Mac Mini and remote desktop

a_greera_greer
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
OK, XP has remote desktop, built in for free, what I want to do is sort of complecated, and I want to know if it will work, so here we go:



Mac mini and PC connected to internet via wifi, and mac mini connected via crossover cable for remote desktop, now what I want to know: can Mac osx handle this? and how painfull will setup be?



I Will be useing Windows for Viso and occasionally Internet explorer to test websights. and Mac for everything else

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    So, you just need to Remote Desktop into your PC? Shouldn't be a problem. Doing it over wireless should be fine, I'm not quite sure why you also need it connected via crossover.



    Microsoft remote desktop for Mac:

    http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloa...gnosysreq=True
  • Reply 2 of 6
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MCQ

    So, you just need to Remote Desktop into your PC? Shouldn't be a problem. Doing it over wireless should be fine, I'm not quite sure why you also need it connected via crossover.



    Microsoft remote desktop for Mac:

    http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloa...gnosysreq=True



    Speed, crossover is 100mbps, wifi is 11mbps (I have a b card in the pc)
  • Reply 3 of 6
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by a_greer

    Speed, crossover is 100mbps, wifi is 11mbps (I have a b card in the pc)



    I figured as much.



    Apple's Network section in System Preferences has a priority list on what order to use network adapters. You'd likely have to swap priority when you want to use RDC, or just turn off Airport when you want to use RDC so it goes through ethernet (This is provided that you don't need to use the Internet on the Mac while you're doing stuff via RDC).



    I'm not sure if there's a way to route the network traffic based on app usage, maybe there's a third party utility.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    mmmpiemmmpie Posts: 628member
    It will work fine. I do it.

    You set the ethernet port up as a different subnet ( with manual addresses ) to the airport. Assign an address to the Mac and one to the PC and plug them in. When you setup remote desktop it will route out the ethernet ( because you are directly connected to that subnet ). I wouldnt put a gateway in the Mac setup ( so that that network doesnt go anywhere ).



    On the PC it is much the same, manual address, enable remote desktop, and bang you're good to go. If you want to access the internet from the PC you'll need to share the internet on the Mac ( or get wireless for the PC ). Remote desktop will automatically mount your mac drives as network shares on the PC, so I just download stuff on the Mac and copy to the PC through the shared drives ( printers also just work ).



    The negatives are:

    Its not that fast. 100mbit doesnt seem any better 11bit airport.

    It only supports up to a 15bit ( thousands ) color depth.

    When I double click it doesnt work very reliably ( my iBook works fine however ).

    My Mac keyboard is missing most of the special PC keys ( print screen in particular ).



    Both systems support networking over firewire, so Im going to try that soon. Not only is it four times faster, but Im guessing it has better latency.



    The positives:

    The remote desktop window, although full screen, is a well behaved mac window. You can apple-H it, apple-tab, etc etc. When you maximise a windows app it feels just like its a part of your machine.

    The window will sit nicely behind everything else, so you can see things happening while you use a mac app.

    Copy paste between systems.





    If you have another monitor you can use an app called synergy ( search sf.net ) to share a keyboard and mouse between them. Its just like dual desktop on a mac, only they are different machines. Its a bit harder to set up than remote desktop, but is really good. It also does copy paste between systems ( but no automatic drive and printer sharing ).
  • Reply 5 of 6
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Didn't think about that... nice one mmmpie



    And yeah, synergy rocks... when it works I've had a tendency to have a dropped connection betweeen my PB and PC over wireless, not sure why.



    Link: http://synergy2.sourceforge.net
  • Reply 6 of 6
    mmmpiemmmpie Posts: 628member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MCQ

    Didn't think about that... nice one mmmpie



    And yeah, synergy rocks... when it works I've had a tendency to have a dropped connection betweeen my PB and PC over wireless, not sure why.



    Link: http://synergy2.sourceforge.net



    I loose my synergy connection every so often even with a wired network. So Ive got the client ( my Mac ) set to reconnect. I just restart the windows synergy server. I also keep a hockey puck mouse plugged into my mac, its nice and small.
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