Raspberry Pi configure screen sharing with VNC

I've spent the past week exploring what my Raspberry Pi can do. It makes a great little server as it's tiny and consumes negligible power, about 3.5 watts. Of course as with any Linux box, there is little need for a monitor, so I've configured VNC to work seamlessly on my Raspberry Pi.

Here's how:

1. Configure your Raspberry Pi with a static IP address.

2. Open LXTerminal and type

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver


Complete the setup as prompted
pi@raspberrypi:~$ vncserver

You will require a password to access your desktops.

Password:
Warning: password truncated to the length of 8.
Verify:
Would you like to enter a view-only password (y/n)? n

New 'X' desktop is raspberrypi:1

Creating default startup script /home/pi/.vnc/xstartup
Starting applications specified in /home/pi/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/pi/.vnc/raspberrypi:1.log

3. Create a script to ensure that VNC starts at boot time.

Type: cd /etc/init.d
sudo pico tightvncserver
and add this to the file (you can copy and paste)
#!/bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: tightvncserver
# Required-Start: $syslog
# Required-Stop: $syslog
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# Short-Description: vnc server
# Description:
#
### END INIT INFO
#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/tightvncserver
#

# Carry out specific functions when asked to by the system
case "$1" in
start)
su pi -c '/usr/bin/vncserver'
echo "Starting VNC server "
;;
stop)
pkill vncserver
echo "VNC Server has been stopped (didn't double check though)"
;;
*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/blah {start|stop}"
exit 1
;;
esac

exit 0

4. Make the script executable
sudo chmod +x tightvncserver

5. Created the correct symbolic links for reboot and shutdown:
sudo update-rc.d tightvncserver defaults

6. Let's test the script. Kill the VNC service with this command:
sudo pkill Xtightvnc

7. And run the new script to start the VNC service:
sudo /etc/init.d/tightvncserver start

and you should see

New 'X' desktop is raspberrypi:1
Starting applications specified in /home/pi/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/pi/.vnc/raspberrypi:1.log