Install and use Apple's free dual-screen VNC server

Oct 15, '04 11:17:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

Apple has recently released their Remote Desktop Client 2.1 as a free download. You can install this without buying Apple Remote Desktop 2.1, as the client is bundled free in all copies of Panther. The surprise here is that the client includes a VNC server -- which features support for dual displays!

Installing the update, open the Sharing System Preferences panel. On the Services tab, first enable Apple Remote Desktop, and then click the Access Privileges button. On the next screen, activate the VNC area and enter a password:

After setting this up, you can now remotely control your Mac with any free VNC viewer (e.g. Chicken of the VNC), running on Mac OS X or any other OS. Of course, you can't use all the other cool Apple Remote Desktop control features on the above screen, but being able to use a free VNC server is a nice touch!

[robg adds: I tested this one on my PowerBook, connecting to my desktop machine. The dual-screen support works very nicely indeed, though there's a lot of scrolling required on a 12" PowerBook screen. But it's great being able to actually see both screens now. The Apple VNC server is definitely slower than OSXvnc, which is what I normally use. But the support for two screens is a worthwhile tradeoff for those occasions when I need to see both monitors remotely. This hint was submitted in two different forms by two anonymous users; the above writeup is a combination of their input and my experiences :).]

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