Check The Files On Your Mac From Any Browser.
FarFinder is a utility which lets you access files on your Mac with any web browser or your iPhone. Sound like fun?
Though FarFinder has to navigate some tricky and complex technology barrier over the internet, it seems to work. The question I have to is, “Why?”
No, not why does it work? But what bother looking at the files on your Mac when you’re not at home? Isn’t this really a solution looking for a problem?
FarFinder lets you sit at a computer, anywhere on the internet, fire up a browser, and if the sun and moon.... (excerpted).
9 Reader Comments
Kevin said:
Looks like I have to eat a couple bites of crow, but not the whole plate : ) I am still using Tiger, so I have not experimented with Leopard Screen Sharing. I did some research and I found that apparently, there is a check box to choose encryption, which is great. It should be on by default, and I don’t know if it is. Is it possible to print from an application on the remote computer back to your local computer? Also, is the data transfer encrypted as well as the screen data? Both of these are true for Windows remote desktop and I would hope that Apple would have implemented it. One last thing, can multiple remote users concurrently log in to a Leopard machine? Are there any app sharing issues?
makemineamac said:
I have the .mac subscription and, as someone mentioned above, the service is consistently unreliable and is documented everywhere as being that way.
So what more would I want? I would like to see the same functionality that Far Finder gives me become a core part of the OS as BTMM was intended to be.
As far as worrying about my files going through someone else’s server, this Mac Mini is a video media hub only, so I’m not too worried about someone seeing what television shows I’m copying…
iggy pence said:
With OS X Leopard you can log in to any Mac using screen sharing. It’s the basic version of Apple Remote Desktop. It’s built-in to all new Macs. It’s also free. It’s stable. It’s fast. It’s secure.
What else do you want?
Kevin said:
I did forget to mention Back to My Mac, which appears to be the equivalent of Windows Remote Desktop. Unlike WRD, B2MM appears to be very unreliable. Also, unlike WRD, B2MM requires a separate paid service, ie. .mac to operate. When it becomes a more reliable product, and when I don’t have to use .mac for it to function, I’m sure I will make use of it. However, it still only allows one user to access the mac. This is why I think Spaces, along with B2MM, is important. It allows Apple to start piecing together a multi-user remote access solution.
Kevin said:
OK, I should have explained the differences. With Terminal Services or unix remote access multiple users can access a single server and use it concurrently as if they were sitting in front of it (pretty much). Apple Remote Desktop will allow a person to remotely access a computer, or allow one person to remotely access multiple computers to manage or observe them, but their is no Mac product (at least from Apple) that allows multiple people to remotely log in to a single mac and use it as if they were a local user. Apple Remote Desktop = one user, many computers. Windows Terminal Services, unix remote access = many users, one computer. See the difference? Also, ARD is expensive, especially for a single user. Remote Desktop is free and built in to Windows, it uses an encrypted data stream, unlike your average VNC client, and it is way faster than VNC, and easier to configure. Sorry, but Apple loses big time on this one.
Brian said:
Uh, Kevin, you obviously are very unfamiliar with Macintosh. Apple has had Apple Remote Desktop for many years.
Why is this sort of thing relevant? Well, all your movies and music are on your iTunes libray at home. The next iPhone software (June) will allow you to do this with your iPhone.
Back to Mac is the current feature that allows this, without some unknown 3rd party site involved. There is no way I am going through some unknown site to access my files, that is just stupid. You might as well be running Windows software.
Kevin said:
This is a poor man’s version of Remote Desktop for Windows, and remote access for unix x11 systems. Nextstep and Openstep had very robust remote access features which are conspicuously absent in OS X. I have never been able to figure out why macs lag so badly in remote access. For all of OS X’s alleged unix underpinnings, it can’t touch unix or windows terminal services. I’m thinking that Back to Your Mac and Spaces are the beginnings of a new attempt to add real remote capabilities to the mac.
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makemineamac said:
Kevin:
On my machine at least, encryption for passwords & keystrokes is on by default, with the option to encrypt everything if you so choose. They indicate the password and keystroke encryption only makes it faster.
On your second question, it does appear that you can in fact print “back” to your local machine which is a great feature. Printers show up as “printer @ yourlocal computer”. Pretty great.
Can’t test the multi-user piece right now or app-sharing as I only have the two….