Okay, I'm looking at RealVNC and UltraVNC, as options to control the pc in the other room remotely...

Anyone with experience with these or others? differences? which is better?

[What about if I decide to use one of them later to help support remote friends? Tunnelling? ]

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

Okay, I'm looking at RealVNC and UltraVNC, as options to control the pc in the other room remotely...

Anyone with experience with these or others? differences? which is better?

[What about if I decide to use one of them later to help support remote friends? Tunnelling? ]

I use TightVNC (http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html) to access computers outside of my own network. Within my own network I generally use Windows Remote Desktop.

TightVNC works ok through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to a customer's network.
I'm not a network Guru though, the VPN was setup for me, so I can't offer any advice on VPNs.

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I use both - RealVNC on the remote and UltraVNC's viewer from which I control the remote. UltraVNC has a nice option to scale down the remote desktop and there is no need to run it fullscreen or to change the resolution of the remote only to view the whole remote desktop.

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Thanks for the pointers people :D, will have a play this weekend.

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

One note on RealVNC- It is more of an "irritation" than anything else, but if you are running ZoneAlarm's Anti-Virus suite, it flags VNC as a trojan every time it scans the system (even after you've told it to "ignore always").

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Boinc Button Abuser In Training >My Shrubbers<

I use TightVNC. Works like a champ for me.

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Dublin, California
Team: SETI.USA

I use TightVNC. Works like a champ for me.

I have heard my name?

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Thanks, I am looking at TightVNC site now for now. I like that it has Linux support because I have an old p3 which I intend to put linux on sometime in the near future (last time i used linux was back about 12 - 13 years ago, when I had to complie the kernel just to get network card going, so it could could take a while to adapt to the new pointy clicky stuff!),

Would such a setup allow me to run that machine headless ? just a thought.

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

Thanks, I am looking at TightVNC site now for now. I like that it has Linux support because I have an old p3 which I intend to put linux on sometime in the near future (last time i used linux was back about 12 - 13 years ago, when I had to complie the kernel just to get network card going, so it could could take a while to adapt to the new pointy clicky stuff!),

Would such a setup allow me to run that machine headless ? just a thought.

That is how a run all 5 of my Linux machines, and 1 Win2K back-up server. It is rare that I need to hook up a monitor to one of them.
Headless notes:
1) In the BIOS turn off stop on error (you don't want it to not boot because there is no keyboard or mouse).
2) In the Bios set Power On after power restored (saves you having to walk around and restart all machines by hand after a shutdown).
3) On Linux I also use WebMin for moving files between machines (it is easier and more secure than setting up Samba).
4) I generally setup the Linux firewall to accept port 5901 connections from only the ip address of the machine that I use as a VNC Viewer (VNC security isn't the greatest).

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Boinc Button Abuser In Training >My Shrubbers<

I use both - RealVNC on the remote and UltraVNC's viewer from which I control the remote. UltraVNC has a nice option to scale down the remote desktop and there is no need to run it fullscreen or to change the resolution of the remote only to view the whole remote desktop.

The current beta release of TightVNC also has a screen scaling option, and a basic but usable file transfer facility. Despite beta status it works well, with the exception of occasionally having to nudge the 'full refresh' button to get a fully updated screen.

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I use a version of RealVNC for the the Apple MACs. Its called Chicken of the VNC. Too bad there is no SETI Chicken app for the MACs.

Chicken of the VNC works great for me and my 3 computers sharing a wireless network.