Share My Desktop
Share My Desktop version 1.2, Copyright 2002 Mike Bombich

Introduction

Share My Desktop (SMD) is a simple little wrapper application that I created for OSXvnc in AppleScript Studio.  SMD makes initiating a VNC server very simple -- just click a button!

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing.  "It is, in essence, a remote display system which allows you to view a computing 'desktop' environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures."  VNC technology was developed by AT&T Laboratories.  For more general information about VNC, visit http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/.

SMD was developed as a tool to offer better support from Tech Support staff.  SMD can be installed on client systems, so if the client needs assistance, they can call the Tech Support staff, initiate the VNC server, and give the Tech Support staff the connection information.  When the Tech Support staff are able to share the client's screen, they can SHOW the client what they need to do to fix a problem, rather than try to guide them by voice alone.

Using Share My Desktop

System Requirements:

SMD requires Mac OS 10.2 or later with the BSD subsystem installed (which is installed by default).  

Instructions:

1) To initiate the VNC server just click on the "Start sharing" button.  The server will start in the background (you will see no evidence that it is running except for the feedback in SMD's window), and your connection information (IP address, port, and password) will be displayed.  This information is also copied to the clipboard if you would like to paste it into an email.

2) To connect to the VNC server from another machine, you will need a VNC client application such as VNC Dimension (http://www.mdimension.com/Community/) or VNC Thing (http://www.webthing.net/download/).  Visit their web pages for more information about VNC clients. If you have a fast network, try running the VNC client without compression for better performance (uses more bandwidth, though). 

3) Some of the settings for the OSXvnc server are available for modification from the "Preferences" menu item.  By default, a random password will be generated, however you can specify your own password.  You also may choose to keep the password private (it won't be displayed in clear text or copied to the clipboard).  If you change the port number, it should be above 5900, as many below (and some above it) may be in use by other applications or protocols.  As of this release, the "Sharing" functions do not seem to affect the behavior of the server -- the VNC client can always share control with the user on the server.

Managing a system-wide VNC server:

By clicking on the "Start sharing" button, you initiate a VNC server that will run until you stop it, quit the application, or logout. If you would like to run a VNC server that runs no matter who is logged in and starts automatically on startup, use the "Manage System VNC Server" item in SMD's File menu. This panel will allow you to install, configure, and turn on/off the system-wide VNC server.

1) To install the VNC server just click on the "Install System VNC" button.  This will install the OSXvnc-server and storepasswd binaries into the /usr/local/bin directory and a startup item in /Library/StartupItems.  This process also makes a backup of the /etc/hostconfig file.

2) Next you must configure the settings for the system-wide server. These settings include the password, port number, display name, energy saver-related settings, and whether to start the server on startup. If you leave the display name blank, it will be set to the Appletalk hostname of the computer. Note that you cannot run two instances of the OSXvnc-server on the same port, so do not use the same port for the system-wide VNC server as for the user-domain version if you plan to run them simultaneously.  The settings for the system-wide VNC server are kept in /etc/vnc_settings and the password is kept in /etc/vnc_pass. Toggling the "Start VNC server on startup" option modifies the VNCSERVER entry in the /etc/hostconfig file.

3) Use the third button to turn the system-wide VNC server on or off.

4) You can uninstall the items installed in step one as well as the configuration files (and hostconfig entry) by clicking on the "Uninstall System VNC" button.

Resources

SMD is just a GUI wrapper application -- the VNC server (OSXvnc) was developed by AT&T labs.   Code for Mac OS X is maintained at sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/osxvnc).  OSXvnc and SMD are licensed as freeware under the GNU GPL.  The text of this license should be associated with this distribution.  Please read the license regarding warranty information.  The information distributed with OSXvnc is included within the package of Share My Desktop: Share My Desktop/Contents/Resources/LICENSE.txt.

License

Share My Desktop, © 2002 Mike Bombich (mike@bombich.com), All Rights Reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

For help with Share My Desktop, please refer to http://www.bombich.com/software/smd.html.  The author can be contacted at mike@bombich.com.

History

v. 1.2, January 4, 2003
	• Preferences are now persistent
	• Added a window to install and manage a system-wide VNC server
	• Added a startup item for the system-wide VNC server
	• Fixed a bug that would cause the Classic version of the Apple System Profiler to launch

v. 1.1, May 12, 2002
	• Implemented random password generation and option to use a user-specified password
	• Made SMD a one-click application, simplified the interface

v. 1.0, May 6, 2002
	• Added the option to not display the password in clear text or copy it to the clipboard
	• Added Japanese localization, courtesy of Tsuyoshi Nakamula

v. 0.9, March 25, 2002
	• First release