OSXvnc --- unknown message type

dear mac experts: I am trying to control my brand new mini via vnc
from a remote linux machine. the first time it worked. (linux VNC
Viewer 4.1.2) now I am getting the password, then the first
interlaced draw of the screensaver, and then an abort with an "unknown
message type". for more detail, it says "unknown message type 5" on my
X vnc client. does this ring a bell? is OSXvnc fully compatible with
other vncviewers? sincerely, /iaw

In article
<1160349135.602217.85750@c28g2000cwb.googlegroups.c om>,
ivowel@gmail.com wrote:

> dear mac experts: I am trying to control my brand new mini via vnc
> from a remote linux machine. the first time it worked. (linux VNC
> Viewer 4.1.2) now I am getting the password, then the first
> interlaced draw of the screensaver, and then an abort with an "unknown
> message type". for more detail, it says "unknown message type 5" on my
> X vnc client. does this ring a bell? is OSXvnc fully compatible with
> other vncviewers? sincerely, /iaw

It should be.

But just to give you another point of comparison, and maybe a work
around, you can enable Apple Remote Desktop.

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Apple Remote Desktop
Access Privileges...
VNC viewers may control screen with password

This should give you a different VNC server to try and if it
works, you have a work around, and it also says you can control a
Mac.

Bob Harris

this is how it was running all along... :-( is OSXvnc different from
the apple remote desktop? [if they are different, can I stop the ADS
service from the command line so as to try out simply OSXvnc?]

[interestingly, now it gives me an unknown message type 242.]

it would really be unfortunate if apple could not support this nowadays
pretty basic protocol for remote graphical access.

regards,

/iaw


Bob Harris wrote:
> In article
> <1160349135.602217.85750@c28g2000cwb.googlegroups.c om>,
> ivowel@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > dear mac experts: I am trying to control my brand new mini via vnc
> > from a remote linux machine. the first time it worked. (linux VNC
> > Viewer 4.1.2) now I am getting the password, then the first
> > interlaced draw of the screensaver, and then an abort with an "unknown
> > message type". for more detail, it says "unknown message type 5" on my
> > X vnc client. does this ring a bell? is OSXvnc fully compatible with
> > other vncviewers? sincerely, /iaw
>
> It should be.
>
> But just to give you another point of comparison, and maybe a work
> around, you can enable Apple Remote Desktop.
>
> System Preferences -> Sharing -> Apple Remote Desktop
> Access Privileges...
> VNC viewers may control screen with password
>
> This should give you a different VNC server to try and if it
> works, you have a work around, and it also says you can control a
> Mac.
>
> Bob Harris

In article
<1160519163.378131.214670@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
ivowel@gmail.com wrote:

> this is how it was running all along... :-( is OSXvnc different from
> the apple remote desktop? [if they are different, can I stop the ADS
> service from the command line so as to try out simply OSXvnc?]

Yes. OSXvnc is freeware from Redstone Software you download and
install:
<http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16699>

It would most likely be easier if someone local did the install,
and configured OSXvnc.

If you want to stop the Apple Remote Desktop from the command line
you could try using launchctl

man launchctl

I have not played with launchctl, so I would have to figure it out
myself :-)

I did try a "sudo killall -9 AppleVNCServer", but a new version
just starts up, which is why I suspect 'launchctl' is involved.

Again, it might be easier if someone just turned Apple Remote
Desktop off.

You DO NOT want both running, as they will both most likely be
looking to get control of port 5900.

> [interestingly, now it gives me an unknown message type 242.]
>
> it would really be unfortunate if apple could not support this nowadays
> pretty basic protocol for remote graphical access.

Apple did not install Apple Remote Desktop for VNC users. Its
primary purpose was to allow administrators (especially teachers)
to maintain lots of Macs from a central location. And to that
end, they sell the Apple Remote Desktop client software (at a
hefty price) to work with the servers on individual Macs.

The Apple Remote Desktop Admin guide has more information about
configuring VNCviewer to be used with ARD.
<http://images.apple.com/remotedesktop/pdf/ARD3_AdminGuide.pdf>
Configuring an Apple Remote Desktop Client to be Controlled by a
VNC Viewer, Chapter 7, page 85. There may be other useful VNC
related information in there as well. I just searched for VNC.

Do you have the Firewall enabled? On either system?

Do you have a hardware firewall, or NAT router between the 2
systems?

If you have a NAT router, did you arrange to forward port 5900 to
the Mac mini, or if a firewall, open port 5900.

Or are you attempting to tunnel VNC over an ssh tunnel?

Are you trying to use VNC options that perhaps ARD doesn't support
(for example, I don't think ARD supports the TightVNC compression
protocols, and I think Linux vncviewer is a TightVNC
implementation). NOTE: OSXvnc does support TightVNC compression.

Bob Harris

> regards,
>
> /iaw
>
>
> Bob Harris wrote:
> > In article
> > <1160349135.602217.85750@c28g2000cwb.googlegroups.c om>,
> > ivowel@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > dear mac experts: I am trying to control my brand new mini via vnc
> > > from a remote linux machine. the first time it worked. (linux VNC
> > > Viewer 4.1.2) now I am getting the password, then the first
> > > interlaced draw of the screensaver, and then an abort with an "unknown
> > > message type". for more detail, it says "unknown message type 5" on my
> > > X vnc client. does this ring a bell? is OSXvnc fully compatible with
> > > other vncviewers? sincerely, /iaw
> >
> > It should be.
> >
> > But just to give you another point of comparison, and maybe a work
> > around, you can enable Apple Remote Desktop.
> >
> > System Preferences -> Sharing -> Apple Remote Desktop
> > Access Privileges...
> > VNC viewers may control screen with password
> >
> > This should give you a different VNC server to try and if it
> > works, you have a work around, and it also says you can control a
> > Mac.
> >
> > Bob Harris

Bob Harris wrote:
> In article
> Are you trying to use VNC options that perhaps ARD doesn't support
> (for example, I don't think ARD supports the TightVNC compression
> protocols, and I think Linux vncviewer is a TightVNC
> implementation). NOTE: OSXvnc does support TightVNC compression.
>
> Bob Harris
>

hi bob: indeed, tightvnc seems to understand ARD, whereas the standard
vnc implementation (http://www.realvnc.com/) does not. so, at last,
one of my Mac problems is solved. thank you very much. regards, /iaw