If I ever get our home automation system configured I’ll use my (partly broken) old iBook as my Indigo-server (or my MisterHouse-server when I brush up my Perl-knowledge). It should then run quietly put away somewhere and I don’t want to take it out every time I want to add another routine to the program.
Fortunately there is a way to do this by turning the iBook into a VNC-server, where VNC stands for Virtual Network Computer. Here is how RealVNC describes it

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) software makes it possible to view and fully-interact with one computer from any other computer or mobile device anywhere on the Internet. VNC software is cross-platform, allowing remote control between different types of computer. For ultimate simplicity, there is even a Java viewer, so that any desktop can be controlled remotely from within a browser without having to install software.

But can all this be done under Mac OS X without too much hassle? The first step is to download OSXvnc and install it on the iBook. Some of the sourceforge-sites do not seem to have this package, but fortunately some still do. Installation is no problem and when you fire OSXvnc up you have to fill in a password which you need later to connect to your OSXvnc-server (the iBook). Most other options one can leave at their default values but in the Startup-pane it is useful to click on the Configure Startup Item button. When all this is done, press the Start button to launch the VNC-server.
Next step is to go to the computer you want to use to control the VNC-server (an iMac in my case). On it one needs to install the Chicken of the VNC software which makes the iMac into a VNC-client. Fire it up and fill out the Host (the name of your OSXvnc-server, iBookLieven.local in my case) and the Password (the one of the OSXvnc-server program), press the Connect button and the screen of your VNC-server will appear which you can control with your mouse as if you were actually working on the thing. Very handy as I managed to break the touch-control on my iBook when installing a new hard-drive and I need the only USB-port to connect to the X10-network…

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mac, OSX

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Posted in mac
Written on Tue, 23 March 2004 at 9:56 pm
Tags: mac, OSX
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