Introduction

Usually, Linux-based servers don’t come with a graphical user interface (GUI) pre-installed. Whenever you want to run GUI applications on your instance, the typical solution is to employ Virtual Network Computing (VNC). Unfortunately, VNC solutions can be sluggish and insecure; many also require a lot of manual configuration. By contrast, X2Go provides a working “cloud desktop,” complete with all the advantages of an always-online, remotely-accessible, and easily-scalable computing system with a fast network. It is also more responsive and more secure than many VNC solutions.

In this tutorial, you’ll use X2Go to create an Ubuntu 20.04 XFCE desktop environment that you can access remotely. This cloud desktop will include the same utilities that you would obtain had you installed Ubuntu 20.04 and the XFCE environment on your personal computer (almost identical to a Xubuntu setup).

The setup described in this tutorial is useful when:

• You need access to a Linux-based operating system, complete with a desktop environment, but can’t install it on your personal computer.
• You use multiple devices in multiple locations and want a consistent work environment with the same tools, look, files, and performance.
• Your Internet service provider gives you very little bandwidth, but you need access to tens or hundreds of gigabytes of data.
• Long-running jobs make your local computer unavailable for hours or days. Imagine that you have to compile a large project, which will take 8 hours on your laptop. You won’t be able to watch movies or do anything else very resource-intensive while your project compiles. But if you run that job on your server, now your computer is free to perform other tasks.
• You’re working with a team, and it benefits them to have a shared computer that they can access to collaborate on a project.

#x2go #ubuntu 20.04 #ubuntu #xubuntu #xfce