Linux desktop

To enable users to run their own Linux software that has graphical output, we have created a Linux desktop.

The desktop is a 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.

Important: Only start a single desktop, otherwise things won't work!

Starting a desktop

To start a desktop, go to http://apps.anunna.wur.nl/, and select the desktop tile:

Default form

This will then start up a form:

If you click "Launch", a desktop job will be started with a maximum duration that you entered.

Extended form

You can also select the "Show advanced job options", and then the following form will appear:

An important option is that here you can select the "admin rights". With that you will become super user (root) inside your container.

That way you can install software yourself.

Adapt to what you need, click "Launch", and a desktop job will be started with the options that you entered.

Getting acces to the desktop

Once the job is started, you will be shown an informational tile like this:

On this tile, you can see info on the job, and also Cancel the job.

To show the running desktop, click on "Launch Desktop (XFCE)".

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.

XFCE desktop usage

After connecting, the desktop will look something like this:

At the bottom are 6 icons, being "Show Desktop", "Terminal", "File browser", "Web browser", "Application search" and "Home folder".

At the top left is the "Applications" menu, where you can find the same applications, and "Settings".

Stopping the desktop

To stop the desktop, there are 2 options:

1. By clicking on "Logout" inside the desktop
   1. There is a "Logout" button at the bottom of the "Applications" menu (top left)
   2. There is a "Logout" button at the bottom of the menu when you click on your name (top right)
2. 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.

If you cancel in the informational tile, the tile will then look like this:

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).

The "Delete" button will remove the debug logs.

Running already installed software (using modules)

Modules just work inside the container, you can use them as you are used.

Installing your own software

To install your own software, start the container with the "admin rights" option enabled.

This will create an overlay container, stored on lustre, so any changes you make will be preserved between startups.

Beside that, you will be super user inside the container.

That is easy to spot if you open a terminal. Instead of your username, you will see root as the active user.