Analysis: more power for Screen Sharing

Since I have multiple computers at home, quite often I find myself needing to access the screen of one of the computers while sitting on another. In the days leading up to the onset of 5/10, this was something that could be done without undue complication; you only had to click a few buttons to activate a few things, and then launch the VNC application in charge of establishing the connection. But with the arrival of the 10.5, the viewer is incorporated into the system as standard. Screen Sharing is based on Apple’s Remote Desktop package, which gives you more control over how remote screens are shared. Fortunately for us, Apple has left at least some of that functionality in the somewhat more limited Screen Sharing app (only it’s disabled by default).

First of all, there is a potentially easier way to share the screens of other Macs on the same network. First of all, you should keep in mind that Screen Sharing is simply an application that resides in / System / Library / CoreServices, under the somewhat misleading name of Screen Sharing. Find it and drag it to your Dock or the sidebar of the Finder window (whichever is more convenient for you).

Now you can launch Screen Sharing directly from the Finder, without first selecting a machine in the SHARED section of the sidebar. When you do, a dialog box appears onscreen, asking for the remote machine’s address. Great, you’re thinking, now I have to type in a machine’s IP address to connect to it? This is progress? No, not yet it’s not. Quit Screen Sharing if you launched it, switch to Terminal, and copy and paste this line, then press Return:

Now you can run Screen Sharing directly from the Finder, without the need to first select the team in the SHARED section of the sidebar for Finder windows. When you do, a dialog box will appear on the screen, asking you for the address of the remote computer. Great, you might think, should I now type the IP address of the computer I want to connect to? No, there is an easier way. Exit Screen Sharing, in case you have run it, open the Terminal application (Applications> Utilities) and copy and paste the following line. Then press the Return key:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing ShowBonjourBrowser_Debug 1

Now run Screen Sharing again, and you will see that a new Bonjour Browser area appears that allows you to select the device you want to connect to:

Now you can select your computers from the list that contains all the Macs on the network. (And in case there are other Bonjour-compatible devices that support VNC, the underlying technology of Screen Sharing, I hope they are listed here as well, although I haven’t been able to verify this.) computers “, the computer you connect to will be added to that section of the browser window, thereby making it a bit easier to access the same computer in the future (think of it as a kind of” favorites “section).

Now that the connection is easier, let’s add a little more extra functionality to the program. Again, exit Screen Sharing if it is running, and return back to the Terminal app. If you have an active Screen Sharing session, close it. Next, copy and paste the following lines in the terminal, and then press the Return key:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing

´NSToolbar Configuration ControlToolbar´ -dict-add ´TB Item Identifiers´

´ (Scale, Control, Share, Curtain, Capture, FullScreen, GetClipboard, SendClipboard, Quality) ´

It is a very long line, so it is preferable that you copy and paste it directly into the Terminal. When you run Screen Sharing again, you’ll see a total of six buttons on your toolbar. (If you can’t see the toolbar, use the option View> Show Toolbar.)

What does each of these buttons do? This is the summary explanation of each of them.

Switches between controlling the remote Mac (the default) or simply observing the other machine.

Toggles between allowing the remote Mac’s keyboard and mouse to be used (the default) or blocking their use.

This button will lock the other Mac’s screen, displaying a black background with a large lock icon and the text you enter after pressing this button. Please note that there is a bug, as you will currently see the name of a variable that Apple has left in the text field. This button is disabled by default, which means that the other Mac’s screen will show what you’re doing.

Click this button to capture the remote screen of the other Mac to a local file. You will capture the entire screen, and the system will prompt you to enter a name and location to save the file.

Switches between full screen and windowed modes (default). In full screen mode the toolbar will turn into a floating palette located at the top left of the screen. To exit full screen mode, click the “X” button on the toolbar.

It is not really a button, but a control where you can adjust the quality. For example, if you notice that the image refresh rate is very slow, you can reduce the quality until you reach a black and white representation that will correspond to the setting that will provide the highest speed.

You can customize the toolbar just like you would any other application. Feel free to use Command + Drag to change the order of the icons, for example. The only thing you won’t be able to do is drag