How can I access a bash from Windows Laptop

I have a LAN with a desktop Windows machine, a semi-headless SuSE 9.1 professional box and a Windows laptop which I'd like to use as screen and keyboard to drive a SuSE bash shell while I'm developing on the desktop. Semi-headless means I have a KVM to switch between the desktop machine and the SuSE machine under the desk. That means I can get to it any time but it is inconvenient to lose sight of one machine while looking at the other during development. I suppose I could find a monitor and keyboard from somewhere and use that but I'm running out of real estate in my "office". How can I drive a bash shell on SuSE from the laptop? TIA Mike