NightdeskGet the app

Download

Nightdesk for Linux

Lets your phone see and use a Linux computer, with or without a monitor plugged in: a Jetson or a Raspberry Pi on your desk, a server in a closet, a machine in the cloud. It’s free; you install it once per computer.

One command

Ubuntu 22.04 or later, with GNOME64-bit ARM, x86-64, 32-bit ARMFree
curl -fsSL https://nightdesk.codedrealities.com/linux/install.sh | sh

Run it as yourself, not with sudo. Prefer to look first? Read install.sh and the checksums.

01Install

Four steps, a few minutes.

  1. Open a terminal on the computer

    At its keyboard, or over SSH from anywhere. Log in as the person whose desktop you want to use, not as root.

  2. Paste the command

    It checks what the computer already has and offers to add the few system packages Nightdesk needs (GNOME’s screen sharing and a video encoder). That part asks for your password. Nightdesk itself goes into your home folder.

  3. It starts, and keeps starting

    Nightdesk runs now and after every restart. No monitor needed: it gives the computer a screen of its own and shows your desktop there.

  4. Scan the code it shows

    The installer ends with a QR code and an 8-character code. In Nightdesk on your phone, tap Add a computer › Scan its code, or tap the computer under Nearby and type the code. You’re linked. Don’t have the phone app yet? Get it on Google Play.

02Pairing

With a screen or without one.

Your phone pairs with a code that only the computer can show you, so only someone who can use the computer can add it to their phone. To see it again:

~/.local/bin/nightdesk-host pair

That opens pairing for 15 minutes and prints the code and its QR code in the terminal: on the computer, or in your SSH window if it has no screen. Each code works once, and pairing closes early after a few wrong tries.

A server with nothing open

Scanning the QR code pairs through Nightdesk’s relay when your phone can’t reach the computer directly, so a cloud machine needs no open port, no fixed address and no VPN. It only ever connects out.

After that

The computer is in your list for good. One tap from Home links you, at home or from anywhere, until you choose Forget.

03Good to know

What it needs, what it does, what’s next.

Which computers

Linux with GNOME 42 or later: Ubuntu 22.04 and newer, and NVIDIA Jetson boards (JetPack 6). Raspberry Pi OS and desktops other than GNOME (KDE, Xfce) aren’t supported yet.

Speed

Nightdesk sends the picture as video. Most small boards have no video encoder Nightdesk can use yet, so the processor does the work. A still screen sends almost nothing.

Not there yet on Linux

Sound, the shared clipboard, sending files, and the Apps and Windows lists. They’re coming. Shortcuts work as on a Mac, with ⌘ as Ctrl.

Privacy

Your screen goes only to phones you’ve paired, end-to-end encrypted. Nothing is recorded or kept. Read the privacy policy.

Check on it, or remove it

See whether it’s running and what it’s doing:

systemctl --user status nightdesk-host

Remove it, and everything it kept:

systemctl --user disable --now nightdesk-host; rm -rf ~/.local/bin/nightdesk-host ~/.local/share/nightdesk ~/.config/systemd/user/nightdesk-host.service

Stuck? See support.