Since version 2, dyne:bolic changes its approach to clustering implementing a "human driven" suite of tools that let you control various applications running on multiple computers connected to your network.
In situations where you have many old computers you can use one for each task and control all of them from the same keyboard and mouse. The desktops of the computers can be visualized on your own screen or on multiple screens in case you have monitors attached to each of them. Powerful workstations can be combined using multiple processing units and their displays can be tiled together to compose a unique wide desktop.
This way to operate dyne:bolic computers involves different kinds of applications offering a flexible setup that you can customize to your needs. This part of the manual will just make you familiar with the tools and you'll need to refer to their manuals to discover all the potential.
To connect multiple computers you should first make sure you can reach them over the network and you know their addresses. A simple way to do it that will work on every GNU/Linux system is using the command ifconfig on each computer to print out the currently configured network address:
[d:b] ~ # ifconfig | grep inet [Enter]then edit your /etc/hosts file with the full list of addresses and a name for them that you can choose. Copying the /etc/hosts file on all involved machines will make them aware of each other "hostnames".
Synergy is a powerful tool that lets your keyboard and mouse control different desktops accessed simply moving the mouse out of the current screen into theirs. An example configuration file is provided in /etc/synergy.conf and it must be modified with the hostnames of your computers (to be associated to IP numeric addresses in /etc/hosts).
The main computer where the keyboard and mouse are attached should run the command:
[d:b] ~ # synergys -n hostname -c /etc/synergy.conf [Enter]All the other computers to be connected should run this command, making sure the config file include them in the setup:
[d:b] ~ # synergyc -n hostname -c /etc/synergy.conf [Enter]
VNC is a remote video client that lets you control the desktop of another computer on your network as inside a window on your current desktop. It can be also used to interact with two mouse and keyboard at the same time.
To share the desktop of a computer for an incoming VNC connection just run:
[d:b] ~ # x11vnc [Enter]To connect to a computer sharing the VNC desktop:
[d:b] ~ # vncviewer computer [Enter]For more informations on VNC see man x11vnc and man vncviewer.
Remote X execution lets you run an application on another computer and control it on your desktop, as if it would be running locally.
In order to authorize other computers to open applications on your desktop you must first run the command:
[d:b] ~ # xhost +computer [Enter]Then Click the network button on the top-right panel and run Exec_X11, fill in your user account (default is user:root password:luther) and write the command to start the application.