Tell us about a bad link.

Thank You!

Picture this. In you're dorm room, working on a term paper. Realizing you need more research, you grab your coat and head for the school library. Finding a few leads in some periodicals, you sit down at the library computer and launch a web browser.

From the browser, you type a URL that accesses the desktop of the Mac back in your dorm room, where an AppleWorks document is already open, ready for your additions.

That's one of the many possibilities when you use AT&T's free VNC software.

Similar in application to PCAnywhere or Timbuktu, the Open Source VNC software is available for MacOS, Linux, Windows, and even PalmOS! There are two parts to the system: A server that runs on the computer you log into, and a client application that handles the remote display.

Since the VNC server is also a simple web server, you don't even need a client application, any Java capable web browser on any platform will do.

The Server Software

Download the Classic MacOS server software form the VNC site, or a newer alpha version from Jonathan Morton. Run a simple Applescript that installs an Extension, Control panel, and the Server/Client applications. After restarting the Mac, set an access password in the Control Panel, launch the Server and you're ready to access the computer from another computer using client software, or a web browser. All you need is the IP address of the server.

Under LinuxPPC, installing the rpm adds three applications: vncpasswd, vncserver, and vncviewer. As root, run vncpassword to set a system wide password for all clients.

There are two ways to launch the server. One way is to have the vnc X server launch at the same time as your local X server. This is done by adding a line to your /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers file:

#This first line, or something very similar is already there:
:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -gamma 1.2
:99 local /usr/bin/Xvnc -httpd /usr/lib/vnc/classes/ -geometry 800x600 -depth 8 -once -dontdisconnect :99

The line beginning with :99 launches the vnc X server. To see all the available server options, type Xvnc -h into a terminal.

Some words of caution are advised with the above scheme. No password is needed to remotely assess the serer this way. The user is presented with the usual xdm/kdm/gdm login window - including options to shutdown the server if you leave those active! The only reason I could suggest using this configuration is a small office LAN behind a firewall where staff can freely move around the company, yet still access their local desktop from any computer.

A safer was to use vnc is by opening a telnet session and launching the server as needed, keeping the telnet session active. An example session would be:

The Client Software

Now that the vnc server is running, you can log in with a client or web browser. You'll be prompted for a password (set with vncpasswd), and presented with the window manager requesting from the file ~/.vnc/xstartup.

Over ethernet, KDE runs quite well, but if you're going to be using a dialup connection for the remote computer, you may want to consider the lightweight Ice Window Manager.

When you have finished your session, be sure to kill the remote server with the following command:

For the MacOS X beta, try the recently updated VNCThing. It's a carbon application that runs native under MacOS X, but under MacOS 9, it's a little slower than the vncviewer from AT&T. The author, Dair Grant, is working hard on optimizing the code.

Having played with VNC on several platforms under different line conditions, I have to say it's an amazing piece of work. I imagine myself on the floor at MacWorld, using one of the demo machines to check on the status of the ResExcellence server using only a web browser. On maybe I'll install it on my Mother-in-Law's iMac so I can share her screen, walking her through a difficult software installation.

The AT&T VNC site has a good FAQ and links for downloading most of the server/clients. If you have been looking for a way to remotely access your computer desktop, not just your computer's hard drive, take a look at VNC. It has the engineering of AT&T behind it, and you can't beat the price!