Remote Desktop on Linux Using XRDP and Remmina

I use my tpx as a travel machine¹; at home, it's mainly used remotely. As in, I connect to it either through ssh or through a remote desktop and work on it.

I wanted RDP and not VNC, mostly because I want to have a session on the remote desktop with the same profile etc. And also allow others to log in using their profile. Somewhat akin to SSH logins.

VNC is targeted towards sharing screens. Everyone who has logged in will see the same screen and account. This means all the logged-in users operate on the same things simultaneously. It's fantastic when you want to debug someone's computer but not when you want to work on a remote computer, especially if it's shared. 

So run the RDP server on your Ubuntu machine, and you will need to install xrdp.

xrdp provides a graphical login to remote machines using Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). xrdp accepts connections from a variety of RDP clients.

You can just apt install it on Ubuntu. Once you install, enable the service so it can start on boot. You can also edit the following configuration files.

• /etc/xrdp/sesman.in
• /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

to match your requirements. For example, if you want to change the port, security.

Once you start the server on the machine, you can connect to it from any client machine if it's reachable on the network. Mine is accessible only on the local network. Hence can connect only if the clients are also on the same network.

Remmina is a FOSS remote desktop client software. It can be used to connect to remote machines using various protocols. RDP, VNC, SPICE, NX, XDMCP, SSH, and WWW are currently supported. It also has a plugin system to support additional protocols and features. 

You can install Remonna on Ubuntu by the standard apt-get way or use flatpak. I use Remmina on all my client machines to connect to servers. In this case, I use it as an RDP client. And it works.

Suppose you are away from home and want to RDP to a machine at home. Then the best option is VPN. You can use VPN to connect to the home network and then RDP to the machine. Since you are on a VPN, you are on the same network.