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Apple Remote Desktop 2?

This sounds great. Truly.

What I'd really like, though, is a much cheaper version for home use. I've got several Macs on the network, and I'd like to get ARD, but it's too expensive. Businesses can afford it, but a lot of home owners can't (or, at least, the benefits don't justify the cost).

And, yes, I know there are other options, but I'd prefer ARD (or ARD "lite"). It'd be even better if it was built-in for use with, say, up to 3 or 4 Macs. That would, I think, provide incentive to buy more than one Mac for the home. At least it'd be one more item in the "look what you get with your Mac" software list.
 
VNC support! I wonder if it would be just for the admin or the client. Because if it is both that would make it MAC <> PC so you wouldn't be restricted to one platform :)
 
Shame remote desktop doesn't come free with the consumer version of osx (i.e., non server). Would be extremely useful..
 
Home use, home use, home use!!

Home-use pricing!!!! Please !!!!one!!!

Let me do tech support for relatives and friends from my couch! Don't make me go to my parents' house!

K
 
I want it now.
I'm upgrading the entire high-school next year (using Panther, of course) and ARD is an excellent tool. Between that and MacAdministrator (the single-most important Mac security product there is, period) I don't believe we'd have the success we've had.
 
I'm wary of installing an ARD update while school is in session. The last update we did put us out of business for many days. The updated version didn't work with our software configuration, and the uninstall/downgrade process didn't work to revert us to the old version until we figured out to erase certain files by hand. So thanks for the improvements, Apple, but we won't upgrade until the end of the school year.
 
What features does Apple Remote Desktop give you over a program like VNC? and the mentioned ARD. I've only used VNC a few times.
 
Anyone who was around when Network Assistant was first introduced remembers what a great program that was for schools. RD is solid and I'd love to see what improvements they can build in.
 
whfsdude said:
VNC support! I wonder if it would be just for the admin or the client. Because if it is both that would make it MAC <> PC so you wouldn't be restricted to one platform :)
Click to expand...


Windows XP Pro does come with Remote Desktop that works pretty well. If one could log on to the Windows Machine with a Mac and vice versa, that would be great! But Alas, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
 
I beg to differ

Dippo said:
Windows XP Pro does come with Remote Desktop that works pretty well. If one could log on to the Windows Machine with a Mac and vice versa, that would be great! But Alas, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Control a PC From a Mac:
  • PC: install Remote Desktop Connections on XP or Terminal Services on 2K
  • Mac: fink the oss tool called rdesktop . works on linux/solaris/aix....

Control a Mac from a PC
  • PC: VNC Client
  • Mac: VNC Server


Now, if only Mac had a server supporting RDP.. VNC is really starting to show its age. Even on a LAN remote X is wayyyyy faster :/
 
Palad1 said:
Control a PC From a Mac:
  • PC: install Remote Desktop Connections on XP or Terminal Services on 2K
  • Mac: fink the oss tool called rdesktop . works on linux/solaris/aix....

Actually just install RDC on the Mac also. Free download from MS.

:/
Click to expand...
 
Koodauw said:
What features does Apple Remote Desktop give you over a program like VNC? and the mentioned ARD. I've only used VNC a few times.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I'm misreading your post (likely) but ARD refers to Apple Remote Desktop (and possibly other things - but I used it to refer to Apple Remote Desktop). They're the same thing.
 
Palad1 said:
Control a PC From a Mac:
  • PC: install Remote Desktop Connections on XP or Terminal Services on 2K
  • Mac: fink the oss tool called rdesktop . works on linux/solaris/aix....

Control a Mac from a PC
  • PC: VNC Client
  • Mac: VNC Server


Now, if only Mac had a server supporting RDP.. VNC is really starting to show its age. Even on a LAN remote X is wayyyyy faster :/
Click to expand...

You don't have to fink anything to control a PC from a Mac. Microsoft was nice enough to make a program for us Mac users. Apple could learn from this:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient
 
I just hope they keep OS 9 support. I have a few OS 9 dependent machines that I use for Webservers, a TV, and verifying OS 9 stuff on. Instead of keeping monitors and keyboard hooked up to these, I just Remote Access into them. My biggest fear is that RA 2 won't be compatible with OS 9 and then the current version f RA won't work with newer versions of OS X.

Of course what I would *really* love to see is the ability to remote access into my Mac from a PC. That would make going to work in the morning a little less painful.
 
I hope wins support will be in 10.4 too

Also the format utility allows you to specify a wins server, this is not really working on our corporation. I really hope that this VNC support is going along a better WINS support accros the board :
- wins server to be secified in the connection setting like for the dns server
- url not found by the DNS, passed to the wins server allowing you to connect to a pc by it's wins name from Safari or VNC

I our corp, and many other I know, DNS are for servers, desktop machines have a wins name...

Let's hope...
(and for the love of G., please kill all those ._unvisible file when copying to a USB Flash drive or to a network drive. I am feed up of all those call to the help desk from PC users opening the wrong empty file!!! This costs us Money !!!)
 
Dippo said:
Oh wow, has anyone tried this??

Personally buying a cheap PC and using it through Remote Desktop might be a better idea than Emulating Windows on the Mac...
Click to expand...

Yes, I use it often. It's a great way to access my PC at work, but not a great way to replace Virtual PC.

I also have a PC at home and running with 100BaseT, it's still slow enough that you would not even consider it as a Virtual PC replacement. The only exception to this would be if the software you wanted for some reason did not run on Virtual PC...BUT keep in mind the biggest problem of Virtual PC is the software writing to the graphics hardware...this is why games suck on Virtual PC....and why Virtual PC "feels" slower than it actually is...in other words if all you're doing is processing a chunk of data (like Excel), you are more likely to find it's fast enough, but if you're doing games, video or animation, it won't keep up.

Now imagine instead of emulating graphic calls you're transferring them over 100BaseT (or whatever) and then emulating them. It ain't pretty.

The opposite would be true as well. You wouldn't find PC users tapping into Macs to run FinalCut, iDVD or GarageBand, but it would very useful for simple remote access tasks.
 
Dippo said:
Oh wow, has anyone tried this??

Personally buying a cheap PC and using it through Remote Desktop might be a better idea than Emulating Windows on the Mac...
Click to expand...

It is. Not cheaper, but it does seem to work pretty well. If you have two displays, you can tell RDC what display to go full-screen on too. I've used it that way, as a cheaper alternative to a KVM switch. Full-motion video performance hurts though, so it's not the solution if you want to run games. Faster network connection between the two machines doesn't hurt either. I run them side-by-side connected through a 10/100 switch.
 
jsw said:
This sounds great. Truly.

What I'd really like, though, is a much cheaper version for home use. I've got several Macs on the network, and I'd like to get ARD, but it's too expensive. Businesses can afford it, but a lot of home owners can't (or, at least, the benefits don't justify the cost).

And, yes, I know there are other options, but I'd prefer ARD (or ARD "lite"). It'd be even better if it was built-in for use with, say, up to 3 or 4 Macs. That would, I think, provide incentive to buy more than one Mac for the home. At least it'd be one more item in the "look what you get with your Mac" software list.
Click to expand...

Amen. If only they'd make a lite version for home use! Maybe $99. I'd buy that if it meant I could be on the road with a laptop and control my home Mac from the road. (Is that even possible?)
 
YES!

jsw said:
This sounds great. Truly.

What I'd really like, though, is a much cheaper version for home use. I've got several Macs on the network, and I'd like to get ARD, but it's too expensive. Businesses can afford it, but a lot of home owners can't (or, at least, the benefits don't justify the cost).

And, yes, I know there are other options, but I'd prefer ARD (or ARD "lite"). It'd be even better if it was built-in for use with, say, up to 3 or 4 Macs. That would, I think, provide incentive to buy more than one Mac for the home. At least it'd be one more item in the "look what you get with your Mac" software list.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you. I'd buy something like that for $99.
 
I have to say, using Microsofts remote desktop between to XP machines is VERY fast, a lot faster than pcAnywhere or Laplink. The window redraw is almost instant, graphics splash screens from apps will be slow the first time, but are cached for the next time. If you're running standard day-to-day programs over the connection (eg, running your email program from your work PC at home, or opening Word to do some word processing) it's great (I haven't tested the Mac-PC version).

The reason MS connection is fast is that all the graphical interface code is handled by the displaying machine. So the 'server' machine has a program that wants to draw a box, it just says "draw box" - the client knows what that means and draws it.

I wonder why Apple is using VNC!? Apple has it's own graphics engine and it would seem more efficient to share the desktop at a lower level. Imagine all the data needed to do the Genie-effect to shrink the window to the dock - much better to let the client do the snazzy effects and just send a higher level command ("Shrink using Genie").

It really seems to me that although VNC is an open standard (which is great), Apple will lose some of the benefits of knowing it's own graphics subsystems inside and out. Unless VNC has some new ways of doing that I'm unaware of?
 
GregA said:
I have to say, using Microsofts remote desktop between to XP machines is VERY fast, a lot faster than pcAnywhere or Laplink. The window redraw is almost instant, graphics splash screens from apps will be slow the first time, but are cached for the next time. If you're running standard day-to-day programs over the connection (eg, running your email program from your work PC at home, or opening Word to do some word processing) it's great (I haven't tested the Mac-PC version).
Click to expand...

If you think Remote Desktop between two XP machines is fast, you should try it between two 2003 Sever Machines.

I have used Remote Desktop on the Extended Desktop to emulate a "dual" system setup. It works for most everything that doesn't involve video or gaming.

It would be nice if I could hook my 2nd monitor directly up to my 2nd PC but still be able to control it through Remote Desktop...I just don't know how :confused:
 
Take a look at Timbuktu.


jsw said:
This sounds great. Truly.

What I'd really like, though, is a much cheaper version for home use. I've got several Macs on the network, and I'd like to get ARD, but it's too expensive. Businesses can afford it, but a lot of home owners can't (or, at least, the benefits don't justify the cost).

And, yes, I know there are other options, but I'd prefer ARD (or ARD "lite"). It'd be even better if it was built-in for use with, say, up to 3 or 4 Macs. That would, I think, provide incentive to buy more than one Mac for the home. At least it'd be one more item in the "look what you get with your Mac" software list.
Click to expand...
 
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