Linux desktop: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:29, 3 April 2026

The Linux desktop gives you a graphical environment on the cluster, right inside your web browser.

It is useful for running software that needs a screen, such as plotting tools, genome browsers, or graphical editors. You do not need to install anything on your own computer — a web browser and your Anunna account are all you need.

The desktop is based on Xfce, a lightweight and user-friendly desktop environment.

 ⚠️ Warning: Start only one desktop session at a time. Running two sessions simultaneously causes conflicts and neither will work properly. If your desktop seems stuck, check My Interactive Sessions (see Reconnecting) to make sure you do not have a duplicate running.

Getting started

Launching a desktop

Go to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/.
Click the XFCE desktop tile:
A launch form appears:
Enter how long you need the desktop (in hours). The desktop will shut down automatically when the time runs out.
Click Launch.

After a short wait the desktop session will start. Continue to Connecting to your desktop below.

Connecting to your desktop

Once the session is running you will see an information tile:

Click Launch Desktop (XFCE) to open the desktop in your browser.

Using the desktop

The desktop looks like this:

Along the bottom you will find six shortcut icons:

Show Desktop — minimise all windows
Terminal — open a command-line terminal
File Browser — browse your files
Web Browser — open a web browser inside the desktop
Application Search — search for installed applications
Home Folder — open your home directory

The Applications menu in the top-left corner gives access to the same applications, plus Settings for desktop preferences.

Using pre-installed software (modules)

Software that is available on Anunna via the module load command works inside the desktop as well. Open a terminal and use modules exactly as you would on the command line. See the Modules page for more information.

Reconnecting to a running desktop

If you close your browser or shut down your computer, the desktop keeps running in the background. To reconnect:

Go to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/.
Click My Interactive Sessions in the menu bar.
Find your running session and click Launch Desktop (XFCE).

Stopping the desktop

There are two ways to stop a desktop session:

From inside the desktop: Open the Applications menu (top left) and click Log Out at the bottom. Alternatively, click your name in the top-right corner and choose Log Out. You will see a "Connection lost" message — this is normal and simply means the session has ended.

From the session tile: Go to My Interactive Sessions and click Cancel on the session tile.

After stopping, the tile changes to:

From here you can:

Click the pencil icon to change settings before starting a new session.
Click the recycle icon to start a new session with the same settings.
Click Delete to remove the session log files.

Advanced usage

Customising your session

The default launch form keeps things simple. If you need more control, tick Show advanced job options on the launch form to reveal additional settings:

Here you can change:

The number of CPU cores and amount of memory.
The maximum duration of the session.
Whether to enable admin rights (see Installing your own software below).

Adjust the settings to match your needs, then click Launch.

Installing your own software

If you need software that is not already available through modules, you can install it yourself. To do so, you need administrator privileges inside the desktop.

Enabling admin rights

On the launch form, tick Show advanced job options.
Enable the admin rights option.
Click Launch.

When admin rights are enabled, you have full administrator (root) access inside the desktop. You can verify this by opening a terminal: the prompt will show root instead of your username.

How changes are saved

When you use admin rights, any software you install or files you change inside the system directories are saved automatically. The next time you start a desktop session with admin rights, your changes will still be there. This means you only need to install software once.

 ℹ️ Note: Changes are stored in a personal disk image on the lustre filesystem. If you run into disk-space issues or want a clean start, contact the HPC helpdesk.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
Desktop does not start or stays Queued for a long time	The cluster may be busy. Try requesting fewer resources (cores, memory) or a shorter duration. Also check that you do not already have a session running under My Interactive Sessions.
Screen is black or unresponsive after connecting	Try reloading the browser tab. If the problem persists, stop the session and start a new one.
"Connection lost" message appeared unexpectedly	Your session may have reached its time limit. Start a new session with a longer duration. If it happens immediately, check My Interactive Sessions for error information.
I accidentally started two desktops	Go to My Interactive Sessions, cancel both sessions, and start a single new one.
I installed software but it is gone after restarting	Make sure you launched the session with admin rights enabled. Without admin rights, system-level changes are not preserved.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-To enable users to run their own Linux software that has graphical output, we have created a Linux desktop.
+The Linux desktop gives you a graphical environment on the cluster, right inside your web browser.
-The desktop is a [https://www.xfce.org/ Xfce] Desktop Environment. Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.
+It is useful for running software that needs a screen, such as plotting tools, genome browsers, or graphical editors. You do not need to install anything on your own computer — a web browser and your Anunna account are all you need.
-=== Starting a desktop ===
+The desktop is based on [https://www.xfce.org/ Xfce], a lightweight and user-friendly desktop environment.
-To start a desktop, go to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/, and select the desktop tile:
-[[File:XFCE tile.png|frameless|124x124px]]
+{{Warning|Start only one desktop session at a time. Running two sessions simultaneously causes conflicts and neither will work properly. If your desktop seems stuck, check '''My Interactive Sessions''' (see [[#Reconnecting to a running desktop|Reconnecting]]) to make sure you do not have a duplicate running.}}
-===== Default form =====
+== Getting started ==
-This will then start up a form:
-[[File:Basic XFCE form.png|frameless]]
+=== Launching a desktop ===
-If you click "Launch", a desktop job will be started with a maximum duration that you entered.
+# Go to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/.
+# Click the '''XFCE desktop''' tile:
+#: [[File:XFCE_tile.png|371x371px]]
+# A launch form appears:
+#: [[File:Minimal_desktop_form.png|400x400px]]
+# Enter how long you need the desktop (in hours). The desktop will shut down automatically when the time runs out.
+# Click '''Launch'''.
-Extended form
+After a short wait the desktop session will start. Continue to [[#Connecting to your desktop|Connecting to your desktop]] below.
-You can also select the "Show advanced job options", and then the following form will appear:
+=== Connecting to your desktop ===
-[[File:XFCE form extended.png|frameless]]
+Once the session is running you will see an information tile:
+[[File:XFCE_job_info.png|600x600px]]
-Adapt to what you need, click "Launch", and a desktop job will be started with the options that you entered.
+Click '''Launch Desktop (XFCE)''' to open the desktop in your browser.
-=== Getting acces to the desktop ===
+=== Using the desktop ===
-Once the job is started, you will be shown an informational tile like this:
-[[File:XFCE job info.png|frameless]]
+The desktop looks like this:
+[[File:XFCE_desktop.png]]
-On this tile, you can see info on the job, and also Cancel the job.
+Along the bottom you will find six shortcut icons:
-To show the running desktop, click on "Launch Desktop (XFCE)".
+* '''Show Desktop''' — minimise all windows
+* '''Terminal''' — open a command-line terminal
+* '''File Browser''' — browse your files
+* '''Web Browser''' — open a web browser inside the desktop
+* '''Application Search''' — search for installed applications
+* '''Home Folder''' — open your home directory
-If you close your browser or computer, the desktop will keep running, and you can access it again by going to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/, and select the "My Interactive Session" in the menu bar.
+The '''Applications''' menu in the top-left corner gives access to the same applications, plus '''Settings''' for desktop preferences.
-=== XFCE desktop usage ===
+=== Using pre-installed software (modules) ===
-After connecting, the desktop will look something like this:
-[[File:XFCE desktop.png|frameless]]
+Software that is available on Anunna via the <code>module load</code> command works inside the desktop as well. Open a terminal and use modules exactly as you would on the command line. See the [[Modules]] page for more information.
+=== Reconnecting to a running desktop ===
-At the bottom are 6 icons, being "Show Desktop", "Terminal", "File browser", "Web browser", "Application search" and "Home folder".
+If you close your browser or shut down your computer, the desktop keeps running in the background. To reconnect:
-At the top left is the "Applications" menu, where you can find the same applications, and "Settings".
+# Go to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/.
+# Click '''My Interactive Sessions''' in the menu bar.
+# Find your running session and click '''Launch Desktop (XFCE)'''.
 === Stopping the desktop ===
-To stop the desktop, there are 2 options:
-# By clicking on "Logout" inside the desktop
+There are two ways to stop a desktop session:
-## There is a "Logout" button at the bottom of the "Applications" menu (top left)
-## There is a "Logout" button at the bottom of the menu when you click on your name (top right)
-# By clicking "Cancel" on the session tile
-If you log out inside the desktop, you will get a "Connection lost" message, as the job got stopped.
+; From inside the desktop
+: Open the '''Applications''' menu (top left) and click '''Log Out''' at the bottom. Alternatively, click your name in the top-right corner and choose '''Log Out'''. You will see a "Connection lost" message — this is normal and simply means the session has ended.
-If you cancel in the informational tile, the tile will then look like this:
+; From the session tile
+: Go to '''My Interactive Sessions''' and click '''Cancel''' on the session tile.
-[[File:XFCE tile after.png|frameless]]
+After stopping, the tile changes to:
+[[File:XFCE_tile_after.png]]
-The buttons at the top right allow you to change the settings to start another desktop session (the pencil), or to start another desktop session with the same settings as this one (the recycle logo).
+From here you can:
+* Click the '''pencil''' icon to change settings before starting a new session.
+* Click the '''recycle''' icon to start a new session with the same settings.
+* Click '''Delete''' to remove the session log files.
-The "Delete" button will remove the debug logs.
+== Advanced usage ==
-=== Running already installed software (using modules) ===
+=== Customising your session ===
+The default launch form keeps things simple. If you need more control, tick '''Show advanced job options''' on the launch form to reveal additional settings:
+[[File:Desktop_extended_form.png|482x482px]]
+Here you can change:
+* The number of CPU cores and amount of memory.
+* The maximum duration of the session.
+* Whether to enable '''admin rights''' (see [[#Installing your own software|Installing your own software]] below).
+Adjust the settings to match your needs, then click '''Launch'''.
 === Installing your own software ===
-=== Starting from scratch. ===
+If you need software that is not already available through [[Modules|modules]], you can install it yourself. To do so, you need ''administrator privileges'' inside the desktop.
+==== Enabling admin rights ====
+# On the launch form, tick '''Show advanced job options'''.
+# Enable the '''admin rights''' option.
+# Click '''Launch'''.
+When admin rights are enabled, you have full administrator (root) access inside the desktop. You can verify this by opening a terminal: the prompt will show <code>root</code> instead of your username.
+==== How changes are saved ====
+When you use admin rights, any software you install or files you change inside the system directories are saved automatically. The next time you start a desktop session with admin rights, your changes will still be there. This means you only need to install software once.
+{{Note|Changes are stored in a personal disk image on the lustre filesystem. If you run into disk-space issues or want a clean start, contact the HPC helpdesk.}}
+== Troubleshooting ==
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Problem !! What to do
+|-
+| Desktop does not start or stays ''Queued'' for a long time
+| The cluster may be busy. Try requesting fewer resources (cores, memory) or a shorter duration. Also check that you do not already have a session running under '''My Interactive Sessions'''.
+|-
+| Screen is black or unresponsive after connecting
+| Try reloading the browser tab. If the problem persists, stop the session and start a new one.
+|-
+| "Connection lost" message appeared unexpectedly
+| Your session may have reached its time limit. Start a new session with a longer duration. If it happens immediately, check '''My Interactive Sessions''' for error information.
+|-
+| I accidentally started two desktops
+| Go to '''My Interactive Sessions''', cancel both sessions, and start a single new one.
+|-
+| I installed software but it is gone after restarting
+| Make sure you launched the session with '''admin rights''' enabled. Without admin rights, system-level changes are not preserved.
+|}