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Want to help a noob? Trying to set up a remote box.

InfinityOctopus

InfinityOctopus

Member
I'll start by stating why I'm doing this. I'm going to my university in 13 days from now and it will be the first time I'm stuck in a dorm and have to deal with their network. Through my research I've discovered that they block far too many sites that I frequent as well as crack down very hardcore on torrents.

I'd like to remain able to frequent the websites I'm used to as well avoid the 500usd fines they're threatening. Not the type of thing I like hitting me when the worse I'll torrent is the new episode of Doctor Who in 1080p.

I have a cheap 100ish computer I had gotten off-lease, it's not great but should fit this purpose.
I have already installed 32-bit Ubuntu, although I can install anything that you fine fellows would suggest. I prefer it to stay under linux as I can get most distributions free. I'm utterly unfamiliar with all aspects of linux and will probably have more of a headache and issue if I attempt to handle everything through console.
I know to start I need to be able to tunnel into it with SSH. I'd like to be able to actually view the gui I had setup. I managed to get something running with realVNC's VNC viewer, but I don't feel this is the security and anonymity I'm searching for.

So, I'm assuming I have a two step process here to get this rigged up to what I need it for:
1. Make it so I can access this linux box remotely from my main desktop.(Running Windows 7 64-bit) Preferably with as secure and anonymous connection as I can manage so my date is private while I'm over the university network.
2. Setup torrenting programs on my linux box so I can download from home rather than my university, which several states away. I figured that a VPN is that safest route from my research. They're paid services, but I'm willing to go for it for the fix for the random tv shows I watch.

Normally I've tried to figure these type of things out on my own, but this is way beyond my skill set. I've been trying to hammer this stuff out since early this morning and am finally admitting I'm way over my head and need some input.

I'm trying to get this all down since internet browsing and several tv shows are my stress relief and I'll be designing my schedule to be studying all but 2-3 hours of the day or less; so I'm trying to preserve something of my sanity. 😀

Any input would be greatly appreciated from someone who has a more thorough understanding of linux and this type of things.
 
It's going mostly swimmingly, but I'm getting snagged towards the bottom of the tutorial. The host name I'm connecting to should be the IP address, correct? I'm currently attempting to connect on a laptop using wi-fi on a different IP and it's timing out.
 
First off, I'd like to thank you for the assistance. I was looking for guides and coming up with a lot of confusion, you directed me more towards what I needed to be looking for. 🙂

Well, after banging on it for a while I finally got it to work. There was apparently some headache with how the router my ISP supplied me with forwarded ports.
Although, with that guide I don't have the same setup as the pictures show. I have Remmina and Desktop Sharing.

TeamViewer seems to work wonderful for my needs though, although it seems like I'd have to get someone at home to click it open for me or leave it on. Can I open these things through SSH with the terminal window Putty gives me?

Also; are there downsides to TeamViewer? I know the website states it has encryption automatically, which is good, but are there advantages for going the SSH + VNC route?

I'm actually a bit giddy, since I've never played with a linux OS and there seems to be a lot of stuff to explore with it. I'm glad it seems I mostly have something that can crudely work for my needs.
 
Why do you need a gui at all? Once you have the torrent client setup and ftp/ssh setup you shouldnt need to touch the box. All major linux torrent clients have remote access of somekind.

Rtorrent+rutorrent
Deluge thin client
Transmission remote gui
Utorrent remote

You shouldnt need to vnc in at all. As far as blocked sites you can just ssh tunnel and route your browsers traffic through that. Way simpler once setup then dealing with the web in a vnc or teamviewer.

Im on my tablet right now but if your interested in how to get this setup send me a pm this is likely a little too gray area for the forums.
 
I was going to recommend LogMeIn, both for a great remote access program, and super simple Hamchi VPN software, but their Linux support is lacking.

LogMeIn is remote GUI software that works great, dont have to worry about IP address's like you would with VNC.

Hamachi is a really cool VPN program. I use it at work to share my iTunes library from home, and have file access. (\\5.x.x.x\ to move files around). Encrypted, compressed and really nice. These two would work great for your setup, if you were running Windows (or Mac) 🙂
 
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