Since installing Ubuntu for the first time in 2007, have you been slowly falling into the trap of computer stallman-like confusion? Do you now hate anything with a GUI including browser? Do you check your mail with the command line even though you are behind seven proxies? But, do you still want to play Minecraft? If so, this command-line-only screen viewer could be a tool to use a GUI rather than a technical one.
This remote screen viewer was created by Python [louis-e] And, once installed, allows the client to view the server’s screen even if the client is a text-only console. [louis-e] It shows up from within a Windows command prompt. The script server scans the screen and then displays it on the console using the different colors and textures available. As a result, both the resolution and the refresh rate are quite low, but it is still effective enough to run Minecraft and perform other GUI-based tasks, unless there is a fine text to read anywhere.
The video below only shows a display of the remote screen viewer, and we can imagine a lot of use outside of this proof-of-concept game demonstration. Installing a desktop environment and window manager is not something that is strictly necessary for all computers, so if you do not want to waste time and resources installing one of these components, it is a practical solution. If you are looking for remote desktop software for more specific machines, take a look at this software that enables remote desktops on antique Macs.