I do have to say I have kept up activity on all of my favorite websites, including sites like http://phoronix.com and others. http://tuxmachines.org must be thanked as well, since the founder of that website has been a great resource for myself, expanding my readerbase and giving me inspiration for new posts. Thanks to srlinuxx!
Arch Linux continues to be my Linux distribution of choice, holding it's place as light and fit for my ASUS system. Head on over to Arch Linux to check it out!
This summer has been filled with advocacy and opportunity. This is the reason why the blog has not been updated in a while, not to forget the past time for school.
This truly is just a garbled bunch of thoughts, so while we are participating in it, let us continue on to the current project at hand.
iPod Touch as a Secondary Display on Linux
Unfortunately, the iPod Touch is an Apple-produced, close source device, with many free or paid applications. Luckily, despite limited integration with Linux, a user can still run it as a secondary display. This does not mean that the user will be able to mouse over to the iPod and click, but rather, the iPod is comparable to a second computer running on the first. Perhaps in the future, with a little bit of hackery, this will be possible. For now, sit tight and enjoy the ride.
First, Set Up a Working Environment for the iPod
What do you need?
For this mini-project, you will need the following:
- A Linux Computer, Arch Linux, mentioned above is used primarily for experimentation.
- An iPod Touch, or a device with a VNC client.
- Information about the screen resolution on the device
- A VNC Application. I am using Mocha VNC Lite for the iPod Touch.
- The TightVNC package for the command vncserver
- About an hour or so of time for basic functionality. You will need more time for understanding and tweaking.
- Some applications on your Linux machine to test on the device.
- A Wireless network
completed. :)
Roll up your sleeves.
- Start up your Linux Machine and prepare to get started. Have a working network connection.
Ubuntu Users, please install the package tightvncserver Fedora Users should install tightvnc Arch Users should install tightvnc Other users should find a package that provides the vncserver command.
- Get Mocha VNC Lite from the Apple App Store.
- Find the computer's IP Address using ifconfig
- Run the vncserver command, using vncserver -geometry 320x480 :1 Note, the geometry sets the screen resolution. Customize this for your device. 3
20x480 is appropriate for iPod Touch and iPhone. Enter the required data. Note, I find that VNC does not like passwords that are not 8 characters.
- On Mocha VNC Lite, enter your computer IP Address, the VNC Server Port, which is 5901, the password, and a name. Change 32-bit Color mode to On.
- Connect. You will probably be given a TWM session, we can change that.
- Enter nano ~/.vnc/xstartup and change the included text to exec ck-launch-session openbox-session for openbox, or exec ck-launch-session gnome for Gnome.
- Enter vncserver -kill :1
- Enter the vncserver -geometry 320x480 :1 again. To ensure that the VNC server will always start up, enter vncserver -geometry 320x480 -alwaysshared :1
- Connect with your iPod
- Enjoy your iPod external monitor.
