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How can I control the X-Server that is physically connected to the screen? (i.e. the one being displayed on the monitor)

In Windows, this is a no-brainer. WinVNC just takes over the screen (which is the only screen) and what you do it what is seen on the screen.

On X-Windows, VNC actually creates a new (and totally virtual) X-Server, and feeds that across the network. Which is a totally awsome method of running a cheap terminal server (lots of users, on only 1 computer) but useless if you want to take control of your home computer to check on the progress of a GUI application running on the physical display.

You can connect a VNC server to a running X-Server using x0vncserver, this will run a VNC server that interacts with the origionating server. Before it can be run, you must create a password file using vncpasswd. This file get stored by default in $HOME/.vnc/passwd. You can then run it using

$ x0vncserver -PasswordFile=$HOME/.vnc/passwd

Note: There's also a similiar program, x0rfbserver, which does the same service, but uses X as a protocol (instead of VNC.)

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