XFCE VDI (X2Go)

Docker image for running Debian and XFCE by using the X2Go protocol.

Purpose

This docker image enables you to start one or more instances of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

By utilizing Docker containers, there will be NO boot of whole operating system (like VMs do), instead docker will use the OS kernel resources and shares them with the docker container. Resulting in much faster start-up times than VMs can every do.

By using the X2Go protocol it's easy to connect/share sessions between the client and the server. Which allows remote working or any other task you might want do remotely in a windowing system.

The image contains a docker GNU/Linux Debian (buster) operating system, together with XFCE4 desktop environment. The required X2Goserver/X2Gosession are already pre-installed.

In fact, the image has alot of packages installed you properly want, including but not limited to: Firefox, LibreOffice, gnome-calculator, archiver, file manager, text editor, image viewer, htop, clipboard manager and much more.

Last but not least, the image is preconfigured with a nice dark-theme (Breeze-Dark), window theme (Mint-Y-Dark) as well as a nice looking icon set (Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua) and uses Ubuntu fonts by default. See below an preview:

Or an example with Papirus icons:

Note: You can always remove/install additional packages. By using docker container and apt-get command line (depending on your setup, this won't be permanent) or ideally by changing the Dockerfile. And optionally adapt XFCE settings script to your needs. Eg. like install & use Papirus icons instead.

Build

Build the image locally, via:

docker build --tag vdi .

Or when you have apt-cacher proxy installed, use APT_PROXY parameter to set the proxy URL: docker build --build-arg APT_PROXY=http://melroy-pc:3142 --tag vdi .

Usage

Start the docker container using (username: user and password will be auto-generated):

docker run --shm-size 2g -it -p 2222:22 vdi:latest

Or with the username melroy with password abc:

docker run --shm-size 2g -it -p 2222:22 -e USERNAME=melroy -e PASS=abc vdi:latest

Docker compose

You can also use a docker-compose file! See the docker compose file within this git repository.

Environment variables

Available environment variables (use -e flag during docker run) are:

Env. variable	Type	Description	Default value
USERNAME	string	Provide another username	user
USER_ID	integer	Provide another GUID/user ID	1000
PASS	string	Change password for user	auto-generated pass
ROOT_PASS	string	Change password for root-user	auto-generated pass
ALLOW_ROOT_SSH	boolean	Allow root access via SSH	false
ENTER_PASS	boolean	Require to enter password for sudo commands	false

Update VDI

1. Stop docker container (docker stop <container_id>)
2. Get latest version: docker pull danger89/xfcevdi_x2go
3. Start docker container again (either via docker run or using docker-compose)

Clients

X2Go has two clients available to choose from:

• X2Go Client (recommended)
• PyHoca-GUI

Which can both be downloaded from their site. Clients are available for Windows/Mac and/or GNU/Linux operating systems.

Once you open the client, create a new session by providing the following settings (default settings):

• Host: host IP addresss (or domain name or localhost)
• Login: user (default username)
• SSH port: 2222 (default port)
• Session type: XFCE (select from drop-down menu)

Once you try to connect, accept the new SSH host key and you'll require to enter a password (by default the passwords are generated!).

TODOs

• Add PulseAudio plugin to panel