Neatx: Google Releases Its Own NX Server

Jul 09, 2009

Internet giant Google is now entering the terminal server market. With Neatx, its own Python adaptation of the FreeNX sources, a GPL server has recently become available.

According to a blog-cum-press-release, the search engine wizards have long had an eye on NX. The technological advancement and the licensing under GPL by its maker NoMachine was the impetus.

Google itself calls the Neatx software proof-of-concept. It uses open source from another Google project, Ganeti, a cluster manager tool for virtualization systems such as Xen and KVM. In the medium term Neatx should fluidly remedy virtualized systems and terminal server connections with high latencies, most often the case in mobile wireless setups.

The NX technology was originally developed by Italian company NoMachine, the base libraries having been under GPL since 2003 and also being developed by FreeNX since 2004. A number of terminal server projects such as X2go and OpenNX build on NX.

NX's strength lies in its compression and intelligent proxying, where almost every X event on the terminal server interface has a corresponding compression or caching algorithm available to it. Thus fluid sessions of 5 to 10 Kbits per second are common. The NX client can connect Mac, Linux or Windows with Linux, Windows or VNC servers and brings along a good number of management functions in its commercial version from NoMachine.

Related content

  • Remote Terminal Service with NX

    NX provides fast terminal services, even over slow connections.

    more »
  • X2Go

    The open source X2Go project is rapidly approaching version 3, which adds features such as new clients and seamless windows.

    more »
  • Remote Administration

    Remote desktop applications allow remote access to machines, including desktop sharing, which makes them useful assistants in both the personal and professional spheres. We look at a few candidates.

    more »
  • Admin's Little Helpers

    Smartphones and tablets have lost their gadget status and become part of the system administrator's tool kit. We look at the most important apps for admins.

    more »
  • Remote Control Intro

    You can optimize your network by letting your systems share screen images, CPU cycles, and even mouse clicks. This month we look at remote control and terminal service technologies.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Issue 272/2023

Buy this issue as a PDF

Digital Issue: Price $12.99
(incl. VAT)

Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source