ajaxWM is a window manager in a web browser, a terminal emulator and an SSH proxy. It allows remote controlling a computer even when there is a firewall and packet analyzer between, blocking everything else than HTTP(S)-connections. Because the ajaxWM client runs in any javascript-capable web browser, you can even use it when you are not allowed to install any software, for example in an internet café, at school, or at work.
A comparison of some remote controlling tools:
| SSH | Mindterm | ajaxterm | ajaxWM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| client-to-go | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| tunnelling SSH through HTTP(S) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| multiple windows in one session | No | No | No | Yes |
| unicode support | Yes | ? | No | Yes |
If you are having any problems with ajaxWM please contact us using the users mailing list or per e-mail.
An SSH daemon has to be running. If that already is the case, you can skip this step. You can run the SSH daemon like this in gentoo:
$ su # /etc/init.d/sshd start
Now you are able install and run ajaxWM like this:
$ wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ajaxwm/ajaxwm-0.2.6.tar.gz" $ tar xfz ajaxwm-0.2.6.tar.gz $ cd ajaxwm-0.2.6/src $ ./ajaxwm.py $ firefox localhost:8022
You can now login to your local pc using the firefox (or whatever browser you are using) window, which just showed up. If your login doesn't work, have a look at your SSHd config. When you are logged in, you can create new windows by pressing CTRL + ALT + W and close them with a CTRL + ALT + C.
When everything is running locally you probably want to make ajaxWM accessible on some network (like the internet). In order to do this you have to setup a web server (locally), which proxies incoming HTTPS-connections to ajaxWM and vice versa. If you don't have an SSL certificate you have to create one first:
$ su # openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -out /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem \ -keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem # chmod 600 /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem
You can create a htpasswd file for Apache to secure the access with a username and password:
# htpasswd2 -c /etc/apache2/htpasswd bob
Here is an exemplary apache configuration you can use to proxy ajaxWM:
Listen 443
NameVirtualHost *:443
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName ajaxwm.yourdomain.org
SSLEngine On
SSLCertificateKeyFile ssl/apache.pem
SSLCertificateFile ssl/apache.pem
ProxyRequests Off
<Proxy *>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "remote Shell Access"
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/htpasswd
Require user tom
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Proxy>
ProxyPass / http://localhost:8022/
ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8022/
</VirtualHost>
Now after restarting Apache ajaxWM should be reachable on the set address.
ajaxWM does not work in $BROWSER.
ajaxWM is in alpha-state and does only run in firefox by now. The client will be rewritten in proper "JS-OOP" using prototype.js and HasslichScript.
Failing login with passwords containing ampersands ("&") and some other special characters.
Fixed in the development branch (svn) and in all versions above 0.2.6. There is also a patch available.
Why is there no question?
Because no one asked anything.
If you have a question, which is not answered here, don't hesitate to ask us!
