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Zoom · Jun 21, 2004, 08:20 AM

Apple's page here.

Now what I want to know is: why doesn't Apple has a free, lite version of this for simple 1-to-1 uses like VNC and Windoze Remote Desktop?

I've tried using VNC to control my Mom's eMac, and it's ridiculously slow, even though we both have a broadband connection. The screen takes 10s of seconds to paint. It's basically unusable. Why wouldn't Apple release a slimmed-down free version to let users remotely control their own Macs? I was really hoping for this feature in this release.

gorickey · Jun 21, 2004, 08:21 AM

Cool, I can't wait to get my copy..

moonmonkey · Jun 21, 2004, 08:25 AM

Originally posted by Zoom:
Apple's page here.

Now what I want to know is: why doesn't Apple has a free, lite version of this for simple 1-to-1 uses like VNC and Windoze Remote Desktop?

I've tried using VNC to control my Mom's eMac, and it's ridiculously slow, even though we both have a broadband connection. The screen takes 10s of seconds to paint. It's basically unusable. Why wouldn't Apple release a slimmed-down free version to let users remotely control their own Macs? I was really hoping for this feature in this release.

You will have to wait for the next version of the OS for that.

Zoom · Jun 21, 2004, 08:53 AM

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
You will have to wait for the next version of the OS for that.

Is this a feature of Tiger? If so, how do you know?

absmiths · Jun 21, 2004, 09:47 AM

Originally posted by Zoom:
I've tried using VNC to control my Mom's eMac, and it's ridiculously slow, even though we both have a broadband connection. The screen takes 10s of seconds to paint. It's basically unusable.

There must be something wrong. I use VNC form my home system at 26K/s upload and while it is slow, it is very usable.

Using it over a MODEM sucks, but then, what are you going to do? It would be faster to take screenshots with a digital camera and mail them . . .

mmurray · Jun 21, 2004, 04:47 PM

Originally posted by Zoom:
Apple's page here.

Now what I want to know is: why doesn't Apple has a free, lite version of this for simple 1-to-1 uses like VNC and Windoze Remote Desktop?

I've tried using VNC to control my Mom's eMac, and it's ridiculously slow, even though we both have a broadband connection. The screen takes 10s of seconds to paint. It's basically unusable. Why wouldn't Apple release a slimmed-down free version to let users remotely control their own Macs? I was really hoping for this feature in this release.

Have you tried setting it to 8-bit color ? It doesn't look very good buts its faster.

Michael

Simon X · Jun 21, 2004, 06:30 PM

VNC can be painfully slow even over a local ethernet connection. You need to get the right combination of client and server settings for a quite respectable speed.

I found a combination of OSXvnc or Share My Desktop as the server and VNCThing as the client work well. But the most important thing to get right is the settings for Pixel Encoding in VNCThing, the speed depends on these settings.

I wish Apple would simplify the process when connecting a pair of Macs, as well as speed up the whole process with some sort of QE on the client creating the desktop instead of sending a bunch of images. Didn't NeXT have something better?

Zoom · Jun 21, 2004, 06:50 PM

That's the thing about the OS company writing the app. MS's RDC is great, I'm sure because it's OS-specific and it's completely optimal. More than that, if you write the OS and the control app, you can specifically design both for the application. I'm sure Apple's remote desktop is very fast, I just wish there was a free version for 1-to-1 use.

BoulderDash · Jun 21, 2004, 07:01 PM

Will there be upgrade pricing? I'd have thought owning ARD 1.0 would mean something.

BD

mishakim · Jun 21, 2004, 08:29 PM

Originally posted by Simon X:
Didn't NeXT have something better?

NeXT could have one machine display an app on another machine, kind of like X11. You had to run the app from a command line with the -NXHost remotemachine switch. It was built into Display PostScript, which was replaced by Quartz in the transition to OS X. Since it was just for single apps, it didn't really give you remote control capabilities. It was also insecure, since opening your machine to receive remote windows opened it to the world as I understand it.

GENERAL_SMILEY · Jun 22, 2004, 07:05 AM

Who is using this - is Timbuktu still better over the web?

ryju · Jun 22, 2004, 08:20 AM

I use a VNC clien to control my Mac from my IBM and it's pretty speedy I must say. This looks a hundred times better though.

absmiths · Jun 22, 2004, 10:00 AM

Originally posted by mmurray:
Have you tried setting it to 8-bit color ? It doesn't look very good buts its faster.

Michael

Yeah, I forgot that. I always use 8-bit color because even over 100M ethernet it can get slow.

moonmonkey · Jun 23, 2004, 05:49 AM

Originally posted by Zoom:
Is this a feature of Tiger? If so, how do you know?

Just a guess, Windows XP Pro does it, it would make sense for apple to add a slimmed down version to the OS.