i got it! almost pulled my hair out trying to figure this one out but i got it with nobody's help, although it would've been nice if someone replied
so here's what i did... i did nothing with my hosts.allow or hosts.deny file. instead i restricted access to my desktop sharing server by using SuSE's firewall (SuSEfirewall2 is what it's called). This file is located in /etc/sysconfig and it's called SuSEfirewall2. The file is organized by numbered sections (1,2,3, etc). Look for section 10.) Then look for a line like the following:
FW_TRUSTED_NETS=""
This is where you place the IP address of the computer you want to have access to your desktop sharing server. Also, put in the protocol the desktop sharing server uses (tcp) and the port number (default is 5900 unless you change it in the desktop sharing application). So it'll now look something like this:
FW_TRUSTED_NETS="192.168.1.101,tcp,5900"
Now try connecting from a computer who's IP is NOT the one you typed in the line above. The result should be that you can't connect to the SuSE computer running the desktop sharing server.
Now try connecting from a computer who's IP IS the one you typed into the line above - you should now be able to connect to the SuSE computer running the desktop sharing server!
Of course all of this to work you need to first enable SuSE's firewall.
awesome.
*Nick*
