Question about Leopard Screen Sharing

[cwc123188]

Hey guys,
I am not running Leopard now and I have a question about its Screen Sharing feature.

Can you screen share outside the local area network? (for example: internationally?) And if you can, what would happen if the connection isn't up for it? Lag?

Thanks!

 

[NAG]

I've shared mine across the state and it works okay. The lag can be kind of annoying especially if the other person (or you) are doing anything on the internet at the same time. It's nice if you want to help someone set things up but can't actually be there physically.

 

[rogerw]

query

Hi
Ive set up the screen sharing preference on a remote (at another address).
screen sharing worked fine when I was at the same address, (LAN?). but not when Im away from the address. Confirmed with office that the other comp is on and it is but it doesnt show up in the Shared pane of finder.

any ideas why?
cheers

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Hi
Ive set up the screen sharing preference on a remote (at another address).
screen sharing worked fine when I was at the same address, (LAN?). but not when Im away from the address. Confirmed with office that the other comp is on and it is but it doesnt show up in the Shared pane of finder.

any ideas why?
cheers

That sounds like you're enabling the sharing session on the LAN - then you're leaving physically, and trying to access it form the WAN (internet). If that is the case, you're connecting with a local IP address and trying to hold that connection - but once outside of the LAN - you go from a new address entirely - because you're accessing from the outside to your modem - then the router - then the other Mac. On top of this different path - many of the ports and speeds that were once available on the LAN are not on the WAN side.

If someone at the "office" initiates - or accepts a NEW connection - can you use it then? I would think you could.

If not - your router or firewall might be blocking some of the required ports on the WAN side. (not uncommon at all - LAN is wide open freeway - but WAN gets restricted for security purposes) But if it's simply not working because you set it up at home and then can't access it form work - that's because you're essentially calling someone - telling them to hang around and you'll call back - only to have their phone number change next time you try to ring them up. They are over there waiting - but you're not going through the right channels anymore. (I suck at explaining things)

As for the original question - YES you can use screen sharing / video chat / ichat theater over the internet - I'm not SURE if you're allowed to be running OSX or this Ichat in certain countries (depending on the Apple software export agreement) BUT - that likely would not impair it. Do bear in mind - your screen sharing, theater and video chat will all be a FAR richer experience on a higher bandwidth connection. On a LAN connection, I can watch full-screen video through screen sharing on the host or guest computer. But once that person steps outside of my LAN, and into the WAN - I can still get PLENTY done - but you do feel the bottle-necks and speed hits. Overall - I must say that OSX does a fantastic job scaling back resources and "experience" features to conserve bandwidth for usability. (automatically throttling up and down the video quality / sound quality and refresh rate to maintain your voice chat and usability across even a "shaky" internet connection.)

 

[rogerw]

Hi thanks for the reply, I think I get the jist

The 'office comp" doesnt show up on the shared pane.
I tried the 'go' and put in tried to 'connect to server' and tried a VNC number.
it immediately came back a negative.

My (this) comp is not set up for screen sharing, just the office one. Ive checkd my security setting on the firewall and checked 'allow all' incoming just to try something,but this makes no difference.

the office does not receive any request for a connection. Ill look into this further when I get back down there.
cheers again

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

OK Roger - I'm going to be honest with you here. I am utterly HORRIBLE with VNC and Remote Desktop when it comes to WAN operation. I (for some reason) thought you were speaking of screen sharing through Leopards version of iChat.

Here is the problem - and I apologize for explaining if you already know this. On a LAN - it's wide open, you can easily spot the address of the PC you want just by dumping in it's Mac Address -- or looking at what DHCP devices the router is hosting.

On the WAN - you need to know the exact IP address (on the internet) of the computer you want to connect to. With VNC and Remote Desktop - the connection can be made, only once you know this IP info and plug it in. That'll open the path way up. Problem is - with many internet service providers - and all the tangles within the internet itself - your IP can get changed and redirected very quickly - leaving you with a "wrong number". You either need a hosting service that will keep an IP address for you - or to use something like iChat. What iChat does is automatically find the persons IP info - so once you initiate a screen sharing connection and the other end accepts - it has everything already lined up. (it's essentially using your online messenger to host the IP address so you can find it from anywhere). What Leopard did that made it the best thing since sliced bread was Integrate EVERYTHING into Ichat. So if the host and the guest computers both have Leopard and iChat - starting a screen sharing / remote desktop session is as easy as sending an IM. You send the request - and if they accept it - your desktop automatically swings away into the background and you're working on theirs. (or vice versa) You can transfer files, and talk to them, all the while. It's borderline (#$*ing magic to me, because of all the CRAP I had to do in the past to get remote access. (especially back in PC land with Windows) This makes it super fast and easy - and surprisingly feature-rich and strong. I'm not sure about advanced security features (I do not think you are running with an encrypted or secure tunnel so be careful what you do over it) but apart from that - it's rock solid. There might even be an option to activate security - I haven't played with it enough yet.

 

[rogerw]

OK Roger - I'm going to be honest with you here. I am utterly HORRIBLE with VNC and Remote Desktop when it comes to WAN operation. I (for some reason) thought you were speaking of screen sharing through Leopards version of iChat.


So was I, but then Ive kind of got sucked into all this and I dont really know what im doing yet. I read in the instructions for screen sharing got it working really easily locally and just assumed from this that it will work everywhere etc. Give me time to read through and understand your the rest of your reply and ill come back. Thanks for your efforts

To OP sorry for thread hijack!!

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Roger - our conversation seems to have kept in line with the OPs.

Now that I know I'm on the same page as you - go back to my first post, and the 2nd half of my second. Those parts should apply to you and your ichat screen sharing.

CYC: - If the connection isn't up to it - I'm not sure it will allow you to initiate a session - or it may allow it - but with no Audio chat with your host, or maybe even fewer colors and resolution. I'm not 100% on that. I have tried to initiate a VIDEO chat via ichat on a poor connection - and it told me I didn't have the available bandwidth - but then gave me the option for an AUDIO ONLY chat. So it seems to be fairly aware of what it can do with how much bandwidth is available.

If you DO have enough bandwidth to get into a sharing session (I have yet to be in a situation where I don't have enough) it continuously scales and changes your user experience to get the most out of the overall experience. Unfortunately in my case - my sessions with some people start off GREAT and die off quickly - because my Internet Service Provider started this new "trend" on cracking down on Torrents and Peer to Peer networks.... The Nuts Side of this is the fact that an Ichat direct connection Comcast seems to be mistaking for a Torrent - so they cut my bandwidth by more than half after a minute or two. I can keep going but my sound degrades a bit and my screen resolution drops off some. But if I'm telling you anything - it's how damn good iChat is at keeping this connection running smoothly in spite of all that happening. If I was using XP remote desktop in that situation - bandwidth would be reduced, and it would either drop my refresh rate to 1 frame a minute - or choke up and kill the connection instantly.