ChunkVNC on a Mac: InstantSupport doesn't connect?

[spacewrench]

Hi, I'm just starting to fiddle with ChunkVNC as a way to show my Mac desktop on a VNC viewer elsewhere, when both machines are behind NAT/firewall activity. I set up a Perl reflector on an Amazon AWS instance, and source and destination machines can connect (via telnet) to the appropriate ports, causing "connection" messages. Running VNCviewer on the viewer machine also causes the reflector to report a connection, but:

Running InstantSupport on the Mac, with the server name and port in the server.txt file, starts up and displays the 6-digit code, but the "Connect" button doesn't seem to work. No connection attempt is reported by the reflector, and InstantSupport exits shortly thereafter.

I ran InstantSupport from a terminal window, and got:

Code: Select all

user@my-mac:/Volumes/InstantSupport$ ls
InstantSupport.app/	server.txt
uer@my-mac:/Volumes/InstantSupport$ cat server.txt
my.aws.machine.com:5500
user@my-mac:/Volumes/InstantSupport$ ./InstantSupport.app/Contents/MacOS/InstantSupport 
2011-08-30 14:12:11.898 InstantSupport[5640:707] Application did finish launching.  Now about to execute script
2011-08-30 14:12:11.899 InstantSupport[5640:707] Preparing for execution
2011-08-30 14:12:11.899 InstantSupport[5640:707] About to execute script
2011-08-30 14:12:11.900 InstantSupport[5640:707] Task launched
---(shortly after clicking "Connect")---
user@my-mac:/Volumes/InstantSupport$ 

The InstantSupport icon in the Dock also vanishes shortly after clicking Connect. I assume it's starting to try to connect, failing for some reason, and dying.

Is there some way to get more log messages out?

Thanks,

[B]

Shoot, why didn't I think of that -- the free version of AWS might be perfect for hosting the repeater (especially since most shared web hosts will not do it). Thanks for sharing that. (You said "reflector" but I assume you mean repeater - and which repeater are you using?)

Last time I checked, the Mac version of Chunk was wrapping around x11vnc, I think.

You could grab x11vnc directly from Karl Runge's site and see if you can hit the repeater with it.

If it were me, I'd also try using ChunkVNC on a WIndows machine to see if it hits the repeater successfully.

[supercoe]

The OSX ChunkVNC is considered beta and has been neglected for a very long time now. I believe it stopped working on OSX 10.5 and will require some work to get back up and running. It was considered proof of concept at the time.

Great idea with AWS, I'll have to look into that.

I came across the post by chance, maybe it would make more sense for it to be in the ChunkVNC forum?

[B]

Absolutely; I just moved it. (I hadn't noticed it was in the wrong forum.)

The OP really just wants a steady connection to a single OSX desktop -- couldn't he just deploy the latest version of x11vnc (assuming it will work on his release of OSX) and point it at the repeater? From what I recall Chunk was disabling encryption on Macs anyway, so I'm thinking it would be pretty straightforward....

[spacewrench]

the free version of AWS might be perfect for hosting the repeater

It looks that way to me!

You said "reflector" but I assume you mean repeater - and which repeater are you using?

Right, sorry. I'm using ultravnc_repeater.pl.

If it were me, I'd also try using ChunkVNC on a WIndows machine to see if it hits the repeater successfully.

Now, why didn't I think of that?! I "compiled" an InstantSupport.exe on Windows, pointed at my AWS repeater, and when I run it, the repeater reports an inbound connection.

So far, so good, but if I run the viewer client on the same Windows box (which is a virtual PC running under Parallels on my Mac, but still...) the repeater reports:

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Tue Aug 30 22:17:27 2011: new vnc client connecting.
Tue Aug 30 22:17:27 2011: ultravnc_repeater: short read 12 != 250 

Chicken of the VNC (VNCviewer for Mac) also connects and produces the same error at the repeater.

I should be able to make some headway troubleshooting that, though. Thanks for the hint!

[supercoe]

Asumming that x11vnc works on his version of OSX your solution should work fine.
The OSX directory in ChunkVNC includes SRC.zip\InstantSupport.sh file which should give enough reference to the commands being used to make a reverse connection with x11vnc.

[spacewrench]

Sorry for wrong forum -- I thought I saw the ChunkVNC sub-forum while poking around, but couldn't find it again after I'd registered.

I'll look at x11vnc, and/or try to find out more about the VNC version that appears to be integrated into my MacOS (10.7.1 Lion).

Thanks!

[B]

Oh too bad; Apple has really screwed over independent VNC implementations in Lion -- we have a few threads about it. I don't know if ANY of the 3rd party VNC servers will work in Lion yet, but VINES has promised one. Good luck.

You could also just use LogMeIn Free.