VNC connection with Raspberrypi and Linux Mint

Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a graphical desktop sharing system that uses the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB)to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard and mouse events from one computer to another, relaying the graphical screen updates back in the other direction, over a network. (source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing)

The steps to setup a VNC connection to Raspberrypi from a laptop running linux mint are described here

1) Install VNC server on Raspberrypi for remote desktop connection

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sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver

vncserver :1  ##launch vnc server on pi 

You will have to set the password for the connection.

In case you forget the password use sudo vncpasswd to change vnc password. :)

Now lets configure pi a bit -

sudo raspi-config  

Go to Advanced options >VNC >enable    ## enable VNC server

2) Find out Raspberrypi's IP

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Open a terminal in pi and type

hostname -I             ## This is a much simpler way to obtain the pi's ip

ifconfig                   ## or else use ifconfig to get pi's IP (etho> inet addr) for example 169.254.1.193

##  Please note down the ip of the pi for example 169.254.1.193

3) Install vnc viewer on the laptop/PC

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sudo apt-get install xtightvncviewer

4) Connect to pi using VNC viewer

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Launch another terminal on the laptop/pc

vncviewer

enter ip of the raspberry pi optained from step 2

169.254.1.193:1  ( ip:1)

enter password: your password

5) Launch VNC server on Raspberrypi boot

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To configure for VNC server auto start as a service when the Pi boots up:

Open any text editor in pi (nano/vi) to create a file to auto start Tight VNC Server

sudo nano /etc/init.d/tightvncserver

Type in the following in the file :

#!/bin/bash

### BEGIN INIT INFO

# Provides:          tightvncserver

# Required-Start:    $syslog

# Required-Stop:     $syslog

# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5

# Default-Stop:      0 1 6

# Short-Description: vnc server

# Description:

#

### END INIT INFO

#!/bin/sh

# /etc/init.d/tightvncserver

# Set the VNCUSER variable to the name of the user to start tightvncserver under

VNCUSER='pi'

case "$1" in

  start)

    su $VNCUSER -c '/usr/bin/tightvncserver :1'

    echo "Starting TightVNC server for $VNCUSER"

    ;;

  stop)

    pkill Xtightvnc

    echo "Tightvncserver stopped"

    ;;

  *)

    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/tightvncserver {start|stop}"

    exit 1

    ;;

esac

exit 0

Press Ctrl+x, then Y to save the file

Edit the permissions of this file to make it executable and active

sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/tightvncserver

sudo update-rc.d tightvncserver defaults

sudo reboot

That's it you are done :)