[dba-Tech] Changing coloring scheme for Midnight Commander - the most pupular file manager on unix like systems

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Fri Apr 4 18:22:52 CDT 2014


Hi Shamil:

I understand there is a basic interface to the DigitalOcean Cloud and a web based option can be created, as you have proved.

Connecting via RDP to a Linux box is fairly simple but it implies that there actually is a desktop on the remote system to receive and manage the requests. Basically, logging in using PuTTY and running Midnight Commander, on the Cloud host may be the simplest and best solution...which you are already doing.

The smallest light-weight GUI desktop out there for Ubuntu is Xfce but it is still full featured.
 
Here is a method I would try, so I, as a user would have a simple GUI desktop on my Ubuntu server and be able to remote-in via a standard Windows RDP client. (Note: there are no guarantees that this will work but it should.)

<quote>
1. Using a ssh client like putty log into your server and install the xrdp package using the command:
...this package will allow you to remote in via your Windows RDP client. 
sudo apt-get install xrdp

2. Restart your server:
sudo shutdown -r now 

3. Log back in again, and add the Xfce Desktop, link and the libraries by runnning the following:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.10
...make sure all the required libraries are current and attached.
sudo apt-get update
...now get and install the latest Xfce, light weight desktop. 
sudo apt-get install xfce4

4. Now configure your server to boot up using the xfce desktop:
...this command creates a hidden text file named .xsession, that resides in your login home directory saying "xfce4-session" which makes sure the Xfce desktop starts up upon you logging in. The good thing is that the server will only boot the desktop for your login. If other users need access to the GUI you would login as them and repeat the command.
echo xfce4-session>~/.xsession

5. Now restart the xrdp daemon: 
sudo service xrdp restart
</quote>

Once out of the Linux server you should be able to log on from your windows, using a property setup Remote Desktop client. Note: I do not know whether the Cloud server supports the RDP connections but we will assume so.
 
HTH and keep me posted.

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Salakhetdinov Shamil" <mcp2004 at mail.ru>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Thursday, 3 April, 2014 2:28:16 PM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Changing coloring scheme for Midnight Commander - the most pupular file manager on unix like systems

 Hi Jim --

> ..and of course real men don't use GUIs.
Sure :)  (BTW, in MS Windows I do usually use Far Manager ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAR_Manager ) not Windows Explorer...)

Well, I'd use GUI - what is the usual way to setup and activate GUI shell/Window Manager for a hosted Linux VPS?
AFAIU I have to setup Linux GUI shell/Window Manager on a VPS - what are the most often used lightweight Linux GUI shell distributions for VPS? 
When I get such a Linux GUI shell/Window Manager up&running on my VPS, h ow do I run a remote Linux desktop in Windows? As described in the following article?

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/how-do-i-run-a-remote-linux-desktop-in-windows/

Thank you. Shamil

Thu, 3 Apr 2014 14:36:25 -0600 (MDT) from Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca>:
>Hi Shamil:
>
>Midnight Commander has been around since UNIX (SCO UNIX over twenty years ago...) and DOS days (used QDOS, a DOS variant of MC, which had the capabilities to prune and graft from/to the directory trees) and I have used it once or twice but until there was a GUI available... It is the best command line file manager there is and I understand there is a hundred different theme and patches around for it.
>
>Its main attributes are small memory requirements and speed of course. ...and of course real men don't use GUIs...just ask the Hyper-V server folks. ;-)
>
>Jim 
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Salakhetdinov Shamil" < mcp2004 at mail.ru >
>To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" < dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com >
>Sent: Thursday, April 3, 2014 6:35:16 AM
>Subject: [dba-Tech] Changing coloring scheme for Midnight Commander - the most pupular file manager on unix like systems
>
> Hi All --
>
>I have got subj:   http://www.midnight-commander.org/ (MC)
>
>IMO it's a useful file manager (a la' NC) for *nix starters.
>But I wanted to change MC's coloring scheme.
>
>Here 
>
>http://ajnasz.hu/blog/20080101/midnight-commander-coloring
>
>they say that coloring scheme can be defined/changed in  ~/.mc/ini file. 
>But on Ubuntu this ini file seems to be located at ~/.config/mc/ini
>
>Have you ever used MC?
>Have you ever tried to change its color scheme? - I have changed it to
>
>[Colors]
>base_color=lightgray,green:normal=green,default:selected=white,gray:marked=yellow,default:markselect=yellow,gray:directory=blue,default:executable=brightgreen,default:link=cyan,default:device=brightmagenta,default:special=lightgray,default:errors=red,default:reverse=green,default:gauge=green,default:input=white,gray:dnormal=green,gray:dfocus=brightgreen,gray:dhotnormal=cyan,gray:dhotfocus=brightcyan,gray:menu=green,default:menuhot=cyan,default:menusel=green,gray:menuhotsel=cyan,default:helpnormal=cyan,default:editnormal=green,default:editbold=blue,default:editmarked=gray,blue:stalelink=red,default
>
>still I cannot say I like it.
>
>And what is your preferred color scheme for MC? -- 
>Салахетдинов Шамиль
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