Best VNC viewer and settings to connect to OS X Tiger?

[Toeside]

Since replacing my wife's iMac G4 with a 12" Powerbook, I have taken "custody" of the iMac. My problem with the iMac is it is not portable.

I'd like to connect to the iMac via VNC from my laptop running XP Pro. However, RealVNC and TightVNC are so sluggish, it's nearly unusable.

Perhaps there's a better VNC view available? Perhaps there are settings that I'm missing that would boost the performance?

I'm not trying to run intensive apps through VNC, just Firefox, Mail, maybe a quick browse through iPhoto--definitely no image editing or video work.

I routinely control my XP Pro home machine via Remote Desktop from my laptop with excellent results. I'm really hoping to make controlling the iMac usable. If not, the 15" iMac G4 will be sold and replaced with a MacTel Powerbook next year. (That'll happen sometime anyway, but if I really can't use this remotely now, there's no reason for me to keep it.)

Thanks for the help!

 

[ewinemiller]

I use UltraVNC, it seems a little nicer than some others I've tried, but it's still not fast like remote desktop/terminal services. I think that's more of the nature of VNC itself than a particular client. If you do find one that is faster, I'd love to hear about it.

I did find that OSXvnc was a lot more reliable than Apple's built in VNC server. If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl. This is on Panther, I haven't tried Tiger yet.

 

[ITASOR]

Microsoft makes Remote Desktop for Mac, which would work in your situation, I think. I tried it and it works at a good speed. My XP computer was Pro though...I don't know how it will work with Home.

 

[Toeside]

Microsoft makes Remote Desktop for Mac, which would work in your situation, I think. I tried it and it works at a good speed. My XP computer was Pro though...I don't know how it will work with Home.

Wrong direction. I have XP Pro, and I want to control my Mac. VNC Viewer is the answer, it's just slow and barely usable.

 

[jeremy.king]

Im am guessing your slowness may have to do with your Internet connection speed.

I used to connect to my mini at home from my work lapper (XP Pro), but found that my cable modem wasn't fast enough to support the default TightVNC settings. So I would launch the TightVNC exe (Best Compression) and then change the compression level to 1 (fast) and it was usable. You may also want to restrict colors to 8-bit, but that would make it difficult to use iPhoto.

With that said, why exactly would you be using mail or firefox on your mac over VNC? You would be better off just using your XP machine for both of those since you will already need an internet connection to access your home machine.

 

[ITASOR]

Wrong direction. I have XP Pro, and I want to control my Mac. VNC Viewer is the answer, it's just slow and barely usable.

Oh yeah, that's to view the Windows from the Mac. Sorry, I should have read your post more carefully,

 

[Toeside]

Im am guessing your slowness may have to do with your Internet connection speed.

I used to connect to my mini at home from my work lapper (XP Pro), but found that my cable modem wasn't fast enough to support the default TightVNC settings. So I would launch the TightVNC exe (Best Compression) and then change the compression level to 1 (fast) and it was usable. You may also want to restrict colors to 8-bit, but that would make it difficult to use iPhoto.

With that said, why exactly would you be using mail or firefox on your mac over VNC? You would be better off just using your XP machine for both of those since you will already need an internet connection to access your home machine.

My internet connection speed has nothing to do with this. I'm sitting at home (on the couch) remote controlling the iMac upstairs. That's all. At this point, I'd rather use the iMac than Windows XP. I know I can use my Laptop to for web browsing and email, but I don't want to.

 

[jeremy.king]

My internet connection speed has nothing to do with this. I'm sitting at home (on the couch) remote controlling the iMac upstairs. That's all. At this point, I'd rather use the iMac than Windows XP. I know I can use my Laptop to for web browsing and email, but I don't want to.

Wow...Get an ibook, then.

 

[stcanard]

My internet connection speed has nothing to do with this. I'm sitting at home (on the couch) remote controlling the iMac upstairs. That's all. At this point, I'd rather use the iMac than Windows XP. I know I can use my Laptop to for web browsing and email, but I don't want to.

Then there's something wrong. I regularly use OSXVnc (default options) installed on my G4, and connect to it from either an XP or Win 98 system using VNCViewer, full colour, auto select encoding. On a 100MB switch it is quite comfortably usable, although I wouldn't play games or movies on it. Maybe if I invested in a gigabit switch On a wireless network it's a little big laggy, but still comfortable to use.

I'd suggest troubleshooting your network. Check the ping times between the connections, and make sure there isn't something creating a lot of lag. Make sure everything's full duplex, I have seen badly configured switches that will drop to half and make things nightmarish.

Make sure you aren't dropping packets internally, I've seen cheap (d-link) routers that do a really bad job of communicating internally, and freeze up, delay, or drop packets.

There is no reason why it should be that bad.

 

[Toeside]

Wow...Get an ibook, then.

Are you really rolling your eyes at me?

I'm trying to make use out of the iMac we already have (my wife now uses the 12" Powerbook that we just bought). If I can't use some form of remote control with good performance, then it's going up for sale. I won't buy an Apple laptop for me until the Intel based PowerBooks are released--and then only if I can run a virtual Windows machine within OS X. As a Windows system admininstrator, I can't completely walk away from Windows. However, I'd rather use a Mac/OS X at home.

 

[freiheit]

UltraVNC on Windows connecting to OSXVnc on Tiger is hella fast! Unfortunately any VNC on the Mac connecting to UltraVNC Server on Windows is not so fast (usable, but not fast).