gui app in Linux for Nordvpn

[buster]

Nord is super easy in Win10. And if I need it in a Linux program I can use a Windows host and a Linux guest. However, I have a lovely Mint system fully installed, and I'd like to run a vpn with it.

So I do my diligent searches, and everything seems to point to a Linux GUI for a vpn, but alas, the trail always turns up a dead end. I know I can run a vpn in Linux, but so far everything is light years from the Win 10 app, which is open, click, done!

Is there a simple app (point and click) for a vpn in Linux?

[ssfc72]

PIA VPN is point and click to operate, in Linux.

[fox]

Not sure how it works in Mint, but FastestVPN is pretty much point and click. In the menu bar, you click on your connection icon, click on VPN and choose which VPN you want.

[Jason]

PIA VPN (Private Internet Access) works in most of the popular distros including Mint but not really in Fedora. You can install it but it's kind of flaky (they mention they don't officially support it). If you use that link and join I get 30 days added to my subscription.

It's really the desktop that is the issue for having graphical support - and I think it's only GNOME it has trouble with - Plasma, Mate, Cinnamon are fine. I think Xfce is, too, but I don't recall.

Btw, using a VPN in a terminal isn't all that hard. Once you start it using a command and login it just stays running in the background (until you reboot, I believe). And it will save your login/password info. You can also turn it off in the command-line. Yes, I know the terminal isn't as convenient but it does open a lot more VPNs that you can use.

Many of them, if not most have free trials, so try them out before you buy (if you actually want to buy). If you're willing to use Opera under Linux (it's pretty good), they have a free built-in browser.

Also, some of the paid versions have free versions that allow a certain amount of traffic which is good enough for web browsing, not so great if you're downloading torrents or watching a lot of videos full-screen (eg. YouTube, Netflix)
Finally, even ones that don't have a client, you can use OpenVPN which is built into every distro that uses Network Manager and it's simple to use but it takes a bit of time to setup (5-10 minutes depending on your ability to follow instructions and copy/paste terminal commands). After you do this, you can just click the Network icon in the tray and choose a VPN server graphically. The link is how to set it up using PIA, but other VPNs should have a similar setup.

[buster]

I've had a vpn for quite awhile. I want a gui for nordvpn in linux. I can try setting up the openvpn when I get some time.

Thanks to both.

[Jason]

Good luck, smart sir!

[buster]

I know this is an old thread, but I have managed to pretty well solve this. My 'new' computer has Mint on an ssd, and I wanted a gui for Nordvpn. But.....

The terminal work has been simplified for Nordvpn by the programmers. First log in using your name and password. And this seems to be remembered by the program even thru reboots. There's not much to remember and speeds are huge. I use only 3 commands -

nordvpn login
nordvpn connect
nordvpn d

(The d stands for disconnect.)

And that's it. Now if I wish to appear to be in a different country, there are commands for that, but I'll have to look them up.

So it's working out well so far.

[ssfc72]

Thanks for the update/info Buster. Good to know how easy NordVpn is to use, from the command line.

[Jason]

Sounds good, Buster and at least it makes you use the terminal once in a while.;-) It's like eating fibre, it's good for you and a necessary part of your Linux diet.

I have a friend that uses ExpressVPN. He was using it with a GUI client under Windows 7 and I recently installed Ubuntu MATE on his system. So of course, he wanted to use it under Linux. We looked it up and they don't have GUI client for Linux but they have a CLI (command-line interface) client like yours and I showed it to him. Luckily for him it's just one command although I'd expect like yours, you'd enter the login info when you install it. They don't show it but I imagine there is another command for disconnecting. But you could also just close the terminal and it should disconnect. Try it and see if it works for you, Buster. It might still stay in memory though.

I still prefer Private Internet Access. While not as cheap as some for-life VPNs, I don't really trust anything that claims to stay for life. They really just mean the life of the product or company, not your life. And internet companies come and go all the time. Also, PIA is the only company I know that proved they don't keep logs when they were subpoenaed by the FBI to get their records in a criminal case and PIA presented the only records they had, the credit card the suspect used to buy the account. They also donate to many Linux causes.

On a related note, I left PIA for just a couple of days (couldn't pay the annual plan at the time) and they offered me a yearly plan for $22 if I'd come back, about a 40% discount! I came back.