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From: Brian Tew <btew@nyx.net>
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Subject: re: assistance required. can't open display message. (fwd)
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I had a similar problem and I believe setting the display variable fixed it.

DISPLAY=111.222.333.444:0
or possibly
export DISPLAY=111.222.333.444:0

Substitute your ip address in place of 111.222.333.444.
If you are on a local network, substitute the network address,
LIKE 192.168.0.2:0

The word DISPLAY is an environment variable and must be in all caps.
The colon zero after the ip refers to the first monitor screen on that machine.