Screensharing in Linux with GoToMeeting

Screensharing appears to be a weak part of Linux desktop. Among solutions that do work I have successful experience with TeamViewer and Mikogo. Both of them are not perfect, but they run more or less natively on Linux.
These two were no the case for the event I needed to share my screen for :). Ideally I needed GoToMeeting and made it to share my screen! This instructions should work with most (if not any) of available screensharing solution for Windows.

Prerequisites:

In parenthesis I referred to software I was using.

1. Windows running on either virtual machine (even non-virtual would work if you have spare one) (Windows XP on VirtualBox)
2. VNC server running on your Linux desktop (x11vnc)
3. VNC client on your Windows PC (TightVNC)

Basic idea:

You should have guessed what I'm going to do next :) I explain if not. You share the screen of you Windows PC with screensharing tool of your choice. But what the screen will display is fullscreen VNC client connected to your Linux desktop. I suppose there might be some video issues with the way how VNC client draws the picture and the way screensharing tool captures the screen, that's why I mentioned what software I was using.

Setup:

For sharing my desktop on Linux I ran x11vnc like that:
$ x11vnc -display :0 -auth ~/.Xauthority -forever -nap -noxdamage

Then I had to start another XServer instance to avoid effect of 'endless refraction' (e.g. VNC client shows your desktop running virtual machine with Windows with VNC client showing you desktop...) using:
$ startx -- :1

On the second XServer I ran VirtualBox, started my virtual Windows PC, ran TightVNC and connected to my host Linux box. (At this stage you VNC may not work smoothly, looks like XServer detects that it's not active at the moment and does not update the screen when you try to move windows from within VNC client.) Now start you screen sharing session and once it's started enter fullscreen mode in your VNC client. Now you could minimize you virtual PC window and switch to first XServer (Ctrl+Alt+F7 in my case, your may differ).

That's it and you may lead your presentation :)

Variations:

• On dual-screen setup you could share only one screen with
  $ x11vnc -display :0 -auth ~/.Xauthority -forever -nap -noxdamage -clip 1680x1050+0+0
  and thus you may try to avoid switching between different XServer by running VirtualBox instance on second screen.
• Gnome users may use vino instead of x11vnc, though I haven't tried this.

Meaningful error message from IBM WebSphere

Seeing this on your WebSphere application server startup?

00000000 ContainerHelp E   WSVR0501E: Error creating component com.ibm.ws.cluster.runtime.ProcessRuntimeImpl
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com.ibm.websphere.cluster.topography.DescriptionManagerFactory (initialization failure)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:140)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.runtime.ProcessRuntimeImpl.initialize(ProcessRuntimeImpl.java:366)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerHelper.initWsComponent(ContainerHelper.java:1166)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerHelper.initializeComponent(ContainerHelper.java:1073)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerHelper.initializeComponents(ContainerHelper.java:874)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerImpl.initializeComponents(ContainerImpl.java:780)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerImpl.initializeComponents(ContainerImpl.java:754)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ServerImpl.initialize(ServerImpl.java:350)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServerImpl.bootServerContainer(WsServerImpl.java:280)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServerImpl.start(WsServerImpl.java:214)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServerImpl.main(WsServerImpl.java:666)
        at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServer.main(WsServer.java:59)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:599)
        at com.ibm.wsspi.bootstrap.WSLauncher.launchMain(WSLauncher.java:213)
        at com.ibm.wsspi.bootstrap.WSLauncher.main(WSLauncher.java:93)
        at com.ibm.wsspi.bootstrap.WSLauncher.run(WSLauncher.java:74)
        at org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.PlatformActivator$1.run(PlatformActivator.java:78)
        at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:92)
        at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:68)
        at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:400)
        at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:177)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:599)
        at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:340)
        at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:282)
        at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:981)
        at com.ibm.wsspi.bootstrap.WSPreLauncher.launchEclipse(WSPreLauncher.java:330)
        at com.ibm.wsspi.bootstrap.WSPreLauncher.main(WSPreLauncher.java:108)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.ibm.ws.util.ImplFactory.loadImplFromClass(ImplFactory.java:354)
        at com.ibm.ws.util.ImplFactory.loadImplFromKey(ImplFactory.java:328)
        at com.ibm.ws.util.ImplFactory.loadImplFromKey(ImplFactory.java:332)
        at com.ibm.ws.wlm.Factory$4.run(Factory.java:141)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:251)
        at com.ibm.ws.wlm.Factory.loadImpl(Factory.java:139)
        at com.ibm.websphere.cluster.topography.DescriptionManagerFactory.(DescriptionManagerFactory.java:50)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initializeImpl(Native Method)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:200)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.service.ClusterManagementImpl.(ClusterManagementImpl.java:119)
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:515)
        at com.ibm.wsspi.cluster.ClusterManagementFactory.(ClusterManagementFactory.java:62)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initializeImpl(Native Method)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:200)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.runtime.WLMDiagnosticModule.ffdcDumpDefaultClusterManagement(WLMDiagnosticModule.java:422)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:599)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.DiagnosticModule.getDataForDirective(DiagnosticModule.java:305)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.DiagnosticModule.getDataForDirectives(DiagnosticModule.java:279)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.DiagnosticModule.dumpComponentData(DiagnosticModule.java:144)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.impl.DMAdapter.processDM(DMAdapter.java:123)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.impl.DMAdapter.formatTo(DMAdapter.java:114)
        at com.ibm.ffdc.util.provider.IncidentLogger.writeIncidentTo(IncidentLogger.java:63)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.impl.FfdcProvider.logIncident(FfdcProvider.java:135)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.impl.FfdcProvider.logIncident(FfdcProvider.java:92)
        at com.ibm.ffdc.util.provider.FfdcProvider.log(FfdcProvider.java:232)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.impl.FfdcProvider.log(FfdcProvider.java:100)
        at com.ibm.ffdc.util.provider.IncidentEntry.log(IncidentEntry.java:96)
        at com.ibm.ffdc.util.provider.Ffdc.log(Ffdc.java:90)
        at com.ibm.ws.ffdc.FFDCFilter.processException(FFDCFilter.java:114)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.ProcessProperties.(ProcessProperties.java:281)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.ProcessProperties.(ProcessProperties.java:234)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initializeImpl(Native Method)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:200)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.runtime.ProcessRuntimeImpl.initialize(ProcessRuntimeImpl.java:307)
        ... 31 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.WLMCustomPropertyUtility.getBBCallbacksEnableWLMThreads(WLMCustomPropertyUtility.java:384)
        at com.ibm.ws.cluster.propagation.bulletinboard.BBDescriptionManager.(BBDescriptionManager.java:165)
        at java.lang.J9VMInternals.newInstanceImpl(Native Method)
        at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:1325)
        at com.ibm.ws.util.ImplFactory.loadImplFromClass(ImplFactory.java:349)
        ... 70 more

This should probably mean that your PC's hostname couldn't be resolved.