Ubuntu 16.04: Connect to GNOME Flashback desktop environment via XRDP

This article will describe installing GNOME Flashback desktop environment and XRDP, and connecting to GNOME Flashback desktop environment via XRDP.

1 Install GNOME Flashback desktop environment

Install the following packages.

$ sudo apt install -y gnome-panel metacity

2 Install TigerVNC

Install TigerVNC with the following script.

#!/bin/sh

set -e

# Install TigerVNC.
sudo apt remove -y vnc4server
sudo apt-get install -y git devscripts xserver-xorg-dev

mkdir tigervnc
cd tigervnc

git clone https://github.com/TigerVNC/tigervnc
cd tigervnc/
git checkout ff872614b507d0aa8bfbd09ef41550390cfe658a

ln -s contrib/packages/deb/ubuntu-xenial/debian
chmod a+x debian/rules
sudo apt install -y $(dpkg-checkbuilddeps 2>&1 | \
                        sed -e 's/.*build dependencies://g' -e 's/([^)]*)//g')
fakeroot debian/rules binary
cd ..

sudo dpkg -i ./*.deb || (sudo apt -f install -y && sudo dpkg -i ./*.deb)
cd ..

3 Install XRDP

Install XRDP.

$ sudo apt install -y xrdp

4 Create ~/.xsessionrc

Create .xsessionrc in home directory of user to be connected.

$ cat <<EOF > ~/.xsessionrc
gnome-panel &
metacity &
EOF

5 Connect to GNOME Flashback desktop environment via XRDP

The rdesktop connection is as the following.