Introduction
This article documents the procedure to access a desktop environment on headless Jetson carriers through NoMachine.
Prerequisites
On the host machine: The latest version of NoMachine - https://downloads.nomachine.com/
On the Jetson Device: You will need the appropriate CTI BSP flashed to the device. You will also need a connection to the device through either SSH or Serial (Note: In order to connect the device through NoMachine an IP will be required)
On Jetson
Download and Install NoMachine.
$ sudo apt update
$ wget https://www.nomachine.com/free/arm/v8/deb -O nomachine.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i nomachine.deb
Download and configure the desktop environment. Note: Other desktop environments can
be used but xfce has a smaller cpu utilization footprint than alternatives.
$ sudo apt install xfce4
$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target
$ sudo /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --restart
$ sudo vim /usr/NX/etc/node.cfg
Within the node.cfg file, find DefaultDesktopCommand and change the line to following:
DefaultDesktopCommand "/usr/bin/startxfce4"
$ sudo reboot
On Host
Add the Jetson device as a new connection on NoMachine through the Jetson’s IP address.
Ensure that you select yes when asked to create a new desktop environment on first
connection.