VirtualGL on Ubuntu

VirtualGL

A small guide to setup VirtualGL and VNC on Ubuntu:

Inititalization

First, make your choice between TurboVNC or TigerVNC, both support VirtualGL with diffrences, make your mind on this page describing the differences between the 2: link

In the following, we will use TurboVNC.

Download the following packages for the server:

• The .deb package for VirtualGL on sourceforge (latest version: 2.4.1)
• The .deb package for TurboVNC on sourceforge (latest version: 2.0)

Installation

• Make sure you have drivers with 3D acceleration installed. Example for nvidia:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-346-dev
# Configure xorg.conf
sudo nvidia-xconfig

• Ubuntu uses DKMS to dynamically build the modules, so the nvidia drive module should be in /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/updates/dkms/. The driver also seems to be name after the version installed, e.g. if you installed nvidia-352, the module to load should be named nvidia_352.

• If you plan to reconfigure your X server with X -configure, do not remove the nouveau driver, otherwise you might end up with an error of the type [drm] KMS not enabled in X log (see link)

• Install virtualgl on Ubuntu, by installing the deb link

sudo dpkg -i virtualgl_2.4.1_amd64.deb

• Grant access to the 3D X server link

# log as root
service lightdm stop
/opt/VirtualGL/bin/vglserver_config
# See link for how to answer question
# For maximum sevurity answer recommended answers

# Add root to the vglusers group

service lightdm start

# Sanity check for restricted access to 3D X Server
xauth merge /etc/opt/VirtualGL/vgl_xauth_key
xdpyinfo -display :0
/opt/VirtualGL/bin/glxinfo -display :0 -c
# Check that the Graphic card is indeed used and not Mesa

• Install TurboVNC link

sudo dpkg -i turbovnc_2.0_amd64.deb

For the TurboVNC clients, you can find them at the same address

Use

• Launch the vncserver on the server. Possible options:

  • -opt: enable One Time Password
  • -geometry x: specify size of the window

• Connect using TurboVNC client. (The screen will appear black but X is launched)

• In a terminal on the server

  • export the DISPLAY variable to the value used by vncserver
  • Launch an X App (with vglrun to have 3D acceleration)

• To use a desktop environment, you can launch the following application:

gnome-wm &
gnome-panel &

Tips

• Export PATH variables:

export PATH=/opt/TurboVNC/bin:$PATH