am not part of Pine64 sub, you can go ahead and share it.

[pelgrim]

hi

this didn't work for me.
Can you tell me what information or command results I can post to diagnose the problem ?

I preformed the procedure under:
Update #1

How to run VNC server as a service automatically


I run the Ubuntu image provided on this forum and installed LXDE (not Mate).
Manual start of VNC works.

[pine64nutz]

hi

this didn't work for me.
Can you tell me what information or command results I can post to diagnose the problem ?

I preformed the procedure under:
Update #1

How to run VNC server as a service automatically


I run the Ubuntu image provided on this forum and installed LXDE (not Mate).
Manual start of VNC works.

This tutorial is for Debian, for Ubuntu it's a different set of settings. You need to build a startup script in /etc/init.d/  and update the boot startup update-rc.d  in order to make it work. Haven't tried Ubuntu yet so I can't tell you for sure all the steps.

[pelgrim]

Guess I forgot to report here, the matter was solved back then.

All I had to do was:
sudo apt-get install x11vnc
run gnome-session-properties
add: x11vnc -forever

[hahn]

Thanks! I've tried that on ubuntu 3.10.101-4-pine64-longsleep aarch64 and it worked. only change I made is user name.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

3: install vnc4server 

Code:

apt-get install vnc4server

Thank you, pine64nutz !
I was not aware of vnc4server...  I have been trying (depserately) to get tightvncserver running on debian from the repos, and tightvncserver is (supposed) to work like vnc4server, but is seriously broken on debian; at least from the respos.
Anyway, vnc4server (Xvnc4) works great !,  again, thank you.
There is a baby bug if attaching from the mac (screen sharing) client. If the mouse cursor is 'inside' the xterminal frame then typing into the terminal will lock the interface !  Closing the vncviewer session and starting over unlocks...  so, the mouse cursor must be riding at the top of the terminal window but not resting inside it !

edit: PS I have only had the locking issue using twm (tiny window manager).

My gnu+linux vncviewer clients worked fine with Xvnc4 (vnc4server) as did the ssh tunnel and encrypted channel.
marcus