Remote access solution for cMP?

[Upgrader]

What are the options to remotely connect my cMP 5,1 (Mojave) to my Macbook Pro 5,1 (El Capitan) over the internet?

I’ve been using Team Viewer but it has become increasingly temperamental.

I found an app called Screens on the app store but it won’t support lower than High Sierra. VNC Viewer is too expensive. Anyone know of another low cost or free solution?

I know there’s a Chrome extension that does the job for free but I don’t use the Chrome browser. I also know about the Apple Remote Desktop app but it’s quite expensive.

Any other suggestions welcome.

Cheers.

 

[bookemdano]

Not that you can't post this here in the Mac Pro forum, but you might have more exposure posting it in the Mojave forum. There's nothing specific to the cMP about any of the software that can accomplish this.

But to answer your question, I use OpenVPN and the built-in screen sharing. It's not as "easy" as TeamViewer but my router is already capable of being an OpenVPN endpoint so it was pretty trivial to do.

 

[Upgrader]

To answer my own question! Just found an app called Jump Desktop which seems to be the sweet spot for price and functionality. If anyone else is interested it’s here: https://jumpdesktop.com
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Not that you can't post this here in the Mac Pro forum, but you might have more exposure posting it in the Mojave forum. There's nothing specific to the cMP about any of the software that can accomplish this.

But to answer your question, I use OpenVPN and the built-in screen sharing. It's not as "easy" as TeamViewer but my router is already capable of being an OpenVPN endpoint so it was pretty trivial to do.

Cheers - will check that out. Good shout on posting in the Mojave forum. Can the mods shift this thread please?

 

[crjackson2134]

Post backwith your results. It sounds promising. I have Screens and stopped using it. Its kind of buggy on my machine.

 

[saulinpa]

Yes, please report results. I started using the Chrome Remote Desktop (need to install Chrome but don't need to run it) and find it buggy - totally unusable with multiple monitors.

 

[Upgrader]

Post backwith your results. It sounds promising. I have Screens and stopped using it. Its kind of buggy on my machine.

sure thing. I really wanted Screens to work and read great things and I’m surprised to hear you experienced bugginess but their lack of support for El Capitan breaks the deal for me. Real shame.
[doublepost=1540674457][/doublepost]

Yes, please report results. I started using the Chrome Remote Desktop (need to install Chrome but don't need to run it) and find it buggy - totally unusable with multiple monitors.

Good info. Thanks for the heads up. Worth noting that Jump has a 14 day free trial if you download from the website instead of going via the App Store. It’s also slightly cheaper from there.

 

[Upgrader]

Ok, I'm back to report results and unfortunately for my particular scenario it's not good news for using the Screens app.

I can dial out to home successfully as I have a public IP address there. Screens and Screens Connect can dial in just fine. When dialling from home into my work location (which doesn't provide public IP addresses) Screens fails as it's a private network. Public IP addresses are available there but I can't justify the extra monthly cost.

I was going to try Jump Desktop too but there's no point as I'm fairly sure that app will work the same way as Screens.

Let's hope Teamviewer can work out their issues with Mojave.

 

[ActionableMango]

I was going to try Jump Desktop too but there's no point as I'm fairly sure that app will work the same way as Screens.

No, try it. Although Jump Desktop can connect that way, there is an alternative connection method that doesn't require a public IP address or any special router rules (if you have a Google account).

 

[startergo]

Not that you can't post this here in the Mac Pro forum, but you might have more exposure posting it in the Mojave forum. There's nothing specific to the cMP about any of the software that can accomplish this.

But to answer your question, I use OpenVPN and the built-in screen sharing. It's not as "easy" as TeamViewer but my router is already capable of being an OpenVPN endpoint so it was pretty trivial to do.

I am using VNC. It is great for 5 machines, but it does not work to wake from sleep on Mojave. Has somebody used sleep and remote login successfully?

 

[Upgrader]

No, try it. Although Jump Desktop can connect that way, there is an alternative connection method that doesn't require a public IP address or any special router rules (if you have a Google account).

Wow, ok. I’ll reinstall Jump tomorrow. The other reason I didn’t try it was because for some reason the trial period refused to work on my work machine - it asked for a licence after the first day. Unless I can get them to reply to my support request on this (they haven’t in over a week) then I’m not keen on paying for a licence unless I know it’s guaranteed to work. But thanks for the information. I’ll report back in a few days.
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I am using VNC. It is great for 5 machines, but it does not work to wake from sleep on Mojave. Has somebody used sleep and remote login successfully?

Glad to hear it’s working well apart from the wake from sleep issue. I can’t justify the cost of using VNC for my casual dial ins unfortunately.

 

[startergo]

It is free for 5 pc`s (non business usage)

 

[adam9c1]

It is free for 5 pc`s (non business usage)

Which app is free for non business?

 

[Upgrader]

It is free for 5 pc`s (non business usage)

I still have the issue of no public IP available at my workplace network though unfortunately. Plus I was under the impression that to dial in remotely required the installation of VNC Server which isn’t free...

 

[startergo]

Real VNC is free. To access your pc remotely you have to install their VNC connect on the host and VNC viewer on the remote machine (the one you use to connect to the home machine) it requires creating an account (free) and login to it. It is like a cloud VNC

 

[Upgrader]

Real VNC is free. To access your pc remotely you have to install their VNC connect on the host and VNC viewer on the remote machine (the one you use to connect to the home machine) it requires creating an account (free) and login to it. It is like a cloud VNC

Thanks. I’ll look at Real VNC again.

 

[ActionableMango]

Wow, ok. I’ll reinstall Jump tomorrow.

I hope the trial works out for you. Jump is fantastic. You can use iOS clients as well, and they made good design choices when translating iOS touchscreen to Windows or MacOS mouse actions.

I do remote tech support for "mom" from my iPhone. Brilliant. She used to have to wait for my next visit.

 

[Upgrader]

I hope the trial works out for you. Jump is fantastic. You can use iOS clients as well, and they made good design choices when translating iOS touchscreen to Windows or MacOS mouse actions.

I do remote tech support for "mom" from my iPhone. Brilliant. She used to have to wait for my next visit.

Sounds good!

I've been speaking to Jump Desktop support today and it appears that you don't need a public IP address to use it - which sounds promising. I'll try it tonight and report back.

 

[dcpmark]

I’ve been using Jump for years.....no complaints whatsover.

 

[Upgrader]

The good news is that Jump works perfectly. I’m retiring Teamviewer and moving onto this.

Here’s what the support guy told me about the security of the connection:

1. The connection is secured using DTLS and it's encrypted end-to-end
- which means that even our servers can't decrypt the connection.
2. One of our design goals when creating the 'Jump Desktop Connect'
app was to make sure that it does not trust our cloud server. Jump
Desktop Connect will not allow access to your machine without
providing a local machine's account's username and password.
Furthermore - no one is even allowed to initiate a connection to your
computer unless you've explicity granted them permission in the 'Jump
Desktop Connect' app. After you’ve granted them access they still need to provide a username and password on the machine to connect. Finally
all connection attempts are logged to '/Library/Logs/Jump
Desktop/access.log’.

Latest version also has dark mode for Mojave. Great app. I’m about to check out the iOS version too. Thanks for all the help.

 

[ActionableMango]

I’m about to check out the iOS version too.

If you are going to do that a lot, you might look into getting a supported mouse. With one of those, you can remote into MacOS or Windows and in a way you are using the iPad with a desktop OS, keyboard, and mouse.

 

[crjackson2134]

Jump is starting to look like an essential tool to me. Bluetooth mouse, just WOW!

I’ll be planning on spending a few bucks on myself after the new year...

EDIT:
In fact I couldn’t wait. I just purchased/installed it on my iPad (inexpensive). Since the Connect companion is a free download, and I’ll only be needing this on the go, iPad purchase makes perfect sense for me.

 

[startergo]

I thought you were looking for a free solution, which is the real VNC instead you want to pay 30$ for the OSX version + 15$ for the IOS version? Beats me up but never mind.

 

[crjackson2134]

I thought you were looking for a free solution, which is the real VNC instead you want to pay 30$ for the OSX version + 15$ for the IOS version? Beats me up but never mind.

While I’m sure this post was intended for the OP, it seems he found something he likes better.

I wasn’t even looking, and this App caught my eye.

Besides all that, I’m reasonably well acquainted with @ActionableMango’s Mac-Cred’s and an endorsement from him goes a L-O-N-G W-A-Y in my book.

 

[Upgrader]

I thought you were looking for a free solution, which is the real VNC instead you want to pay 30$ for the OSX version + 15$ for the IOS version? Beats me up but never mind.

The free (home) subscription only supports cloud connections. I'm not able to connect both ways without a public IP at both ends. This is what VNC support told me.

 

[startergo]

The free (home) subscription only supports cloud connections. I'm not able to connect both ways without a public IP at both ends. This is what VNC support told me.

You should try it as I connect at my work behind a firewall. You basically login to your account at both ends.