remoting client in linux without streaming screen

[hansyulian]

I wonder is there a way for us to remote the linux, access the data there and do some basic things in a desktop way experience without streaming entire screen like RDP? so like just an interpreter for the command line from a server that is being rendered like a desktop in my machine that remote access it?

 

My goal is to easily manage the files and able to do some video downloading in my home server where I can access the data later using my phone, my tv, and so on, but still easy enough for my wife to download videos and any other data on our home server while she is not being so techy techy person that can't use terminal.

[Electronics Wizardy]

If you just need to copy files, why not use a remote file copy protocol like scp, samba and other?

[RONOTHAN##]

There are a lot of solutions for things like this, I'll give a couple and some of the advantages and disadvantages of it. 

 

1.) You could setup something like Nextcloud on the server. It would provide file access and some other cool features from within a browser, similar to how Google Drive functions. If your wife can't figure out how to use that, I don't think there's any hope for her. It takes a bit of setup from the terminal initially, but once it's setup it should run without issue.

 

2.) FTP/SFTP is also an option, albeit a bit less user friendly. It's low effort to setup and works incredibly well. It works great for moving files between the server and a client, whether a computer or a phone (not sure if there's an iOS client though). I don't believe there's a way to get it to work with a TV, however.

 

3.) Plex with Plex-pass. It works very well for downloading videos and streaming them, but it costs money and is the least flexible of the bunch (though would work well with a TV). 

 

4.) SAMBA. Anything in the house would be able to access the files, and stream off them. Depending on the device, it can be a bit finicky (Windows computers in my experience have been some of the worst with it, despite Microsoft being the ones to develop it), but it is very common and pretty much every device supports it to some degree. It does work well in my experience, being the main way I transfer files on and off of my NAS, but it has the disadvantage of not working outside of the network like it sounds like you want. 

 

There are a ton of different utilities and ways to set this up. However, you wouldn't be limited to just one. What I would probably do is setup Nextcloud, then use SSH/SFTP for managing the server itself. You can add Plex (without Plex-pass) for streaming stuff to your TV, and then add SAMBA support for accessing the files from a computer/phone on your network since it's a lot faster than Nextcloud/SFTP. On my server I have all but Nextcloud setup since I can deal with the less-friendly interface and limitations of SFTP, but if I needed to access files more often while I'm away from my home, it would be the next thing I would setup. 

 

 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

3.) Plex with Plex-pass. It works very well for downloading videos and streaming them, but it costs money and is the least flexible of the bunch (though would work well with a TV).

There is also Jellyfin, which is what I personally use. It's entirely free and open-source. Never used Plex so I can't compare it.

[hansyulian]

hey! that's a nice idea! looking for set it up, if anyone got any more nice idea it's very welcomed!

[Wild Penquin]

Yes, there is. Many good suggestions already.

 

You most probably already know you can do anything you can from command line with SSH. Screen or tmux (or some alternative) are immensely useful to leave stuff running without you needing to be connected all the time.

 

But the olden golden X11 forwarding was not mentioned yet. It's basically same thing as rdp AFAIK, but for the X11 protocol / X.Org (never used rdp, and only shortly tested X11 forwarding "just because" - didn't really need it, but it does indeed work).

Edited September 12, 2021 by Wild Penquin