Fully Integrated KDE NX Client

Synopsis

Goals

My personal goal is to integrate an NX client fully into KDE. At the same time, the actual client app should go with as little bothering as possible about what the "outside NX world" decides to put into their next set of features.

I will use an external library to deal with the ins and outs of NX sessions. I will concentrate my work on the KDE Integration and User Interface side.

Context

As my first approximation to the final goal, I will use and build on the nxc library as hosted by the FreeNX Project. This library is said by the FreeNX people to be "roughly working", but needing "much more polish", "lots of feature additions" and "quite some bug fixing". The FreeNX people are hoping to be able to offer a better nxc or successor lib next spring, after implementing the new NX 1.5.0 features this autumn.

However, even the most complete NX client library in and of itself does not yet give a fully end-user fitting application, nor does it provide a full integration into modern desktop environments like KDE. My KDE NX Client will provide this missing link, but rely on an external NX client lib to provide the NX specific functions the user wants to use.

NoMachine NX

NoMachine NX is described on their Freshmeat website entry:

NoMachine NX is a fast terminal server system based on the X11 protocol.

In addition, NX also translates and embeds the MS Windows Terminal Server and VNC protocols into X/NX. NX is an order of magnitude faster than VNC or X11 and can run on bandwidth as narrow as 40 kBit/sec. NX lets you work fluently even across slow links like modems. The NX project provides efficient transport of X11, SMB, IPP, HTTP, and arbitrary protocols like audio over the Internet.

FreeNX is a free implementation of a NoMachine/NX-compatible terminal server. It makes use of NoMachine's NX command line tools more convenient and less error prone.

The State of NX Clients

The NoMachine NX client is working very well, but it is a mere standalone application, that does not integrate well into KDE.

KDE has an own NX client implementation ("knx" in the kdenonbeta Subversion source code repository). knx is shipped with SUSE-9.3 Professional (but only on the DVD, not the CD). It is characterised by one KDE Project member (Kurt Pfeifle) in a private mail exchange like this:

knx works.. well, sort of. But it never went beyond 'proof of concept' stage. It is the result of a half-day hack during LinuxTag 2004. Unfortunately, since that date, no progress was made. The original authors didn't have any time free to get it into a really polished shape, let alone to integrate it more deeply into KDE. It does not even work well as a standalone application. Other duties of life, such as university exams and job took their toll and let knx suffer from negligence. (Free)NX as well as KDE deserve better than the current proof-of-concept kNX state. (permission to quote this here given by Kurt)

Design Criteria of the KDE NX Client