How Do I Get the Necessary Software?

Windows

VNC comes with most Linux distributions and is easily set up. Mac and Windows users should download and install a VNC Viewer.

VNC for Windows is freely available from TightVNC (www.tightvnc.com) or from RealVNC (www.realvnc.com).

You will also need an SSH client. An SSH client allows you to make a secure SSH connection from your work/home machine to the LOFAR Linux machines. That is, with SSH client software running on your computer, you can open a terminal window to the remote Linux computer. For Windows users, PuTTY is a freeware SSH client. It is available from www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html. Although other SSH client software exists (e.g. SSH Secure Shell, Secure CRT), our instructions assume you are using PuTTY.

Thus, remote Window users should:

Download and install VNC unless it is already installed. You need only install the VNC viewer.
Download and install PuTTY unless it is already installed on your machine.

Mac OS X

For Mac users, Chicken of the VNC is a good VNC client and is available from sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc.

Download the Chicken of the VNC disk image file (dmg) and then double-click it to mount it on your desktop. Then drag the Chicken of the VNC icon to your Mac's Applications folder.

Mac OS X includes an SSH client. You can open a terminal by launching either Terminal or X11, both of which are in your Mac's Applications > Utilities folder.