More Lin-Win-Lin remote access apps

VNC in Ubuntu 11.04 Fix
Vino, the VNC server that’s set up by default in Ubuntu 11.04, has a huge problem: it doesn’t refresh after the initial login. You can click and type and it’ll register, but it won’t actually redraw the screen. The following post has the solution:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10775950&postcount=13

In terminal, write the command:
gconf-editor
Then navigate to: desktop / gnome / remote_access. 

Enable the "disable_xdamage" setting.
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ubuntu-remote-desktop-builtin-vnc-compatible-dead-easy
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RealVNC Server on Ubuntu

[1]	Install VNC Server to operate Ubuntu with GUI from remote Windows client.

root@dlp:~#aptitude -y install vnc4server
root@dlp:~#

su - narwhal

# switch to a user who set VNC

narwhal@dlp:~$vncpasswd

# set VNC password

Password:

# any password you like to set

Verify:
narwhal@dlp:~$

vncserver :1

# start

xauth: file /home/narwhal/.Xauthority does not exist
New 'dlp:1 (narwhal)' desktop is dlp:1
Creating default startup script /home/narwhal/.vnc/xstartup
Starting applications specified in /home/narwhal/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/narwhal/.vnc/dlp:1.log
narwhal@dlp:~$

vncserver -kill :1

# stop

Killing Xvnc4 process ID 10540
narwhal@dlp:~$

vi .vnc/xstartup

# add follows

exec gnome-session &

# start with diplay number '1', screen resolution '800x600', color depth '24'

narwhal@dlp:~$

vncserver :1 -geometry 800x600 -depth 24

New 'dlp:1 (narwhal)' desktop is dlp:1
Starting applications specified in /home/narwhal/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/narwhal/.vnc/dlp:1.log-----------------------------------

[2]	Install VNC viewer on client computer next. Download from the site below to install. http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1/download.html Start VNC viewer after installing. Then following scrren is shown. Input [(Server's hostname or IP address):(display number)] like following example.

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Start a VNC Server on Ubuntu on Boot

Ubuntu makes many things easy. For example, with Gnome, it's very simple to set up remote access to your desktop with the included Vino application. The only problem is that to get the VNC server running, you have to be logged in! Luckily, it's not too difficult to create a script which starts up the server as soon as your system boots. This is especially handy if you are running a headless server, or are using the primary display for other purposes. In this case, my server runs MythTV on the normal X server connected to my TV, but starts up Azureus and K3B in a VNC session so I can access them without bothering those watching TV.

To set it up, follow these steps:

1. First, install the TightVNC server. This VNC server has excellent compatibility with clients, and provides reasonable compression for slow networks. It can be installed with Synaptic, or with sudo aptitude install tightvncserver.
2. Set up the VNC server for the user you wish to log in as. When you run "vncserver" for the first time, it will ask you to set a password. VNC authentication is not the strongest encryption available, so be sure to firewall your server from all but trusted machines. Better yet, deny direct access to VNC and only allow SSH tunnelled or VPN connections. To launch programs or a session when your VNC session starts, modify ~/.vnc/xstartup. Here is my copy of xstartup: it runs an icewm session, Azureus, and K3B. For Gnome, try running "gnome-session", and for KDE, try "startkde".

 more at source
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Adjust your firewall:
sudo ufw allow proto tcp from any to any port 5900:5999
VNC server setup for Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal)
simpler configuration!


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Empathy
If not installed use Ctrl - Alt - T
sudo apt-get install empathy
First enable the "Remote Desktop" option through System - Preferences - Remote Desktop and checked the service for this task 

You typically do not need to set up the share desktop feature before you use it. All you need is to make sure that the person on the other end is using Empathy. Simply right click on the person's name and select "Share My Desktop..."

You'll get this message while the other person gets a prompt.

The other person will see your desktop

When you're done there will be a final message to make sure the person is disconnected:

If the menu entry is grayed out it means that either the other person doesn't have support for it or you might be using a protocol that doesn't support the feature.

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 There is currently only one protocol-implementation in Telepathy (the library on which Empathy is built) that supports this: “gabble”, which implements XMPP (Jabber). Other protocols or other implementations of the XMPP-protocol, including local-XMPP (“People Nearby”), don't support it (yet).

So IF both you and the other person use XMPP with the Gabble plugin (the “Jabber” option in the Accounts dialog), it should work out of the box like Jorge explains.

Fortunately, it's easy & quick to set up a Jabber account; there are hundreds of servers that allow you to register an account from inside Empathy, or you can use your existing google account.