I have an old pc on which I run jellyfin and some other stuff. It’s only connected through lan. I used to use window’s remotedesktop to connect to it, but that stopped working.

Now I’m looking for a good remote desktop. Because it s tucked away in a corner, fysical acces to it is cumbersome.

My server runs mint with xfce. My laptop runs windows 11, because of work reasons.

I’m inclined to use something like anydesk, but I’m unsure how to trust that company.

Edit: I got rustdesk up and running and it’s a good solution for my usecase. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

  • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    I guess another vote for RustDesk. I use it to administer several personal computers that my friends have. They are old heads like me, but unlike me, their tech savvy is lacking. So if they have an issue, I can pop in and help in any way I can. I was using Remote Desktop Assistant for a while, but kept hearing about RustDesk so I gave it a go.

  • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    3 days ago

    I use RustDesk because it’s good enough. It may not work for everything, but it is open source and has suited my needs.

    I have it launch on boot in Mint and it works fine

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      RustDesk really is fantastic. No shade to any of the other solutions suggested in this thread, but 99% of the time when someone needs remote desktop access, RustDesk is exactly what they need.

  • s3rvant@lemmy.mlEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    Another vote for Rustdesk

    I use it mostly for family tech support where MY PC is running Linux and THEY are on Windows though it works great in both directions

  • rtxn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    I’ve had good experiences with Rustdesk. The client is open-source and the no-cost server components (ID and Relay servers) are self-hostable. The remote server works on X11 and Windows. I use this script to run XFCE+Rustdesk in a headless session:

    export SERVERNUM=69
export SCREEN_SIZE='-screen 0 2560x1440x24'
export DISPLAY=":${SERVERNUM}"
export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11

xvfb-run --server-num="${SERVERNUM}" --server-args "${SCREEN_SIZE}" startxfce4 & disown
sleep 1
flatpak run com.rustdesk.RustDesk & disown

    Sunshine + Moonlight is also a good choice. I have Sunshine installed on a box at home and use Tailscale to connect to it from the Moonlight client. At 1440p 60 FPS it has no visible compression artifacts and responsive enough for gaming.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    If you’re not comfortable using SSH, each Linux DE comes with its own RDP setup, so refer to the docs of whichever you’re running to set that up if you want things to be super simple.

    Past that, there’s tons of stuff, but I would generally avoid VNC these days because it’s pretty much a dead protocol that is insecure and inefficient.

    Some people prefer to use RDP compatible tools, some people just use Moonlight. You can use whatever is comfortable for you, really. I would avoid all the suggestions that are telling you to install the giant constructs like Mesh Central though. That’s overkill for just two machines here.

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    At work we use Meshcentral. It requires you to host your own server, but it’s very powerful, and very reliable. We’re managing something like 400 remote systems with it currently. We also use Netbird as a secondary access layer (I prefer it to Tailscale for the simplicity of setting up ACLs, and the really easy deployment).

    For most home server usage though, I wouldn’t bother with Meshcentral. It’s a lot of overhead if you’re only managing a couple of systems. If you really need remote desktop (why do your servers even have desktops?) use RustDesk instead.

  • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    Nomachine with local & Wireguard access only.

    I think Anydesk can be trusted as much as any company. They did notify users when a breach occurred a couple of years ago. By contrast Teamviewer was hacked and blamed their customer’s “password reuse” for years before finally admitting they had a breach. The company cannot be trusted.

    I use Anydesk occasionally to help friends but never leave it running if it’s not actively in use.

  • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    3 days ago

    I was using realvnc but I hit the 3 free PCs quickly. I’ve since moved to nomachine and run it “locally” over tailscale.

  • eli@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    3 days ago

    Install Tailscale on all devices.

    Then ssh into whatever you need.

    If you need desktop remote access the Windows RDP should work for Windows to Windows machines.

    For Linux host to Windows client I’ve had good experiences with Remmina Desktop.

    • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
      33·
      3 days ago

      I hate having to continuously point this out, but DO NOT DO THIS unless you have a deeper understanding of networking.

      “Just installing Tailscale” without proper configuration of the default routes is going to cause all kinds of routing inefficiencies and loopbacks in your internal network that is absolutely unnecessary, especially for what OP asking for.

      This is just bad advice.

        • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          8 hours ago

          Well, firstly, it’s not what Tailscale is meant for. I’m getting downvoted by the people using the wrong tool for the wrong job.

          You don’t install a VPN on all your local machines just to talk to each other. That’s insane. You especially don’t install one that, while misconfigured, is sending all of its traffic OUTSIDE of your local network, then back in. This is what Tailscale on a number of local machines will do by default.

          The way Tailscale works is by installing a Wireguard client on a machine. It then checks in with their DERP servers to figure out it’s network situation (behind NAT, peers in the network, routing tables…etc). So when you have more than one client on the Tailscale network, it automagically assumes some things, the first being that these two machines dont have a more direct route to talk to each other.

          So then it will attempt to bridge a path between the DERP server each client is checked into, and pass traffic that way. Which means you then have two machines on the same local network sending traffic OUTSIDE of that network, then back in to complete a VPN network.

          This is stupid.

          You setup multiple different networks and use exit nodes to bridge two networks together with Tailscale. That’s the entire point. This means setting up routes to let the orchestration layer know that a set of certain machines exist in the same network, and shouldn’t use Tailscale to communicate with each other. Then it will only be using routes for REMOTE networks, where other clients exist, to pass traffic over the Tailscale network.

          May I ask what you were planning on doing with Tailscale? I can point you in the right direction.