21 replies to this topic

[Smitty52]

I have been using Teamviewer to remote connect to my telescopes.  They now have kicked me off line saying that three telescopes and one base is a "commercial" account.  No way I am paying $112/month.  I have tried to call them but it appears that they only deal online so I will put an inquiry in.  Any free alternatives to connect via wifi to the intel NUC's on three scopes?  Frustrating to lose another night of imaging.

[DirtyRod]

Windows Remote Desktop, Google Remote Desktop, TightVNC, etc.

[kgb]

I have been using Teamviewer to remote connect to my telescopes. They now have kicked me off line saying that three telescopes and one base is a "commercial" account. No way I am paying $112/month. I have tried to call them but it appears that they only deal online so I will put an inquiry in. Any free alternatives to connect via wifi to the intel NUC's on three scopes? Frustrating to lose another night of imaging.

If you have Windows Pro licenses then I highly recommend Remote Desktop. Works seamlessly

[PeteConrad]

I primarily use google Chrome Remote Desktop but also have Teamviewer and Anydesk installed as backups.

[hamers]

You might consider RealVNC.  It's not free and is licensed per remote computer (=server), but might be of interest. It would certainly be a lot cheaper than what you're paying now (just under $50/year per remote computer).  I use it to connect to remote Raspberry Pi systems from a Mac.  Good cross-platform compatibility.

Edited by hamers, 18 June 2024 - 10:28 PM.

[csa/montana]

Moved to Astronomy Software & Computers for better fit of topic.

[johnpd]

I use AnyViewer. It has a somewhat limited free version. The Pro version costs $42.96/year. It allows up to 10 logged in devices. Works great.

 

JohnD

[Sunsparc]

Chrome Remote Desktop if you use Chrome as your browser.

[*skyguy*]

TightVNC .....

 

It's free ... 100% reliable ... fast ... easy to use ... uses minimal computer resources ... and did I mention it's FREE. 

 

I've used it for decades and I have never lost a connection.

[PIEJr]

TightVNC .....

 

It's free ... 100% reliable ... fast ... easy to use ... uses minimal computer resources ... and did I mention it's FREE. 

 

I've used it for decades and I have never lost a connection.

And it's FREE!

 

(I hope it stays free!)

[gordtulloch]

I use NoMachine, it's pretty nice especially scaling and multiple monitors 

[Charlie B]

I have been using Teamviewer to remote connect to my telescopes.  They now have kicked me off line saying that three telescopes and one base is a "commercial" account.  No way I am paying $112/month.  I have tried to call them but it appears that they only deal online so I will put an inquiry in.  Any free alternatives to connect via wifi to the intel NUC's on three scopes?  Frustrating to lose another night of imaging.

I started with Teamviewer, tried tightVNC, moved to remote desktop and now I use Rustdesk. Rustdesk currently works great on my Windows 11, MacOS and Ubuntu Linux machines.

 

Best regards,

Charlie  B

[Poochpa]

Charlie,

Does Rustdesk work on a LAN, without internet connection? Does it provide the audio from the remote machine? Thanks.

Mike

[psandelle]

Splashtop.

Paul

[gmiller123456]

Been using the VNC variants for decades now. No reason to even try anything else.

[bluesteel]

If latency and 30 fps smooth display rate is required (video playback) -
Splashtop
There are free and paid tiers from this service. Having an nvidia graphics card helps with this streaming.

If above not required -
TightVNC
Free, tiny, lightweight in system resources.

[gordtulloch]

I guess one thing I'd like to know when people are making recommendations is: does the tool support remote access without opening a port forward on a firewall?  That was why I was using Team Viewer, to connect to my observatory from work where I don't have a network connection to my home network. As far as I can tell:

 

TeamViewer - remote access no security issues

NoMachine - LAN only

Any VNC client - LAN only AFAIK

 

Others?

[TDPerry]

You might consider RealVNC.  It's not free and is licensed per remote computer (=server), but might be of interest. It would certainly be a lot cheaper than what you're paying now (just under $50/year per remote computer).  I use it to connect to remote Raspberry Pi systems from a Mac.  Good cross-platform compatibility.

RealVNC viewer is free for non-commercial use, especially for what an amateur astronomer uses it for.

There is no need to subscribe for a paid license unless you have use of the "keeping of the keys" of your remote definitions that allow sharing amongst multiple clients computers.  Their licensing is very similar to Teamviewer.  

They offer a "Lite" plan, but I am not sure if it includes a server or not.

I use RealVNC for all my VNC connections, but I do not connect it with their server nor use their server VNC offering.  Usually on my Linux installs I use either vino or TightVNC as the server for them.

 

If needing to come in from an outside connection (say remote from a different location than the internal LAN) then TeamViewer, AnyDesk, RealVNC Connect or similar are the best options unless you don't mind messing with port forwarding on your router.

Edited by TDPerry, 24 June 2024 - 02:13 PM.

[jdupton]

TDPerry and Others Interested in RealVNC,

 

RealVNC viewer is free for non-commercial use, especially for what an amateur astronomer uses it for.

There is no need to subscribe for a paid license unless you have use of the "keeping of the keys" of your remote definitions that allow sharing amongst multiple clients computers.  Their licensing is very similar to Teamviewer.  

They offer a "Lite" plan, but I am not sure if it includes a server or not.

   RealVNC has made recent changes that make it harder for users to find the free Lite version. The changes happened in May of this year. You can still get and use Lite for non-commercial use but may have to hunt harder to actually find it due to the use of "dark patterns" on the Website. See the following article for a rundown of the changes.

 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/realvnc-is-dropping-its-home-plan-and-barely-noting-its-free-lite-option/

 

 

John

Edited by jdupton, 24 June 2024 - 02:38 PM.

[TDPerry]

TDPerry and Others Interested in RealVNC,

 

   RealVNC has made recent changes that make it harder for users to find the free Lite version. The changes happened in May of this year. You can still get and use Lite for non-commercial use but may have to hunt harder to actually find it due to the use of "dark patterns" on the Website. See the following article for a rundown of the changes.

If you are using the functions of their server to centralize your connections and such, then I honestly think you should be paying.

I don't even use the functions of their "Lite" plan.  All I use is the core VNC connection functions of RealVNC viewer and keep my connections locally (and yes, I have to set them up on each computer I use to connect using the viewer with) and then use an alternative server (as I mentioned) on the remote units.  Sometimes having "fancy features" of a full meal deal end up at a cost.

The only reason I signed up on the Lite plan is it "popped up" after clicking on the link  to download the viewer at the time (and you were not required to even complete that process to download it).  Since I don't use any of their connectivity features, it's not a big deal to me as I only wanted the viewer as I liked the way the connections were displayed compared to other viewer options.

 

As for "finding it"?  Took only a second or so after going to Google and typing RealVNC lite.  

Of course they will make it harder to find on their site.  Their whole business is selling connectivity plans and not giving them away free.

Edited by TDPerry, 24 June 2024 - 03:26 PM.

[Charlie B]

Charlie,

Does Rustdesk work on a LAN, without internet connection? Does it provide the audio from the remote machine? Thanks.

Mike

I use it via LAN, but I've never used it without an internet connection, so I don't know.  I started to use it when RDT stopped working for me after one of the the very frequent Windows updates.

 

Regards,

 

Charlie B.

[Charlie B]

I started with Teamviewer, tried tightVNC, moved to remote desktop and now I use Rustdesk. Rustdesk currently works great on my Windows 11, MacOS and Ubuntu Linux machines.

 

Best regards,

Charlie  B

I went to RustDesk's FAQ on github and say this answer to your question:

"Yes, you can!

By default this is turned off for security, however if wish to allow this you can do so by doing steps below:

On the device you wish to control
Go into the Menu and select Enable direct IP...
On the client you are connecting from you can now input the Local IP address or host name the address box and click connect.
the connection is unecrypted, please do not send us issue about this.