The "noVNC/URLrelay" combo...

[johan-66]

...is one (of many) neat details of the Jambox setup!

I would like to have my "standard/desktop" RPi image to also boot up with this combo. I have tried to google around to understand how to achieve this (I am to a large extent a Linux-n00b ;-/ ), but so far no real luck...

Is there an easy pointer to the Jambox config aspects of how to achieve this "combo"? Any other pointer to a step-by-step guide to achieve the combo for a standard Raspbian setup?

[kdoren]

@johan-66 No easy pointer. The bad new is that I haven't (yet) packaged this in a form that would make it easy for a "Linux-n00b" to install.
It requires noVNC/websockify/urlrelay config & services, plus the graphical environment needs to be set up. I don't remember all of the details off-hand.

However if you want to take a whack at it, the install process is open source. I just can't offer support if you run into trouble.
noVNC is installed here: https://github.com/kdoren/jambox-pi-gen/blob/jambox/stage3/04-install-sw/02-run.sh
urlrelay/lightdm: https://github.com/kdoren/jambox-pi-gen/blob/jambox/stage3/07-install-boot-script/01-run.sh
some required packages here: https://github.com/kdoren/jambox-pi-gen/blob/jambox/stage3/04-install-sw/00-packages
I think there may be more items relating to the graphic environment.

[kdoren]

@johan-66 I should add I implemented the noVNC/urlrelay combo to solve the following problem: How to make it easy for someone burn an SD card, plug it into a headless Raspberry Pi,, and connect and run - without installing anything on their PC or Raspberry Pi, without going into their router, and without knowing the IP address of the Raspberry Pi.

If you are already running a "standard/desktop" RPi image, that situation doesn't really describe you, so you have more options. My suggestion would be:

1. assign a "DHCP reservation" in your router so your RPi always gets the same IP address. Most routers allow this; you enter the MAC address of your RPi, and the IP address (usually the one it currently has), and your router will always give it the same IP address, even if you switch SD cards, etc. This is way better than assigning a static IP in the RPi itself, which is only known to that SD card, and may make it impossible to plug your RPi into a different network where that IP address might not work.

2. enable VNC server on your Raspberry Pi, and connect using VNC viewer installed on your PC or tablet; Instruction here:
   https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/vnc/

FYI urlrelay is used as a "mailbox" that lets the RPi (which knows its IP address) pass its URL to your browser (which doesn't know thr RPi's IP address). If you know the RPi's IP address, you don't need urlrelay, you can just connect to it directly if it is running noVNC.

[johan-66]

Thanks for the pointers and reply!

In "my generic case" I see two aspects where I will try to learn from the above and other sources..

• noVNC doesn't need a client side VNC, which has a number of advantages for me (I haven't the "VNC universe" actively, you packaging is sort of my first real life encounter ;-) )

• the "ease of use URL" is "obviously easier than to figure out the IP and/or config the router, I kind of like the thinking behind URLrelay

In my generic case I probably would like to access an RPi from the "real internet", and hence need to do some magic in the router. Still a "noVNC" solution would be on my wishlist, while the "URLrelay" part is slightly less relevant as there's a related "bigger" problem.

Will follow your pointers and see how far I get.

[kdoren]

@johan-66 If you want to access an RPi from outside internet, you will have security issues to deal with that are not present when only connecting from the same local network.

VNC viewer already handles this quite nicely, and it's free for personal use. They even have smartphone/table apps. That's what I would suggest.

[CAguayo]

I have a couple of scripts I add to the jambox setup that I call "phone home" functionality, sort of sounds like this is what Johan is after. It's basically an ssh tunnel that is set up at boot time and maintained throughout the session, providing a tunnel via port-forwarding so that I can hit the remote VNC URL from a local browser. My solution uses an AWS server as an intermediary, but a "DMZ" host on the local internet gateway could fill this role just as well. I haven't put the code into shareable form because nobody has expressed interest in it yet, but I'm happy to do so as soon as time permits. The pattern of port forwarding via ssh, though, is quite commonly used, and a quick google search could get you more than enough clear examples to get you started. Let me know if you're interested and I'll package my solution up. Carlos

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On Fri, Jan 29, 2021 at 10:19 AM Kevin Doren ***@***.***> wrote: @johan-66 <https://github.com/johan-66> If you want to access an RPi from outside internet, you will have security issues to deal with that are not present when only connecting from the same local network. VNC viewer already handles this quite nicely, and it's free for personal use. They even have smartphone/table apps. That's what I would suggest. — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#29 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABKJTEZRL6U464CXGIJ5JODS4L32XANCNFSM4WPVM2GA> .

[juvalisle]

Hi Carlos,
I would be interested in your solution how to set up the ssh tunnel to my AWS server.
Thanks,
Thuyen

[CAguayo]

Thanks, Thuyen. Looking it over, I feel like the scripts need to be organized before sharing widely, will see if I can create a standalone repo that puts just the phonehome functionality into a standalone solution that's easy to add to an existing RPi on Raspbian or Ubuntu. I'll see if I can get to this over the long weekend. Carlos

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On Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 2:24 AM juvalisle ***@***.***> wrote: Hi Carlos, I would be interested in your solution how to set up the ssh tunnel to my AWS server. Thanks, Thuyen — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#29 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABKJTEZG7FSTTILGV7DGLI3S66QGXANCNFSM4WPVM2GA> .