The main bottleneck for SSH X11 forwarding is transferring rendering bitmap data. For example, if your app is sized to full HD, i.e., 1920 pixels (width) by 1080 pixels (height) and using 32-bit color format (ARGB; 4 bytes), X11 forwarding needs to transfer about 8 Mbytes (1920 x 1080 x 4 bytes) for fully updating or displaying your remote X-Window GUI app on your local computer. X11 will try to update only the part where changes happened, but it is still a lot of bytes to transfer over network especially when your network is slow.

SSH supports compression and it certainly improves the responsiveness of X11 forwarding over slow network. But it treats the data stream as simple raw bytes; it does not specifically target rendering bitmap data with better compression methods such as JPEG.

SSH Compression Disadvantages

Requires more CPU processing

Effective for slow networks (e.g., under 20 ~ 50 Mbps), but counterproductive on high-speed networks (e.g., local LAN where 1 Gbps is common). For high-speed networks, SSH can transfer raw data faster than your CPU can compress and decompress them; enabling the compression only adds unnecessary delays.
Adds packet delays

Your server needs to compress the data before it is wrapped in SSH encrypted packet. Hence, along with the increased CPU usage, your server also needs to additionally manage memories before your compressed data is sent out.
No image optimization

The largest part of X11 data stream is rendering bitmap data. But the compression method in SSH does not distinguish such data and treats the entire stream as simple raw bytes. There are plenty of better compression methods for images such as JPEG, but you cannot utilize any of them in SSH X11 forwarding.

In this post, we will show you a different way of running X-Window GUI apps over SSH. Instead of using the compression option in SSH, we will make use of NX command-line tools that utilize JPEG/PNG image compression for remotely running X-Window GUI apps or a desktop environment.

Although you can use the method outlined in this post for any server-and-client configuration, we will focus on running X-Window GUI apps on a Unix-like server (e.g., Ubuntu) and forwarding them to a Windows computer with X410.

Pros	Cons
Better UI responsiveness due to image and data compression Can choose running either full desktop environment or individual apps Can recover from unexpectedly severed connections; you can return to the previous state of your GUI apps or desktop environment	Requires more CPU processing as well as server resources than using built-in SSH compression feature (apps or desktop environment will be running in a virtual or nested X-Window environment within the server) Requires additional steps to set up and start NX command-line tools Only text is reliably supported for clipboard sharing Known Issues In rootless mode where each app is displayed directly on Windows desktop, if X410 repositions a window in order to make it fully visible on desktop (e.g., when showing a right-click popup menu window), its new position is not correctly propagated back to the app; this makes mouse movements and clicks out of sync with the actual window displayed on desktop. This problem becomes more apparent when you have multiple screens with different resolution and/or scaling settings in Windows. In rootless mode, nxproxy periodically flashes a black window that covers full Windows desktop.

Pros

Cons

Better UI responsiveness due to image and data compression
Can choose running either full desktop environment or individual apps
Can recover from unexpectedly severed connections; you can return to the previous state of your GUI apps or desktop environment

Requires more CPU processing as well as server resources than using built-in SSH compression feature (apps or desktop environment will be running in a virtual or nested X-Window environment within the server)
Requires additional steps to set up and start NX command-line tools
Only text is reliably supported for clipboard sharing

Known Issues

In rootless mode where each app is displayed directly on Windows desktop, if X410 repositions a window in order to make it fully visible on desktop (e.g., when showing a right-click popup menu window), its new position is not correctly propagated back to the app; this makes mouse movements and clicks out of sync with the actual window displayed on desktop.

This problem becomes more apparent when you have multiple screens with different resolution and/or scaling settings in Windows.
In rootless mode, nxproxy periodically flashes a black window that covers full Windows desktop.

Required Tools

We will use the following tools for incorporating JPEG/PNG image compression in SSH X11 forwarding. Please note that we will not use the X11 forwarding feature in SSH; we will instead use the regular SSH local port forwarding and let NX tools manage X11 sessions.

Remote Unix-like Server	Local Windows
nxproxy nxagent nxdialog Those NX tools are originally released in 2003 and now maintained by ArcticaProject. There are fully packaged and integrated products based on those NX tools such as X2Go, but we will show a minimal setup that only utilizes those three command-line executables along with SSH and X410. nxproxy manages the connections and compression. nxagent connects to nxproxy and provides a virtual or nested X-Window environment for your X-Windows GUI apps or desktop; it tries to minimize X11 round-trip events and notify nxproxy when the selected image compression method should be applied. nxproxy can be used without nxagent, but it will compress the traffic as raw data without specifically targeting rendering bitmap; it will lose major performance benefits. nxdialog is used by nxagent for displaying messages and enquiries. Your Unix-like server should already have those NX tools in their ready-to-install software library. For example, if you are using Ubuntu or Debian, you can simply execute the following command. sudo apt install nxproxy nxagent nxdialog	nxproxy.exe ssh.exe (Windows built-in SSH client) X410 As of this writing, we were not able to find an installer or package that only includes nxproxy.exe for Windows. You need to install X2Go client for Windows and use nxproxy.exe from its installed folder or manually extract nxproxy.exe directly from X2Go installer using tools like 7-Zip. Please note that nxproxy.exe requires the following additional DLL files in order to properly run in Windows. cyggcc_s-1.dll cygjpeg-8.dll cygpng16-16.dll cygstdc++-6.dll cygwin1.dll cygXcomp.dll cygz.dll libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll libstdc++-6.dll libwinpthread-1.dll msvcr120.dll UPDATE One of our developers created a Github repository for building and packaging nxproxy.exe for Window (x64 only); it is directly built from the original source tree and has a different set of DLLs than the listed above: https://github.com/x410dev/win-nxproxy

Remote Unix-like Server

Local Windows

nxproxy
nxagent
nxdialog

Those NX tools are originally released in 2003 and now maintained by ArcticaProject. There are fully packaged and integrated products based on those NX tools such as X2Go, but we will show a minimal setup that only utilizes those three command-line executables along with SSH and X410.

nxproxy manages the connections and compression. nxagent connects to nxproxy and provides a virtual or nested X-Window environment for your X-Windows GUI apps or desktop; it tries to minimize X11 round-trip events and notify nxproxy when the selected image compression method should be applied. nxproxy can be used without nxagent, but it will compress the traffic as raw data without specifically targeting rendering bitmap; it will lose major performance benefits. nxdialog is used by nxagent for displaying messages and enquiries.

Your Unix-like server should already have those NX tools in their ready-to-install software library. For example, if you are using Ubuntu or Debian, you can simply execute the following command.

sudo apt install nxproxy nxagent nxdialog

nxproxy.exe
ssh.exe (Windows built-in SSH client)
X410

As of this writing, we were not able to find an installer or package that only includes nxproxy.exe for Windows. You need to install X2Go client for Windows and use nxproxy.exe from its installed folder or manually extract nxproxy.exe directly from X2Go installer using tools like 7-Zip.

Please note that nxproxy.exe requires the following additional DLL files in order to properly run in Windows.

cyggcc_s-1.dll
cygjpeg-8.dll
cygpng16-16.dll
cygstdc++-6.dll
cygwin1.dll
cygXcomp.dll
cygz.dll
libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll
libstdc++-6.dll
libwinpthread-1.dll
msvcr120.dll

UPDATE One of our developers created a Github repository for building and packaging nxproxy.exe for Window (x64 only); it is directly built from the original source tree and has a different set of DLLs than the listed above:

https://github.com/x410dev/win-nxproxy

Workflow

We will first use two Windows Terminals and show how nxproxy and nxagent should be started. We will then try to combine the steps into one Windows batch file.

Windows Command Prompt #1

Remote Server Prompt

Windows Command Prompt #2

Local Windows Command Prompt

Connect to your server using Windows built-in SSH client with its regular local port forwarding; this port forwarding is used for connecting the two nxproxy running on your server and Windows.

ssh.exe -L 20000:localhost:4008 <your-user-id>@<server-address>

Command-line Arguments

20000

Arbitrary number, but keep in mind that X-Window servers use port number 6000+<display_number> for its operations.

4008

nxproxy has its own display number and it maps to 4000+<nxproxy_display_number>. Hence, 4008 corresponds to the nxproxy display number 8.

Once you have a server command prompt, execute nxproxy in client mode in background:

nxproxy -C :8 link=adsl,pack=16m-jpeg-0 &

Command-line Arguments

-C

Client mode

nxproxy display number. This number is chosen arbitrary for simplicity.

link=adsl

modem, isdn, adsl, wan, lan, local

pack=16m-jpeg-0

pack=<bpp>-<method>-<quality>

<bpp> (Bits Per Pixel)

16m (16 million colors/24-bit), 64k (16-bit), 32k, 4k, 256, 16, mono

Converts the color depth to this setting before compression. For example, if this option is set to 256 colors (8-bit / 1 byte) and your X-Window GUI app is rendering in 16 million colors (24-bit / 3 bytes), nxproxy converts the color to 256 first and then apply the selected compression method.

Although this can reduce the number of bytes used for representing a pixel, you should adjust this option according to your choice of compression method. For example, you should be able to get faster and smaller compression result when you set this option to 16 million colors (i.e., 16m) for JPEG compression method.

Please also note that not all options are supported for every compression method; if the selected option is not supported, nxproxy will fall back to 'none' (no compression) for the 'pack' option.

<method> (Compression Method)

jpeg, png, rgb, rle, zlib, none

<quality> Quality Level

0 (low quality / high compression) to 9 (high quality / low compression)
Utilized by compression methods like JPEG.

set NX_HOME=%USERPROFILE%

You need to set this variable as nxproxy must be able to create various files for its operation. nxproxy creates a subfolder '.nx' under this folder. If you do not want to create a subfolder, you can instead use NX_ROOT environment variable.

nxproxy.exe -S localhost:16000

16000 is a display number for nxproxy and it is mapped to a TCP port number starting from 4000; 4000 (nxproxy starting TCP port number) + 16000 = 20000 (SSH local forwarded port number set up in Step 1).

If SSH port forwarding is correctly configured, you should be able to see a session started message on both terminals.

Start nxagent; nxagent is actually a nested X-Window server where your apps or desktop environment is running on.

nxagent -R -display nx/:8 :9 &

Command-line Arguments

-R

Rootless mode for running individual GUI programs. If no GUI apps are running, nxagent automatically closes the session and terminates itself.

-display nx/:8

The display number for nxproxy; nxagent connects to this nxproxy and forwards the output. This needs to be in sync with the nxproxy port number set in Step 1 above.

This is the display number for X-Window GUI apps. It can be any number; '9' is chosen arbitrarily.

START YOUR LINUX GUI APP!

Execute the following command to let X-Window GUI apps know where they can find an X-Window display server.

export DISPLAY=:9

Now you can run your X-Window GUI apps and use them on your local Windows computer.

google-chrome

If you take a screenshot of your GUI app on Windows and magnify it in an image editor, you should be able to notice the artifacts of JPEG image compression.

Windows Batch Script Version 1

The following shows a simple Windows batch script that incorporates the steps shown above. However, unlike the steps shown above where you can control the start timing of nxproxy and nxagent, this script simply starts nxproxy.exe and then executes nxproxy and nxagent from the server. Hence nxproxy.exe might fail to establish a connection if the SSH tunnel or nxproxy on your server is not ready in time. The next version 2 addresses this timing problem by using a Bash script on your server.

Please create the Windows batch script files in the same folder where nxproxy.exe exists. If you want to create them in a different folder, you should change the script to include the full path for nxproxy.exe, or update your Windows PATH environment variable and make nxproxy.exe executable from any folder without using its full path.

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Download as a File (start_nxproxy_v1.bat)

Bash Script for Starting nxproxy/nxagent

The following Bash script simplifies and improves setting up a nxproxy/nxagent session. After creating the Bash script file, it must be made executable using chmod command. For example, executing chmod u+x start_nxproxy.sh makes the script executable for only the user who owns it.

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#!/bin/bash
#
# This script is for demonstrating how nxproxy and nxagent command-line tools
# can be used for compressing X11 traffic.
#
# https://x410.dev/cookbook/compress-output-to-jpeg-png-and-boost-x11-forwarding-over-ssh
# Requires Bash version 4.3+
#

SCRIPT_NAME="${0##*/}"

if [ $# != 4 ]; then
    echo "Error: Wrong number of arguments."
    echo "Usage: $SCRIPT_NAME :x11_display_number nxproxy_options nxagent_options start_app"
    exit 1
fi

trap 'cleanup_on_exit' EXIT
trap 'cleanup_on_exit; exit 1' INT TERM

TMP_DIR=$(set -- $(mktemp -u); echo "${1%/*}")

LOGPIPE_NXPROXY="$TMP_DIR/$USER.nxproxy.log"
LOGPIPE_NXAGENT="$TMP_DIR/$USER.nxagent.log"

PID_NXPROXY=""
PID_NXAGENT=""
PID_NXAGENT_MONITOR=""

logpipe_ensure() {

local LOGPIPE="$1"

if [[ ! -p "$LOGPIPE" ]]; then
        mkfifo "$LOGPIPE"
    fi
}

logpipe_wait() {

local LOGPIPE="$1"
    local WAITFOR="$2"
    local TIMEOUT=$3
    local READOPTS=(-r)

if [[ -n "$TIMEOUT" && $TIMEOUT != 0 ]]; then
        READOPTS+=(-t $TIMEOUT)
    fi

# Read the pipe line-by-line until $WAITFOR is found
    while read "${READOPTS[@]}" line; do
        echo "$line"
        if [[ "$line" == *"$WAITFOR"* ]]; then
            return 1
        fi
    done < "$LOGPIPE"

return 0
}

logpipe_remove() {

rm -f "$1"
}

cleanup_on_exit() {

pkill -x "nxproxy"
    logpipe_remove "$LOGPIPE_NXPROXY"

if [[ -n "$PID_NXAGENT_MONITOR" ]]; then
        kill "$PID_NXAGENT_MONITOR" 2>/dev/null
    fi

if [[ -n "$PID_NXAGENT" ]] && ! kill -0 "$PID_NXAGENT" 2>/dev/null; then
        logpipe_remove "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT"
    fi
}

msg() {

echo "[$SCRIPT_NAME] $1"
}

start_and_wait() {

local WAITFOR="$2"
    local LOGPIPE="$3"
    local -n RET_EVAL_PID="$4"

msg "$1"
    logpipe_ensure "$LOGPIPE"

# Execute in background and monitor its output
    eval "exec $1 > $LOGPIPE 2>&1 &"

RET_EVAL_PID=$!
    disown $RET_EVAL_PID

logpipe_wait "$LOGPIPE" "$WAITFOR"
}

revive_nxagent() {

if [[ -n "$PID_NXAGENT" ]]; then
        if [[ -p "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT" ]]; then

msg "Reviving the previous nxagent session..."

for i in {1..10}; do

echo -n "."

# If nxagent is running, sending -HUP makes it suspended.
                # Sending -HUP to a suspended nxagent revives it and triggers it
                # connecting back to nxproxy and restoring previously active
                # GUI apps or the desktop.

kill -HUP $PID_NXAGENT

# Wait for 2 seconds and try again
                logpipe_wait "$LOGPIPE_NXPROXY" "Established X client connection" 2

if [ $? == 1 ]; then

local -n RET_RESTARTED="$1"

RET_RESTARTED=1
                    msg "Previous nxagent session is restored."

return 0
                fi
            done

echo
            msg "nxagent is not responding. Starting a new session..."

else
            msg "'$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT' is not found. Starting a new session..."
        fi

return 1
    fi

return 0
}

pkill -x "nxproxy"
logpipe_remove "$LOGPIPE_NXPROXY"

start_and_wait "nxproxy -C :8 $2" "Session started at" "$LOGPIPE_NXPROXY" "PID_NXPROXY"

PID_NXAGENT="$(pgrep -u $USER -x nxagent)"
RESTARTED=0

revive_nxagent "RESTARTED"
if [ $? != 0 ]; then

kill $PID_NXAGENT
    sleep 1

if [[ $PID_NXAGENT == "$(pgrep -u $USER -x nxagent)" ]]; then
        kill -9 $PID_NXAGENT
    fi

logpipe_remove "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT"
fi

if [[ $RESTARTED == 0 ]]; then

start_and_wait "nxagent $3 -display nx/:8 $1" "Session started" "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT" "PID_NXAGENT"
    #start_and_wait "nxagent $3 -ac -keystrokefile ~/none.keystrokes -display nx/:8 $1" "Session started" "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT" "PID_NXAGENT"
    
    # -ac
    #
    # Disables host-based access control; enables access by any host
    # and permits any host to modify the access control list.
    #
    # -keystrokefile
    #
    # If you want to remove all nxagent keyboard shortcuts in order to prevent
    # accidentally pressing a shortcut and making Windows inaccessible, you can
    # create an XML file (ex. ~/none.keystrokes) with the following content and
    # use '-keystrokefile' option.
    #
    #   <!DOCTYPE NXKeystroke>
    #   <keystrokes>
    #   </keystrokes>

msg "Starting '$4'..."
    DISPLAY=:9 $4 &
fi

# Monitor output from nxagent
(
    while read -r line; do
        echo "$line"
        case "$line" in
            *"Session suspended at"*)
                pkill -x "nxproxy"
            break
            ;;
            *"Session terminated at"*)
                pkill -x "nxproxy"
                logpipe_remove "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT"
            break
            ;;
        esac
    done < "$LOGPIPE_NXAGENT"
) >/dev/null 2>&1 &

PID_NXAGENT_MONITOR=$!

# Workaround to wait for a detached process
tail --pid=$PID_NXPROXY -f /dev/null

# Wait for $PID_NXAGENT_MONITOR to finish
timeout 1s tail --pid=$PID_NXAGENT_MONITOR -f /dev/null

Download as a File (start_nxproxy.sh)

nxagent Command-line Arguments (Line #172)

-ac

Disables host-based access control; enables access by any host and permits any host to modify the access control list.

-keystrokefile

nxagent has its own keyboard shortcuts for changing its states or attributes. For example, in its default settings, CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+F toggles the full screen mode while displaying a desktop. If you want to remove all nxagent keyboard shortcuts in order to prevent accidentally pressing a shortcut and making Windows inaccessible, you can create an XML file (ex. ~/none.keystrokes) with the following content and use -keystrokefile option.

<!DOCTYPE NXKeystroke>
<keystrokes>
</keystrokes>

If you somehow end up triggering a shortcut and cannot disable it, do not panic! First, check if the window for nxagent is selected in Windows Taskbar (clicking the nxagent window may not be enough to change the selection). If not selected, use Windows keyboard shortcut, i.e., ALT+TAB, and pick the nxagent window. Once selected, press the same shortcut you used on nxagent; it should make nxagent return to its original state.

Testing Bash Script

	Windows Command Prompt #1 Remote Server Prompt	Windows Command Prompt #2 Local Windows Command Prompt
1	Connect to your server using Windows built-in SSH client with its regular local port forwarding; this port forwarding is used for connecting the two nxproxy running on your server and Windows. ssh.exe -L 20000:localhost:4008 <your-user-id>@<server-address> Once you have a server command prompt, execute the script with the following arguments: start_nxproxy.sh :x11_display_number nxproxy_options nxagent_options start_app For example, executing the following command combines the Step 1 and 3 of the workflow shown above: start_nxproxy.sh :9 link=adsl,pack=16m-jpeg-0 -R google-chrome When `start_nxproxy.sh` is started, it starts nxproxy and waits for nxproxy.exe to make a connection from your local computer. Once nxproxy.exe is connected, the script automatically proceeds to start nxagent and launches `google-chrome`. Hence, you do not need to push the script to background and manually wait to execute nxagent from the server. If you want to start additional X11 Window apps, you can start a terminal emulator like `xterm` instead of `google-chrome` and execute your GUI apps within that terminal. You can of course also press `CTRL+Z` and execute `bg` command for the script to run in background, and start other GUI apps within the same SSH session; in this case you must first set the DISPLAY environment variable before starting your GUI apps: export DISPLAY=:9
2		Start nxproxy.exe just like in the steps shown above. set NX_HOME=%USERPROFILE% nxproxy.exe -S localhost:16000

Windows Command Prompt #1

Remote Server Prompt

Windows Command Prompt #2

Local Windows Command Prompt

Connect to your server using Windows built-in SSH client with its regular local port forwarding; this port forwarding is used for connecting the two nxproxy running on your server and Windows.

ssh.exe -L 20000:localhost:4008 <your-user-id>@<server-address>

Once you have a server command prompt, execute the script with the following arguments:

start_nxproxy.sh :x11_display_number nxproxy_options nxagent_options start_app

For example, executing the following command combines the Step 1 and 3 of the workflow shown above:

start_nxproxy.sh :9 link=adsl,pack=16m-jpeg-0 -R google-chrome

When start_nxproxy.sh is started, it starts nxproxy and waits for nxproxy.exe to make a connection from your local computer. Once nxproxy.exe is connected, the script automatically proceeds to start nxagent and launches google-chrome. Hence, you do not need to push the script to background and manually wait to execute nxagent from the server.

If you want to start additional X11 Window apps, you can start a terminal emulator like xterm instead of google-chrome and execute your GUI apps within that terminal. You can of course also press CTRL+Z and execute bg command for the script to run in background, and start other GUI apps within the same SSH session; in this case you must first set the DISPLAY environment variable before starting your GUI apps:

export DISPLAY=:9

Start nxproxy.exe just like in the steps shown above.

set NX_HOME=%USERPROFILE%
nxproxy.exe -S localhost:16000

Windows Batch Script Version 2

The following Windows Batch script uses start_nxproxy.sh shown above and improves starting a nxproxy/nxagent session from Windows computer. Please note that this batch script assumes start_nxproxy.sh is in ~/bin folder on your server.

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@echo OFF

set "NXPROXY_PORT=20000"
set "SCRIPT_NAME=%~nx0"

if "%~1"=="" (
	goto :ERROR
)

netstat -ano | findstr /R /C:":%NXPROXY_PORT% .*LISTENING" >nul

if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 (
	echo Port %NXPROXY_PORT% is currently IN USE.
	goto :END
)

set "REMOTE_APP=%~2"
if "%REMOTE_APP%"=="" (
	set "REMOTE_APP=xterm"
)

set "NXAGENT_OPTS=%~3"
if "%NXAGENT_OPTS%"=="" (
	set "NXAGENT_OPTS=-R"
)

set "SSH_EXE=ssh.exe"
set "SSH_ARGS=-L 20000:localhost:4008 %~1 ~/bin/start_nxproxy.sh :9 "link=adsl,pack=16m-jpeg-0" "%NXAGENT_OPTS%" %REMOTE_APP%"
set "SSH_WAITFOR=Waiting for connection from"

echo %SSH_EXE% %SSH_ARGS%

powershell -NoProfile -Command ^
    "$si = [System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo]@{ FileName = '%SSH_EXE%'; Arguments = '%SSH_ARGS%'; RedirectStandardOutput = $true; UseShellExecute = $false; CreateNoWindow = $false };" ^
    "$proc = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start($si);" ^
    "while (!$proc.StandardOutput.EndOfStream) {" ^
        "$line = $proc.StandardOutput.ReadLine();" ^
        "Write-Host $line;" ^
        "if ($line -match '%SSH_WAITFOR%') { break }" ^
    "}" ^
    "if ($proc.HasExited) {" ^
         "exit 1;" ^
    "}" ^
	"Write-Host 'Starting nxproxy.exe...';" ^
    "$env:NX_HOME = '%USERPROFILE%';" ^
    "Start-Process -FilePath '.\nxproxy.exe' -ArgumentList '-S localhost:16000' -Wait -WindowStyle Hidden;" & call:SIGINT

:SUCCESS
goto :CLEANUP

:SIGINT
:: Workaround to suppress 'Terminate batch job (Y/N)?'
exit /b 0

:ERROR
echo Usage: %SCRIPT_NAME% userid@server_address remote_start_app [nxagent_options]
goto :END

:CLEANUP
:: Terminate 'nxproxy.exe' silently if it is still running.
TASKKILL /F /IM nxproxy.exe >nul 2>&1

:END

Download as a File (start_nxproxy_v2.bat)

Running a Desktop Environment

Set X410 to 'Windowed Apps' mode

nxagent creates its own window for your desktop environment, hence you should not use the 'Floating Desktop' mode in X410.
Start nxagent with -D option

You should also use '-geometry' option to set the initial window size; without this option, nxagent tries to use the full screen size of your Windows desktop.
Start a window manager

For the desktop mode in nxagent, you need to start your own window manager. If you have installed a desktop environment on your server (ex. Xfce), you just need to launch its startup script (ex. startxfce4) and you do not need to worry about window manager or taskbar. But if you are just using a window manager (ex. openbox) in order to save server resources such as memory and CPU usage, please be aware that window managers for X-Window commonly do not include a taskbar where minimized apps are displayed and can be restored. Please check your window manager and make sure how minimized apps are handled. For example, when you minimize an app while using openbox, it disappears. But you can easily restore it by using the middle-click popup menu in openbox; you can of course install and run a separate taskbar such as tint2.

The following command shows an example of starting a desktop with openbox as its window manager using the previous Bash script version 2.
```
start_nxproxy.sh :9 "link=adsl,pack=16m-jpeg-0" "-D -geometry 1024x768 -name 'My Window Title'" openbox
```

Boost X11 forwarding over SSH with JPEG/PNG Compression

SSH Compression Disadvantages

Required Tools

Workflow

START YOUR LINUX GUI APP!

Windows Batch Script Version 1

Bash Script for Starting nxproxy/nxagent

Testing Bash Script

Windows Batch Script Version 2

Running a Desktop Environment

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