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Remote X server or VNC?

Here's the story. I have two machines, one is an old 800mhz laptop with 128 mb of RAM, the other is a stationery, powerful AMD64 machine. I work at a web development studio and hence I need to use the full-quality AMD64 machine for development. However, I'm unable to do so because we have no room in the office to install a stationery desktop PC. The 800mhz laptop with 128mb of RAM obviously isn't sufficient, even with XFCE (takes 3 minutes to open firefox). Here is my solution: I will set up the desktop PC with KDE 4, throw in 2 LAN cards, and put it somewhere unseen. One of the LAN cards will be for a dedicated line, connected to my laptop (crossover or thru switch). The other LAN card will be used to allow the machine to access the office network/internet. Basically, I wanna use the laptop as a "thin client", with all the processing happening on the desktop machine, with the laptop only used for display and input. Since the remote desktop setup will be on a dedicated line, bandwidth is not an issue. Should I set it up to have the laptop open a Remote X connection, or act as a VNC client? Which will be faster and/or more responsive? I need as little mem/cpu load on the laptop as possible. Thanks in advance

Public Comments

1. Both options really provide about he same. Remote desktop is probably the best way to go. You really don't need a cross-over cable to do this. The traffic for Remote Desktop isn't enough to require a second line.