Remote Desktop

[avaloncourt]

I'm in the same boat with Desktop Connect (although trying to connect to 2 Macs in my home). I understand I need to configure my home router for port forwarding to do so but the help on Desktop Connect and developer's website offer little to no specific guidance on how to do this. I've contacted the developer (awaiting a response) and posted on their forums (which appear to be barely used) but was wondering if in the mean time, anyone here with experience would be willing to offer some assistance/guidance.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

Check:

http://portforward.com/

They have a variety of equipment listed on their site and have instructions for all kinds of forwarding situations. See if anything there helps you getting through the process with your equipment. That's the problem with forwarding. There is no standard way to do it because every manufacturer and often every model differs.

 

[steamtoy]

I'm in the same boat with Desktop Connect (although trying to connect to 2 Macs in my home). I understand I need to configure my home router for port forwarding to do so but the help on Desktop Connect and developer's website offer little to no specific guidance on how to do this. I've contacted the developer (awaiting a response) and posted on their forums (which appear to be barely used) but was wondering if in the mean time, anyone here with experience would be willing to offer some assistance/guidance.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

iTeleport got a full tutorial on their website about how to configure your router and computers. This works for all vnc client. I have successfully connected my mac mini while I was in school using Desktop connect, although the connection speed is painfully slow.

Basically, if you are using cable or dsl, all you need to do is to register for a free account on dyndns.com or no-ip.com. If your router has dyndns client embedded, you will see a "DDNS" setting in your router configuration page. Then you have to go for dyndns account. Most routers has built-in ddns client, like verison fios, netgear, etc. If your router doen't have a built-in client, the you can go for any dynamic dns service like no-ip.com, and you just have to download and install their client to let it update your dynamic ip address in background.

 

[tbayrgs]

Check:

http://portforward.com/

They have a variety of equipment listed on their site and have instructions for all kinds of forwarding situations. See if anything there helps you getting through the process with your equipment. That's the problem with forwarding. There is no standard way to do it because every manufacturer and often every model differs.

Thanks avaloncourt. I had actually already discovered that site and followed their instructions to setup port forwarding from what Desktop Connect uses as their default port but still no dice. Unfortunately I can't tell if I either didn't have it configured properly or if something else is wrong (i.e. the address for my computer). When I save the settings for my mac mini when it's discovered on my home network, the computer address is listed with a .local: 5900 at the end--I'm guessing this isn't sufficient to locate from an outside wifi connection but have no idea what to change it to. Unfortunately, my network config expertise is pretty basic.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[tbayrgs]

iTeleport got a full tutorial on their website about how to configure your router and computers. This works for all vnc client. I have successfully connected my mac mini while I was in school using Desktop connect, although the connection speed is painfully slow.

Basically, if you are using cable or dsl, all you need to do is to register for a free account on dyndns.com or no-ip.com. If your router has dyndns client embedded, you will see a "DDNS" setting in your router configuration page. Then you have to go for dyndns account. Most routers has built-in ddns client, like verison fios, netgear, etc. If your router doen't have a built-in client, the you can go for any dynamic dns service like no-ip.com, and you just have to download and install their client to let it update your dynamic ip address in background.

Thanks steamtoy--i'll give it a go and see if I have any luck. I have an Actiontec router supplied from Verizon FIOS connected to my Time Capsule (in bridge mode so if I'm correct, I should only need to configure the router). I've set it up for port forwarding for my Slingbox in the past so I know it can be done. Thanks again.

 

[SpeedFleX]

If that doesnt work you could also try teamviewer which is free

http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/teamviewer/id357069581?mt=8

http://www.teamviewer.com/

 

[h00ligan]

Anyone know of a RDP program for the iPad that doesn't require a server endpiece to connect to a system? I just want it to ask for the hostname or IP address and let me connect to it.

Winadmin works fine and is a reasonable price. With ddns and port forwarding you could have wan access. I certainly wouldn't pay thirty bucks for logmein, which cashes in on users unwilling to do a basic mat of work that is not difficult.

I use winadmin to get to a windows 7 and whs in the local network and aside from one small difficulty with click and drag it's been fine. One caveat, I emailed the dev and haven't heard anything back so I question how support is, also looking at the support page lminked in iTunes, the dev seems to be pretty terse with support requests.

 

[tbayrgs]

Thanks avaloncourt. I had actually already discovered that site and followed their instructions to setup port forwarding from what Desktop Connect uses as their default port but still no dice. Unfortunately I can't tell if I either didn't have it configured properly or if something else is wrong (i.e. the address for my computer). When I save the settings for my mac mini when it's discovered on my home network, the computer address is listed with a .local: 5900 at the end--I'm guessing this isn't sufficient to locate from an outside wifi connection but have no idea what to change it to. Unfortunately, my network config expertise is pretty basic.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Well, idiot that i am, believe I have figured it out. I downloaded the free version of the same software for the iPhone (ezDesktop VNC and RDP) to try to resolve this as it would allow me to test my connection over 3G since I couldn't test on my iPad until I could access an outside wifi network. Since the setup is essentially the same, I located my mac mini on my home network and than changed the computer hostname in Desktop Connect to the IP of my router. I doubled checked my port forwarding configuration and tested over 3G and voila, my iPhone successfully connected. I'll now setup the iPad and test next time I leave the house. Assuming it's successful, next I'll try to configure for use over SSH (...can't wait to see how I screw that up ).

Just thought I'd share in case it could help someone else.

 

[supermanx]

Logmein does NAT traversal by constantly doing a keep-alive on the remote machines to Logmein's server. When you want to connect to computer A via the logmein website or Logmein Ignition, it checks the Logmein server for existence of the machine you want, asks for the password and then passes you through. It's rather like a telephone operator for remote desktop connections.

This isn't Microsoft RDP but rather an easier to configure proprietary method.

Yeah like I said basically the same as gotomypc.

Jump works well for straight rep connections, used it for about 6 hours today, no laptop handy. I'll take a look at Desktop Connect and try to do a feature compare.

 

[avaloncourt]

Yeah like I said basically the same as gotomypc.

Jump works well for straight rep connections, used it for about 6 hours today, no laptop handy. I'll take a look at Desktop Connect and try to do a feature compare.

Except Logmein has a free account version which is all I use and it works very well. There is no free version of Gotomypc.