[DominikHoffmann]

I need to be able to run the desktop of a PC at work, from home. Since various requirements of installed hardware and software mandate Windows 2000, I can't use Windows XP Pro with it's built-in Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) functionality. Installing Windows 2000 Server with its Terminal Services is out of the question, too.

Before exploring commercial alternatives like Timbuktu or PC Anywhere, I gave VNC a try. With both server and client on the same Gigabit Ethernet there was no noticeable peformance hit. However, now, I am at home, where everything goes out on DSL via a VPN, and it is actually painfully slow.

What surprises me is that it does so much worse than RDC, which with the same configuration gives me the illusion of having the PC inside of my Mac. Why would VNC be so much slower?

Is there something that I could do? Use a different client (right now it's VNCThing)?

Dominik Hoffmann

[John Strung]

My recollection is that on the VNC server there is a slider setting that trades off VNC performance against the local PC performance. You might try fiddling with that setting.

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by John Strung:
My recollection is that on the VNC server there is a slider setting that trades off VNC performance against the local PC performance. You might try fiddling with that setting.

It doesn't seem to be the performance of the server itself. Otherwise I would have noticed the same problem regardless of whether I was connecting from home or whether I was on the same switched Gigabit Ethernet network.

It must be the protocol that is much less efficient than that of Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Connection.

I'm just curious about why that might be so.

Dominik

[Macola]

I was in a similar situation, and ended up using GoToMyPC. It's not free, but it works surprisingly well.

[ginoledesma]

VNC isn't exactly the fastest protocol out there. If you want performance, I'd recommend installing the TightVNC software package instead. Unfortunately, I don't know of any Mac client that supports the tight protocol. On our deploy of a TightVNC Linux/Windows-based server, we're able to happily use it over a dial-up connection. It isn't the fastest or most fluid, but it's tolerable.

Try reducing the number of colors for your VNC session. That usually helps. Other than raw bandwidth, you'll also need low-latency. So even if you are on cable, if you have relatively high latency from your server, it still won't be anywhere "smooth."

[DominikHoffmann]

I wish Microsoft would just sell a simple add-on Terminal Services/RDC package that wouldn't require Win 2k Server.

Dominik

[Zim]

General rules for VNC speed

- decrease screen size
- decrease color depth
- turn on compression

I believe I used to launch my client in lower bit depth than my server (running at home) and thus did not impact my home machine, and things ran quite snappily.

Mike

[tooki]

Originally posted by DominikHoffmann:
I wish Microsoft would just sell a simple add-on Terminal Services/RDC package that wouldn't require Win 2k Server.

Windows XP Pro has an RDC server built-in.

tooki

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by tooki:
Windows XP Pro has an RDC server built-in.

tooki

Exactly. Unfortunately, upgrading to Windows XP Pro is not an option.

Dominik

[alex_kac]

RDC actually sends windowing commands between the server and you. So because of that - it can be TONS faster. VNC sends compressed bitmaps.

I can run RDC over GPRS and be usable. GPRS!!!! That's modem speeds. I cannot do the same with VNC.

My biggest pet peeve with RDC is that its copy/paste between server and client are broken and the RDC client on the Mac could kill copy/paste completely.

[Sarc]

you might want to use compression in order to get beeter speeds while using VNC.
use a SSH tunnel with the -c (compression) flag. It can make a difference.

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by Sarc:
you might want to use compression in order to get beeter speeds while using VNC.
use a SSH tunnel with the -c (compression) flag. It can make a difference.

How would I implement that if both client and server are stock Windows machines? I'd have to buff up on SSH tunnels, but I think, if the client at home is a Mac, which it is for testing purposes only, and we can route traffic through our Xserve at work, then I can make it work.

Dominik Hoffmann

[DominikHoffmann]

Originally posted by alex_kac:
My biggest pet peeve with RDC is that its copy/paste between server and client are broken and the RDC client on the Mac could kill copy/paste completely.

Could you be a bit more explicit about this? I paste things from a Safari Web page into my RDC session all the time? What I have is

RDC + headless PC > VPC

Dominik Hoffmann