2nd Mac in the family...

philbutlerphilbutler
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Hi all,



My wife's PC laptop died and we are going to switch her to a Mac. We haven't decided yet on a portable or iMac. We are leaning towards portable, but that thought changes quite often.



I have a question - with multiple Macs on the same network, is it possible to log onto one from the other. For example, if we buy a portable, could I log into my iMac and get my desktop, home directory, etc. on the MacBook even though it was physically on my iMac ?? I know I probably couldn't be logged on to both at the same time (iMac and Macbook). Likewise, my wife might want to log onto her home directory from my 24" imac because of the bigger screen, etc.



Is anyone doing this kind of thing ??



Phil

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    lorrelorre Posts: 396member
    Yes, this is perfectly possible, you just have to enable all the sharing stuff in the systems preferences, and then once the Mac is on your network, it will show up in the other Mac's finder and everything will be right there. You can even do screen sharing in which you will see the desktop screen of one mac in a window on the other mac, and take full control of the machine.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    If the other computer is already running/logged in, then you will be able to do that via "Screen Sharing.... a free feature of Leopard.



    If you want to be able to wake/log-in/etc... you want Apple's "Remote Desktop" application. ($300?)



    And, in both situations, you can be logged on to both machines under the same account name at the same time. (since they're not REALLY the same account anyway... they're on different machines.)
  • Reply 3 of 8
    philbutlerphilbutler Posts: 62member
    That sounds good - but I would want it to show up in the login window - not just a shared drive mounted. What I am thinking about is something like Dreamweaver which uses paths to my web development directory. I would think that the paths would need to be the same.



    Also, on the screen sharing, isn't remote desktop needed at an extra cost ??



    Phil
  • Reply 4 of 8
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by philbutler;


    Also, on the screen sharing, isn't remote desktop needed at an extra cost ??



    Phil



    No, all you need is Leopard on both machines.



  • Reply 5 of 8
    lorrelorre Posts: 396member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by philbutler View Post


    That sounds good - but I would want it to show up in the login window - not just a shared drive mounted. What I am thinking about is something like Dreamweaver which uses paths to my web development directory. I would think that the paths would need to be the same.



    Also, on the screen sharing, isn't remote desktop needed at an extra cost ??



    Phil



    Well, you can enable remote login, also in the same "sharing" preference pane, then you get an extra option in the login screen.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    mattsmatts Posts: 37member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lorre View Post


    Well, you can enable remote login, also in the same "sharing" preference pane, then you get an extra option in the login screen.



    This sounds interesting. Could you maybe give some more info on how this feature works? Screenshots?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    spinnerlysspinnerlys Posts: 218member
    I don't know if you have figured it out yet, but here it comes anyway.



    Go to System Preferences and select Sharing.



    Here you find different services on the left side. File Sharing and Screen Sharing are the ones you will need. Select them and check them both. You can set the users you want to have access to the computer and their rights.



    Then you can use the Finder to access the other Mac, connect with it and move files around.

    Or you can simply start Screen Sharing.



    I hope that helps.



    Have fun with it.



    PS: you can start Screen Sharing on both Macs and have a mirror in the mirror effect.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    mattsmatts Posts: 37member
    Screen Sharing or the use of Apple Remote Desktop is one thing.

    To connect via ssh as a remote terminal user from the command line is another.



    All documented features. And in everyday use by many around the globe.





    But this thing with "you can enable remote login, /.../, then you get an extra option in the login screen" or "could I log into my iMac and get my desktop, home directory, etc. on the MacBook even though it was physically on my iMac ??" or "I would want it to show up in the login window"...



    THAT is the part that sounds interesting to me - and that is something that, as far as I know, is NOT documented anywhere.

    Please correct me if I'm wrong! - I hope I am!



    Could turn out to be a great thing if it would work like that - what do you think?



    -matts
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