Unfortunately, LogMeIn doesn’t make a linux compatible version of it’s remote home software. The software is an .msi, and therefore can’t be installed using WINE either.

So how can you remote home to your Ubuntu pc?

The answer is Dynamic DNS.

You will need:

1. A DynDNS.com account
2. A Dynamic DNS compatible router
3. Ubuntu
4. 10 to 20 minutes spare time

This is a WIP How-to, so things may change for improvements or corrections.

Step1 – Create a DynDNS account.

https://www.dyndns.com/account/entrance/

From Ubuntu, or your preferred distro, open up your browser and enter the above URL. Create yourself an account with a desired username and password.

You will be sent an email verification to activate your account, so follow the link provided in your email and login to DynDNS with your new account details.

Next – we need to create us a snappy, remember-able host name, so go to My Services from the home page and choose “Add Hostname” under Host Services.

There are numerous domain names to choose from so have a look in the drop down list for one that you like. I chose to use homelinux.com and then typed myself a ubuntu name to go with it.

DynDNS can automatically detect your ISP assigned IP address, so I suggest you click the link for “Use auto detected IP address *.*.*.*” – unless of course you intend on using a statically assigned address, or doing this from a different computer, you can manually type this in.

Step2 – Configure the router.

Keywords to look for on your router are DMZ, Port Forwarding, Dynamic DNS or Virtual Server. You may find these in the firewall settings if your router has one built into it. For me, using a BT Voyager, I did the following:

First thing I did was enter my DynDNS details, blurred out in my above screenshot for obvious reasons.

Next, I configured Port Forwarding, to allow an application from a source address to access my Ubuntu desktop. Here are the settings I used for VNC and RDP.

VNC:

RDP:

For quick reference the ports I allowed for both TCP and UDP were VNC = 5800-5801 and 5900-5901 and for RDP ports 3389-3390.

Now, when you RDP or VNC to the domain name you have registered, for example, ubtuntutest.homelinux.com, DynDNS will forward you to your router and your router will forward DynDNS to your Ubuntu desktop – providing the IP address of your Ubuntu Desktop was entered correctly.

Step3 – Configure Ubuntu to allow connections.

From Ubuntu, go to System > Preferences > Remote Desktop and apply your preferred settings. For security I advise you enable password access unlike my screenshots suggest below:

Have fun!

Again, if there is something not quite right or you made additional steps to make this work for you, drop us your comments and we can add them into this How-to.

Related posts:

1. FreeNX – Ubuntu LogMeIn
2. Ubuntu – Download Management
3. Ubuntu Natty Narwhal Released