Wow thanks, screen_sharing.app works great to connect to my windows home PC where i have TightVNC server running.
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Best VNC viewer for Mac OS X
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Wow thanks, screen_sharing.app works great to connect to my windows home PC where i have TightVNC server running.
I'm still looking for something that is truly useful for Mac to Mac remote connections across Internet. VNC is terribly slow. Chicken of the VNC is slow. JollysFast VNC is slow. Screen Sharing is also slow. None of the VNC applications come close to Microsoft Remote Desktop. But then they are two different approaches. RDP is more of a terminal application.
I replaced a PC at work with an iMac. I frequently access the work computer from home. RDP connection to the PC was just like being in front of the computer. No lag or delay. Now that I have an iMac at work, I can't find an application that allows me to connect from my MacPro in the same manner. I'm hoping Lion will work better.
iTeleport on the iPad is far faster than any vnc I've tried but still slower than rdp.
Has anyone tried installing Vine Server and Vine Client? How does it compare?
I replaced a PC at work with an iMac. I frequently access the work computer from home. RDP connection to the PC was just like being in front of the computer. No lag or delay. Now that I have an iMac at work, I can't find an application that allows me to connect from my MacPro in the same manner. I'm hoping Lion will work better.
iTeleport on the iPad is far faster than any vnc I've tried but still slower than rdp.
Has anyone tried installing Vine Server and Vine Client? How does it compare?
Grey Scales
I find that where I am in place with mega bandwidth...all viewers seem to do the job.. but i spend a fair amount of time in the boonies with about 3megdown/300k up...
I had been using Chicken VNC.. but it is looked into handling colors.. so it is as slow as to be unusable.. so it back to Timbuktu. when i switch it to grey scales. well it isn't lightning fast but it is now usable
Is anyone aware of any other viewers that wil use grey scales..
also as part b... Remote Desktop software is just VNC with bells and whistles right not a faster protocol..
I find that where I am in place with mega bandwidth...all viewers seem to do the job.. but i spend a fair amount of time in the boonies with about 3megdown/300k up...
I had been using Chicken VNC.. but it is looked into handling colors.. so it is as slow as to be unusable.. so it back to Timbuktu. when i switch it to grey scales. well it isn't lightning fast but it is now usable
Is anyone aware of any other viewers that wil use grey scales..
also as part b... Remote Desktop software is just VNC with bells and whistles right not a faster protocol..
I can't stand Chicken of the VNC. It crashes on me all the time. JollysFastVNC is better, but it's not a free app, which is a no-go for me.
All the time I've spent searching for a decent Mac VNC client, I never knew OS X came with one already installed. A couple other people here have mentioned Screen Sharing. It is definitely the best VNC client option out there. It's free, you already have it installed if you have any version of OS X since 10.4, and best of all it's made and supported by Apple themselves! How can you go wrong?
The reason I never knew it even existed is because it's hard to find unless you know where to look. Here are some instructions for finding Screen Sharing.app if anyone is interested. It really is the best VNC client for OS X.
All the time I've spent searching for a decent Mac VNC client, I never knew OS X came with one already installed. A couple other people here have mentioned Screen Sharing. It is definitely the best VNC client option out there. It's free, you already have it installed if you have any version of OS X since 10.4, and best of all it's made and supported by Apple themselves! How can you go wrong?
The reason I never knew it even existed is because it's hard to find unless you know where to look. Here are some instructions for finding Screen Sharing.app if anyone is interested. It really is the best VNC client for OS X.
opening ports to the internet
I realise this is a VERY old thread but....
Do NOT open port 5900 on your router to your pc/mac/whatever running a VNC server; VNC has pretty much zero security and doing so will result in some spotty hacker somewhere remote controlling your computer.
If you want to use VNC remotely, set up an ssh server on the same machine as the VNC server (preferably don't use the default ssh port 22) and open that port through your router. (there's a mac orientated description of this here).
As an added bit of security, use public/private key encryption (RSA for preference) and disable password logons.
I don't have an ipad/iphone but the software to do all this free is available for android (and works because I have set it up and use it) so I'd guess the same is true for ios
Note that the above shenanigans requires you to do some typing at a terminal and have some understanding of what you're doing. If you aren't comfortable with that then you're out of luck with free and you're looking at paying for some software
.
When I get back to my mac I'll be trying out the vnc:// route in safari. I've tried chicken of the VNC and whilst it works it crashes a bit, doesn't scale well on my air (pc I'm viewing has a higher vertical resolution so the bottom of the screen gets chopped) and does funky stuff when in fullscreen. And it doesn't seem to support jpeg compression so its a bit sllloooww.
I realise this is a VERY old thread but....
Do NOT open port 5900 on your router to your pc/mac/whatever running a VNC server; VNC has pretty much zero security and doing so will result in some spotty hacker somewhere remote controlling your computer.
If you want to use VNC remotely, set up an ssh server on the same machine as the VNC server (preferably don't use the default ssh port 22) and open that port through your router. (there's a mac orientated description of this here).
As an added bit of security, use public/private key encryption (RSA for preference) and disable password logons.
I don't have an ipad/iphone but the software to do all this free is available for android (and works because I have set it up and use it) so I'd guess the same is true for ios
Note that the above shenanigans requires you to do some typing at a terminal and have some understanding of what you're doing. If you aren't comfortable with that then you're out of luck with free and you're looking at paying for some software
.When I get back to my mac I'll be trying out the vnc:// route in safari. I've tried chicken of the VNC and whilst it works it crashes a bit, doesn't scale well on my air (pc I'm viewing has a higher vertical resolution so the bottom of the screen gets chopped) and does funky stuff when in fullscreen. And it doesn't seem to support jpeg compression so its a bit sllloooww.
iSSH does the trick very nicely. Information here: http://www.zinger-soft.com/iSSH_features.html
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I found it well worth it for Jolly's. It's fast and has some nice features, especially when you are connecting to a very large screen display from a small screen computer.
Couldn't agree more!
I used to use RealVNC (coming from the Windows platform and it's available for Mac and Windows), which works good. But the build-in Screen Sharing App (for Dutch readers, it's called "Schermdeling"!) works great. And why install yet another app when you already have it on your computer right?
I did a little write up in English and Dutch if anyone cares for it.
Does anyone know if Apple has a variation of RDP available? (seems RDP provides better picture quality) Is ARD similar? Or is ARD just a glorified VNC as well?
Anecdotally, I've tried Chicken and the built-in screen sharing (vnc://... in Safari) on OS X 10.8 and 10.9. The built-in VNC client is sooooo much faster on spotty internet connections and seems much more useable. Not sure why that is, perhaps it's due to better "scaling" code or whatever. It's too bad because Chicken's full screen zoom/scroll is so slick.
Update: apparently you can get the built-in VNC client to behave very similarly to Chicken full-screen mode with the following preferences (under Screen Sharing/Preferences): "When viewing a computer with a larger screen" - "Show full size" and "Scroll the screen" - "When the cursor reaches an edge", and with the following View settings (under View menu at the top): scaling OFF (menu option will therefore say "Turn Scaling On"), Adaptive Quality checked, Enter Full Screen, both displays (if connecting to dual display machine).
Update: apparently you can get the built-in VNC client to behave very similarly to Chicken full-screen mode with the following preferences (under Screen Sharing/Preferences): "When viewing a computer with a larger screen" - "Show full size" and "Scroll the screen" - "When the cursor reaches an edge", and with the following View settings (under View menu at the top): scaling OFF (menu option will therefore say "Turn Scaling On"), Adaptive Quality checked, Enter Full Screen, both displays (if connecting to dual display machine).
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as Jeff says: type in
vnc://addressofvncserver
into safari and it loads the native client os x app - simply the best in my opinion.
An alternative remote access application I've used is
http://www.logmein.com
Install the logmeinapp on the server machine and use any browser to access the computer, no need for a client app. iOS apps available. Higher security that vanilla VNC.
vnc://addressofvncserver
into safari and it loads the native client os x app - simply the best in my opinion.
An alternative remote access application I've used is
http://www.logmein.com
Install the logmeinapp on the server machine and use any browser to access the computer, no need for a client app. iOS apps available. Higher security that vanilla VNC.