FastX displays your remote Linux desktops on your own computer. FastX provides a full Linux environment and GUI and appears no different than a Linux environment on your own computer. With FastX you can have multiple sessions open, pause the sessions, and resume them whenever you want. Your FastX sessions will stay open even through connection errors and unexpected computer shutdowns.
If you are using FastX to connect to SPORC replace computername with sporcsubmit. Keep in mind that SPORC only has the xterm terminal, not Gnome, so it will look different than the pictures in this documentation.
FastX for the Web
- Open your browser and into the address bar enter: https://computername.rit.edu:3443
- This screen should appear. Login in with your RIT username and password.
- Click ‘Launch Session’,
- Click ‘Gnome’, then ‘Launch’ to launch a session with Gnome. If you are using SPORC, use xterm.
FastX Desktop Client
Installation:
- Download and install the FastX desktop client for your operating system from https://www.starnet.com/fastx/current-client. Windows users will find the ‘Standard install build’ the easiest to install.
Connecting:
- Open the FastX application from your computer.
- In the top right corner click the + icon and select 'SSH'
- In the name field enter the name of the computer as something you will be able to recognize.
- Enter the name of the computer in the host field.
- Enter your RIT username in the name field.
- Do not change the Port or Sci entries
- Click Save
- A popup will appear with ‘This host is not recognized...’, click Continue
- Enter your RIT password
- Click the + icon in the top right corner of the new window.
- Select Gnome and click OK, you are now connected to the computer. If you are connecting to SPORC, use xterm.
- Note: After you have connected once, click the name of the computer in the window that opens when the FastX application to connect
Using the FastX Environment
If you using the xterm terminal, it will not look like this, these instructions only cover Gnome. If this is your first time using the terminal, read Basic Unix Commands.
Navigating Applications
To find applications installed on the computer such as Firefox or the Text Editor:
- Click ‘Activities’ in the top left corner
- Enter the name of the application in the search bar OR
- Click the nine white dots in the bottom left
- Click ‘All’ at the bottom of the screen and now all applications are displayed
Accessing the Terminal
- Click ‘Activities’ in the top left corner
- Click the terminal icon on the left side of the screen. It is a black box with a white border and a white ‘>’ inside.
Running Programs through the Terminal
- Once in the terminal, in the command line type the name of the program you want to open. For example, to run R, type “R” in the command line.
- If the program does not open (i.e. <programName>: command not found..) you may need to load a module.
- Note: If you can’t figure out how to close a program once it is open try ctrl+Z. This will force quit the program.
Logging Off and Terminating
Using Gnome
- Click the power symbol in the top right corner.
- Click on your name.
- Click ‘Log Out’, then click it again in the pop up. You are now logged out of your session and it is terminated.
- You can also terminate a session from the screen where the session was made. Click the small ‘X’ button in the pane where your session is. Using the web client this pane will have a mountain landscape as the picture.
For the desktop client, it will have a camera. - Note: If you do not terminate your sessions, they will stay open where you left off, even if you log out of FastX. If you have too many non-terminated sessions at once, this may cause problems.
Using xterm
Just like any terminal you've logged onto, logging out is as simple as running logout. You can also exit by using step 4 above in Using Gnome.
If there are any further questions, or there is an issue with the documentation, please contact rc-help@rit.edu for additional assistance.