Network Tools Appl. - invisible data [SOLVED]

[Keith]

A minor irritation! 
I attach a screen shot of my Network Tools screen in which the IP Information window is permanently too thin to show the data.  Maximising the screen has no effect and using the scroll bar simply shoves the data to the other extreme (too far up or down). 
I am playing with remote control s/w and can use the remote host name but it would be nice to have the option of using the IP address, too. 
Any ideas?

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Which version of Ubuntu ? .. 11.10 ?

What's the output from:

Code: [Select]

dpkg -l | grep gnome-nettool

[Keith]

I am running V11.10 in classic view.
The output from dpkg -l | grep gnome-nettool   is

ii  gnome-nettool                          3.0.0-0ubuntu2                             
network information tool for GNOME

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Seems it was a known bug in gnome-nettool in Oneiric .. try this:

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

then

Code: [Select]

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mfisch/gnome-nettool

then

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get update

then

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install gnome-nettool

Then test it.

If its still to small .. send the output from:

Code: [Select]

dpkg -l | grep gnome-nettool

To Undo -

Code: [Select]

sudo ppa-purge ppa:mfisch/gnome-nettool

[Keith]

That works a treat, Mark.  Many thanks.
Presumably I ought not to use the undo command?

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Not unless you want to go back to the old version

[Keith]

Errr, no!   I'll keep the new one.
Being able to see all the IP addresses makes things much easier and I can control all the PCs on my network very well. 
My ultimate goal is to control PCs over the internet, which looks much harder, so I may have to ask for advice on that.
Thanks again for your help.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

You're welcome .. and cheers for making this topic solved.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "control PCs over the internet" .. remote desktop ? .. if so, what's wrong with Teamviewer ?

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/linux.aspx

As long as it's running, you can get a remote desktop from ANY other PC with Teamviewer installed .. Linux, Mac, or Windows.

--

[Keith]

I have been using Teamviewer 7 (and the company's help-desk is really very helpful) but it is not at all stable and crashes very courteously after a short while. 

Ubuntu's Desktop Sharing facility (vncviewer) works well on my LAN and, if I have understood my web searches correctly, can be used, with a bit of effort, over the internet to control a truly remote computer.   A quote from the link  http://www.howtoforge.com/configure-remote-access-to-your-ubuntu-desktop   says:
If you want to connect to your desktop from outside your network, you must use your router's public IP address (or get yourself a free hostname from dyndns.org pointing to your router's public IP address). Port 5900 (which is used by the remote desktop) must be open in the firewall, and your router must forward port 5900 to the Ubuntu desktop.

If this is possible, then I would like to explore it as most of my Silver Surfer friends live 100 miles away.  As usual, I would value any advice that you can provide. 

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Yup it's certainly possible, but as they say you'll need to forward ports through their routers, and either phone them each time and get them to check their external IP address, or set them each up with a service such as dyndns (which afaik aint free anymore .. I think http://www.noip.com are still free) and an update client.
http://www.noip.com/downloads.php?page=linux

[Keith]

Yep; it's looking hard for a Novice! 
The NO-IP instructions appear fairly simple for someone familiar with the terminology, but I will need to take my time in understanding it all. 

I've inspected my router which seems to allow port forwarding (for port 5900 needed by VNC), but there again some of the terminology it uses is above me and I really don't want to screw up my router (and especially no-one else's!). 

It's a bit difficult to play with this without ready access to a remote computer that is not too far away (I guess it's neither reasonable nor possible to have internet control between PCs on a LAN !). 

Anyway:  I shall persevere with the learning.  If I get far enough to ask more questions, I shall start a new post with a more relevant title. 
My thanks as usual, Mark. 

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Here's what's going to be your biggest problem .. it's not YOUR router that needs the port forwarding (as the VNC "client" you're making an OUTgoing connection) .. it's theirs (as the "VNC "server" they are receiving an INcoming connection) .. you'd also need to give their PC's static IP's on the internal LAN so you know which port to forward to.

and if they're 100's of miles away you're going to have to talk them through it (and they'll all no doubt have different routers) .. good luck with that

--

[Keith]

Yes, I understood about which PC needed the port forwarding - my intention was to go to my mate's down the road and control my PC from there in the hope that there was less to screw up on his machine! 
Re the internal LAN bit:  does the PC need a static IP address in case there are several PCs on the LAN?  I guessed that if there is only one, then the router IP address would be adequate.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

YES (even if there is only one) .. as you need to tell your router which internal IP to forward the port to.

let's say you forward incoming connections on port 5900 to local address 192.168.0.2 .. if you're using DHCP (even with a singe PC) you can't guarantee the IP of that PC will ALWAYS be 192.168.0.2
(the only way to 100% guarantee that is to give it a static IP, and remove that IP from the routers DHCP address pool)

if you intend to remotely control more than 1 PC on the LAN, you'll have to forward different ports to their IP's .. say 5901, 5902, etc. .. and adjust the VNC connection accordingly.

--

[Keith]

It's beginning to make a bit of sense - with the emphasis on "bit". 
Who knows - at this rate I might one day even be able to offer advice to this Forum! 

I shall let you know how I get on.