Best VNC viewer for Mac OS X

[Icekill]

Originally Posted by kwanta

Apple has a very good VNC Client and Server directly integrated into OS X. The Viewer can be found on this path: /System/Library/CoreServices/Screen\ Sharing.app. You can enable the server in Sharing Preferences Pane, either on Screen Sharing or Remote Management.

Greetz Kw4nta

Wow thanks, screen_sharing.app works great to connect to my windows home PC where i have TightVNC server running.

[Cinemagic]

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?

[ddeadserious]

Anything new on this? Would love to be able to work from home sometimes.

[EmmEff]

Use Screen Sharing or Chicken. What's missing that you need?

[captcurrent]

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..

[DavidTheExpert]

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.

[sherbey]

Originally Posted by Adobe75

I do. I use Mocha VNC Lite on my iPad and iPhone. Simple, free, but gets the job done. Make sure you have port 5900 mapped if you use a router.

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.

[Predator69]

I use TeamViewer ,, works like a charm.

[oldguru]

Hi, I am using Win7 to remote control a Mac Mini. I am using the TightVNC. But I found problem to send the "ctrl" key to Mac.

I saw "Chicken" but it only run on the Mac OS...

Any good one for Windows user?

[pdwalker]

Originally Posted by MongoNZ

Does anyone use a VNC viewer from outside the local network? I want to be able to access my home computer using my iPad and 3G.

It looks like I can use Real VNC Enterprise edition, but thats $50 odd to buy.

Anyone know of other options?

Cheers

iSSH does the trick very nicely. Information here: http://www.zinger-soft.com/iSSH_features.html

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Originally Posted by tc60045

Also, RealVNC is not technically free. Neither is Jolly's, actually - both companies want you to license it.

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.

[mentaluproar]

Splashtop finally got their act together and it is a great product. Totally worth the purchase.

[Confuzzzed]

Anyone using Remotix 1.2? Any good? Are there better options out there?