FastX can also be much faster that X11 forwarding, especially over slower connections. This program allows you to run a full remote desktop which can be disconnected and reconnected while graphical applications continue to run. To install X11 on macOS, download and install the XQuartz Application from: FastXĪnother method for accessing graphical programs remotely from our Linux compute servers is FastX.
You can think of this program providing local graphics services for client programs running remotely. Yes, this may be backwards from what you might first expect. Terminology Note: The program displaying graphics on your local machine is called an X Server, and the process on the remote end is called an X client. This makes quickly connecting to a specific server easy, even when managing many servers.
In addition some *nix applications ported to macOS do not run natively under the macOS GUI and require X11. By running an X11 program (known as a server) on your computer, you can access graphical Linux programs remotely through an SSH client. X11 is a remote-display protocol used by Linux/Unix machines, including the Linux machines at Thayer.
