My mother-in-law is going to be getting an iMac in the next few months... she lives 1,000 miles away and has been a PC user. I have been her support for several years and am glad my wife finally convinced her to get a mac. Anyhoo, I'm thinking it would be very easy to help her if I can set up some sort of VNC connection between our computers so I can remotely take control of her machine when needed and diagnose any problems. Problem is, I'm on broadband, she would be on modem. Where she lives, they can't get DSL, and cable broadband is still not available. Anyone have any advice as to which VNC server/client would be the best in this situation? Anyone have any experience with this type of setup? Will it be too painful to try since she's on dialup?

I also have a sister who lives pretty far away for whom I'd like to setup the same thing, but thankfully she's on broadband.

it will be painful if not impossible on dialup.

i was having trouble with my dad the other night, he's on DSL near Philly and i'm on cable near Allentown. the refresh was awful on my end!

i'd say try Timbuktu, it seems optimized for slower connections. it's not free, however.

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VNC on dialup = no.

It's slow enough as it is. The lag would probably be close to several minutes.

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I agree with the above posters, that dial-up won't really be feasible. I tried this with my grandfather, before he got DSL, and it took minutes to update the screen. Not fun. You may be able to get away with some sort of SSH in order to do some command line updates, etc., but that won't be fun, either.

If your MIL does get a fast connection (and this also goes for you sister), the best solution I've found is the built-in Apple Remote Desktop server option (you can connect via a VNC client) and Chicken of the VNC as the client.

Good luck!

-Tofer

don't worry, it's a Mac, there is no need for "support", it just works!

New.Dad Wrote:
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> don't worry, it's a Mac, there is no need for
> "support", it just works!
>


You don't know my MIL or my sister. They'll screw something up. I always spend an entire day each Xmas season at my sister's house fixing up all the things she's messed up all year.