File and Screen Sharing question

[g-boac]

Question - How do I set up my drop box so that a co-worker, living in a different city from me, can see it appear either in his desktop or Finder window in the "shared" sidebar? What do I need to do on both our computers to set it up for him?

I am reasonably savvy on file sharing ("intermediate" to "advanced intermediate"), but not an expert. I can get this to work if both iMacs are on the same network (physically in the same building), but not if one is at my house and one at his.

What is the missing link that I need to do to get the Macs set up so that he has access to my drop box? (I'd like to keep it simple as possible so that he just needs to drag and drop, rather than go through an elaborate FTP or other setup each time he needs to transfer files.)

Same thing for screen sharing. Obviously "Back to My Mac" is not an option, because I don't want to give him my user name or password.

thanks!!!
Mark

 

[madog]

If you have MobileMe, use the iDisk feature.

Otherwise, I don't know how easy this would be for the other user, but setting up Web Sharing in the sharing preferences could be done. After that's enabled, you may have to open up some ports in your router, you can set up a dynamic, free domain through DynDNS (so you have something like "g-boac.alt.dyndns" instead of 203.168.1.103 which can change every few days unless you have a static IP). With files in your users Sites folder, they can access them and download them, but unless you set up a website or something listing the files then it's not that easy for them to find the file unless you give them the name and/or address (like "g-boac.alt.dyndns/workfile.doc"). Probably not all that secure, but if the files aren't trade secrets or illegal than I wouldn't worry too much.

There is also a way to set up File Sharing using FTP in the Sharing system pref. You'll have to open up port 21 I believe, although your ISP might not allow it, use the DynDNS site the same as above, as well as an FTP app like PureFTP (free) to set it up (I never actually got this far), and as long as your friend has an FTP app, he can use a name/pass from your machine to connect to it's files that you set up. This method would be a tad more difficult to set up initially, but I think would be easier in the long run for your friend to then access your shared data (of which would then pop up on his desktop/sidebar depending on his settings).

I hope I got the ball rolling for ya, now just get out there and do some more research on those, unless someone knows a better idea (which is entirely possible!).

 

[sngx1275]

I can't answer your question. But if you are looking for a possible alternative and not dealing with over a couple gigs here you could both get an account at getdropbox.com and then install that on both your machines. I use it to share files with a few friends and share files between my laptop and my desktop at home. Bonus: It even appears in your sidebar (and it can be turned off too).

 

[JustGretchen]

I can't answer your question. But if you are looking for a possible alternative and not dealing with over a couple gigs here you could both get an account at getdropbox.com and then install that on both your machines. I use it to share files with a few friends and share files between my laptop and my desktop at home. Bonus: It even appears in your sidebar (and it can be turned off too).

+1 - Drop Box lives here... it's great.