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Controlling Multiple Macs, Locally and Remotely

5thirtyone.com — "For anyone who owns more than one Apple computer, the thought of controlling two or more machines at the same time is surely something many people think of. Despite any previous assumptions you've had, this is quite simple and easily completed by anyone willing and able to follow a few simple directions."

Who dugg this? Made popular May 23, 2007

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  • Toshibi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16Synergy is an awesome program.
  • ExSlashdotter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13Shoot, with ARD, you can select a whole bunch of computers at once and view all their desktops tiled together...

    check this out:
    http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/remoteassistance.html
  • ExSlashdotter, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15Okay, i know this is Digg, but is VNC really news? I mean, I use ARD all the time, but...

    Chicken of the VNC is my least favorite and slowest VNC client i know of too.
  • PDubNYC, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7@exslashdotter
    Shoot, with ARD you can also pay $300 for the admin software
  • ExSlashdotter, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8ever been at work or school and had a IT person take control of your screen to help?

    This is what they're using. VNC is free and has been around forever. Not exactly exotic stuff.
  • Xanium4332, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7'help', or catch you in the act...
  • zaren, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4http://synergy2.sourceforge.net's Synergy or http://wincent.com/a/products/synergy-classic's Synergy?

    An unfortunate duplication of names for two completely different apps. Wincent's iTunes enhancing app Synergy has been around for a few years. I've only heard of the OSS KVM software Synergy in the last month or two.
  • ExSlashdotter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Not necessarily. I can ARD (apple remote desktop) to our employees that are working from home. They're usually on a cable or dsl connection, and limited even further by being connected to our VPN. Granted, its slow, but i can ARD or VNC to to people on their dial-up and i can still get around fine.
  • himey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4It isn't too bad. You don't want to try stuff like watching a movie or anything with really intensive screen updates all the time, but if you just need to log in and do something really quick, it works great.
  • isdereks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Everything is free in the write-up. *scratches head*
  • Rhevher, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Agreed. I run Synergy with G5, Windows Desktop, Windows laptop. My only beef is that it always seems to take about 20-30 minutes to setup Synergy initially on all the machines. Once the configuration is correct, worked around any DHCP issues, etc... the work-flow benefits are amazing!
  • milezteg, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Nah it's acceptable...really. Run it over a wired LAN of course.
  • ucg1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Agreed, Chicken is the slowest VNC client I have ever used. It's like literally 30 seconds behind whatever I am doing. There must be some serious bugs in it because its completely unusable for me.

    I am using TSclientX which is extremely fast for VNC (it also does RDP, but I haven't tried that yet). It's an X11 app, though. Can't complain, though, it works well and is free.

    If anyone knows any VNC clients that are native, fast, and free I'd like to know about them.
  • Greyarea, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Which client do you recommend in that case?
  • PixelVision, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3When I go to The States, I set up Remotely Anywhere on my PC at home an I can use it fine with the host having just a 256kb/s upload speed. Obviously no real video streaming, but I can get decent use of a webcam which gives me no need to set the cam to stream over the net. When I'm at home I use the built in Windows remote access as it's less bloated. Another remote control type app that's useful for a multi system setup is a program called Synergy, this is for when you have a few separate systems rather than using a few systems through one monitor. Remotely Anywhere (not free) and Synergy (free, open source) are both Mac compatible I believe. I don't know if any of this is in the article as it's dead.
  • JGuest, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I just set up synergy at my work place ( MacBook : Windows Desktop : MacBook Pro ) and it is awesome! This will really boost my performance!! (though digg doesn't help)
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3The college I go to has ARD in the Mac suit.
    Everytime they take control of my Mac just to help, I have to restart the machine.
    The mouse gets stuck, moves abit then about half a second later pings back to some random position.
    Very fustrating.
    I hope VNC works better.
  • transcendz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@exslashdotter : the problem with ARD is the price and the complex use through VPNs or Firewalls, being UDP based.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Look at it from the manager's point of view for a moment. You have a working computer that they did fix for you. Consider how many people come in to the store whining every day about pieces like this. They have to be firm on policy, especially since its not his policy. Further, they have the right to withhold any proprietary information on repairs that they want, so they don't have to tell you that your braely-there bend is within parameters. Sorry dude - that's just how it is. My AlBook came that way, and it works just wonderfully despite the small bend.
  • MacParrot, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Since this post has nothing to do with the back-dated stock options "scandal" that everyone was hyped up about two months ago, I'm going to guess you ride the short bus to school.

  • oktobr, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2What makes Synergy really great is that it can be used to move the mouse cursor between your OS X screen, Windows screen and a Linux screen. You can also cut and paste between OS'es. It's great if you have a monitor per machine and want to use a single keyboard and mouse. You'll find videos of it in action on YouTube.
  • phoomp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I quite like VNC's Mac version. If you can get your hands on a beta version, it even allows scaling of the remote desktop (so you could fit, say, a 1680x1050 remote desktop on a 1280x800 local desktop).
  • stalefries, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3"First I'll get 3 Macbooks, then I'll get 2 iMacs, 7 different Mac Pros...and maybe 9 or so Mac Minis."
  • ricksite, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2osx2x is pretty cool as it connects to VNC or an X server. It was somewhat buggy last time I used it a couple of years ago. It may be better now.
  • ExSlashdotter, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5not really. first, you're spamming another thread.

    second of all, there's nothing wrong with your MBP. i've got 20 or so issued to people at our company, and i've seen that before. i've even seen it on the old AlBook G4's. There's always *some* gap on either side, and they never lay flush. Unless its stopping the screen from latching or causing discoloration in the display, don't worry about it.
  • acomj, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Free not as in beer, but as in Open source.

    Ugg.
  • synapseattack, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3Take a hint... You are being dugg down for a reason.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2"Furthermore if the screen gets damaged due to the severe bend"

    If there was a severe bend I might side with you.
    You're being to sensitive.
    You might as well admit that it isn't causing any real problem and you want it fixed purely to look cool with your MBP.
    Just face it. No one gives a ***** if your MBP has a small curve in the screen.
    And if anyone does care, why the hell do you care what they think.
  • rasterbator, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Timbuktu Pro works for me. Of course this program is not free, but offers more features.
  • PDubNYC, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I like Chicken of the VNC
  • bluechips23, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4Multiple Macs? Forget that, I can't even afford one! But neat idea. Will keep in mind when I become a millionaire to afford all the macs.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4Dugg down.
    Right down.
  • eatmorepossum, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0What i want to do... is control two (windows) machines with the same resolution using the same periferals (keyboard, mouse) on the same network at the same time.

    Not like synergy, one or the other with the same K&M but performing exactly the same task at the same time.

    Possible? How?
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2

    ...
  • anino, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0hey,is this cool or what
  • acomj, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1I think you can do this for FREE (I used to on the prior version of osx).

    I used chicken of the VNC (oddest software name ever)
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/

    and a VNC server (Vine VNC server?) this goes on the machine to be remote controled.
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/osxvnc/

    Worked well over 100 base-t (I wasn't trying to watch videos, it was a little jerky).
    You basically get computer in a window. I turned the colors down to 10000s and turned off a lot of animations to make it smoother)
  • zaren, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1whoops, submission error. The real deal is below.
  • captaincoconut, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0You would have to be pretty stupid to purchase multiple Macs.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1Your reading comprehension isnt that great, so try not to suggest "hints" to others. My biggest complaint was how the manager handled the situation. But of course, if you read the site, you would know that.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1Uh no.

    My MBP didnt look like that before I sent it in, it shouldn't look like that now.

    There is definitley something wrong when the gap is just as big if not bigger than the entire opening for the DVD drive. I suggest you not look at the thumbnail and download the full 6 MP pic from Flickr.
  • N3wtR0ckn13, on 10/11/2007, -10/+3this has gotta run real slow...
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -10/+1You pay 1400 bucks out of your pocket and then tell yourself "dont worry about it". Furthermore if the screen gets damaged due to the severe bend, Apple Care doesnt cover the cost of the repair.

    The "dont worry about it" theory just isnt enough justification.
  • laserblazer, on 10/11/2007, -17/+2Is Jobs in prison yet?

    He should be.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -19/+1My sincere apologies for the intrusion:

    I just want my Macbook Pro fixed.

    Do you guys mind helping me get my story seen?

    http://digg.com/apple/Apple_refuses_to_fix_Macbook_Pro

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