[arch-general] startx on arch vm running on ESXI (when accessed via ssh - do I need a DM?)

[Ista Zahn]

I've used x2go for this sort of thing and have generally been impressed.
Setup instructions are on the wiki,
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X2Go

--Ista
On Mar 18, 2016 3:21 PM, "David C. Rankin" <drankinatty at suddenlinkmail.com>
wrote:

> All,
>
>   When I ended up with a hand-me-down supermicro server from a local ISP, I
> decided to try virtualizing all my hosts. The company I got this from
> recommended vmware ESXI as the hypervisor. It was a pleasant surprise to
> find
> that ESXI is a basic Linux system. (albeit a very limited and quirky
> setup).
>
>   I've installed Arch as the first vm, assigning 8-cores and 16G of RAM.
> It is
> up and running fine. (it is installed on a raid1 array volume from a LSI
> controller which exists as a single datastore in esxi -- if that makes any
> difference)
>
>   I am trying to setup fluxbox on arch so I can access the vm via rdesktop
> (or
> something similar) via a GUI on a as needed basis. I would rather not have
> a
> display manager running all the time, so I'm attempting to use the startx
> route.
>
>   I've used the following to try and get this going:
>
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fluxbox
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/xorg
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Display_manager
>
>   The configuration is good, but I'm stuck attempting to start X. X is
> refusing
> to start due to the fact I'm accessing Arch by ssh. When I try to start x,
> I
> receive the following error telling me that "Only console users are
> allowed":
>
> $ startx
>
> /usr/lib/xorg-server/Xorg.wrap: Only console users are allowed to run the
> X server
>
> xinit: giving up
> xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
> xinit: server error
> Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console
>
>   I understand that it wants X only to be started from the actual physical
> console, but when I access the vm over ssh, I don't have one. (I am
> starting the
> vm, ssh'ed into esxi with 'vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on 1', so there is no
> console
> anywhere else)
>
>   What would be the best solution? Have arch boot to the graphical target
> loading a display manager? ... or is there some way I can simply startx as
> needed so I don't leave the dm running all the time on the vm? Thanks for
> any
> help you can provide.
>
> --
> David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
>