Changing the resolution of a VNC session in linux

Real VNC server 4.4 includes support for Xrandr, which allows resizing the VNC. Start the server with:

vncserver -geometry 1600x1200 -randr 1600x1200,1440x900,1024x768

Then resize with:

xrandr -s 1600x1200
xrandr -s 1440x900
xrandr -s 1024x768

I think your best best is to run the VNC server with a different geometry on a different port. I would try based on the man page

$vncserver :0 -geometry 1600x1200
$vncserver :1 -geometry 1440x900

Then you can connect from work to one port and from home to another.

Edit: Then use xmove to move windows between the two x-servers.

Guys this is really simple.

login via ssh into your pi

execute

vncserver -geometry 1200x1600

This will generate a new session :1

connect with your vnc client at ipaddress:1

Thats it.

Solution by @omiday worked for me in Xvnc TigerVNC 1.1.0, so I condensed it into a single bash function vncsize x y. Use it like this: vncsize 1400 1000. It works for any VNC output name, "default" or "VNC-0".

function vncsize {
    local x=$1 y=$2
    local mode
    if mode=$(cvt "$x" "$y" 2>/dev/null)
    then
        if [[ $mode =~ "Modeline (.*)$" ]]
        then
            local newMode=${BASH_REMATCH[1]//\"/}
            local modeName=${newMode%% *}
            local newSize=( ${modeName//[\"x_]/ } )
            local screen=$(xrandr -q|grep connected|cut -d' ' -f1)
            xrandr --newmode $newMode
            xrandr --addmode "$screen" "$modeName"
            xrandr --size "${newSize[0]}x${newSize[1]}" &&
                return 0
        else
            echo "Unable to parse modeline for ($x $y) from $mode"
            return 2
        fi
    else
        echo "\`$x $y' is not a valid X Y pair"
        return 1
    fi
}

I'm not sure about linux, but under windows, tightvnc will detect and adapt to resolution changes on the server.

So you should be able to VNC into the workstation, do the equivalent of right-click on desktop, properties, set resolution to whatever, and have your client vnc window resize itself accordingly.

On the other hand, if there's a way to move an existing window from one X-server to another, that might solve the problem.

I think you can use xmove to move windows between two separate x-servers. So if it works, this should at least give you a way to do what you want albeit not as easily as changing the resolution.

As far as I know there's no way to change the client's resolution just using VNC, as it is just a "monitor mirroring" application.

TightVNC however (which is a VNC client and server application) can resize the screen on the client side, i.e. making everything a little smaller (similar to image resizing techniques in graphics programs). That should work if you don't use too small font sizes. VNC should theoretically be compatible between different VNC applications.

I think that depends on your window manager.

I'm a windows user, so this might be a wrong guess, but: Isn't there something called X-Server running on linux machines - at least on ones that might be interesting targets for VNC - that you can connect to with "X-Clients"?

VNC just takes everything that's on the screen and "tunnels it through your network". If I'm not totally wrong then the "X" protocol should give you the chance to use your client's desktop resolution.

Give X-Server on Wikipedia a try, that might give you a rough overview.