Using old iMac as display for newer macbook?

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GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

I have an old (2008) iMac and a newer (2012) MacBook Pro (with SSD).

The MacBook Pro is the preferable choice to use as it has SSD.

But I would really like to use the iMac as a display/monitor. Is this possible?

The iMac has only a mini-DVI connection, whereas the MacBook has miniDisplayPort.

I have a minidisplayport to hdmi adapter in the macbook, and a mini-dvi to hdmi adapter in the iMac. And an hdmi cable between the computers, but when going to displays in the system settings it seems as though none of them detects the other one.

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

It's called Target Display Mode, which requires MacOS.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592

Some people claim they've discovered a hack.

http://floe.butterbrot.org/matrix/hacking/tdm/

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

ah:/ solution number seems interesting, but I believe too advanced for me right now

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

solution nr. 2*

jxself
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Beigetreten: 09/13/2010

Put Trisquel on the iMac too. Maybe it's already there; you don't say. Once it is, use VNC. Or SSH with X forwarding. Or X2Go. Or any of the other options. In the land of GNU/Linux there's usually more than one way to do something.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Sound interesting, what are the exact name of the packages? :)

I searched for both VNC and X2go, but it seems no package have those exact names, but there are many packages which have names containing parts of them.

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

I think 'vnc4server' and 'x2goclient'.

vnc4server.png x2goclient.png
GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Right, I'll check it out!

Magic Banana

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Beigetreten: 07/24/2010

Trisquel 8, with the MATE desktop environment by default, has Vinagre installed by default (it is probably called something like "Remote Desktop Viewer" in the main menu): https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Vinagre/

Go for VNC: you do not need the SSH's encryption (with a performance cost) because you will not leave your local network.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Interesting, thanks :)

So you recommend VNC over both the Vinagre and x2go?:)

Magic Banana

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Beigetreten: 07/24/2010

Vinagre is the client to view a remote desktop. It supports several protocols, including VNC and SSH (like an email client can support both POP and IMAP, a Web browser can support both HTTP and HTTPS, etc.). It comes with documentation (accessible from its "Help" menu) and, again, it is already installed on your system if you have the MATE edition of Trisquel 8.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Right :)

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

When opening the Vinagre on both my computers, the "find" function do not find anything, is this a common issue?

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

It doesn't seem to work when I try to enter the name or the IP adress of the other computer either. Does something need to be configured or set up to get this program working?

Magic Banana

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Beigetreten: 07/24/2010

Vinagre is a VNC client (among other protocols). The remote system must run a VNC *server*. Again GNOME's VNC server (Vino) is installed by default on the MATE edition of Trisquel 8. There must be something in the "Control Center" to enable it, or you can execute "the 'vino-preferences' command (for instance from the command prompt you get with Alt+F2).

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

Vinagre started working after allowing VNC port.

$ sudo ufw allow 5900/tcp

ufw was not installed by default.

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-share-your-desktop-in-linux-using-x11vnc

Make sure you enable keyboard shortcuts (view menu) before going full screen. This way you can revert to windowed mode with F11.

vinagre.jpg remmina_t8_vnc.png
GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

I get "sudo: ufw: command not found"

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

It was because it was a program I hadn't installed :)

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

Wonder why?

Magic Banana

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Beigetreten: 07/24/2010

If I were you, I would first try to get VNC (not SSH, which is the one using port 22, by default) working without any firewall enabled. With good passwords (especially for users with administrative privileges), the usefulness of a firewall is dubious anyway.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

How did you get Vinagre to work?

I have allowed the port using this command, but it still is not working for me:/

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Right :)
I have nothing in my control center referencing "Vino" and when I ctrl+alt+F2 and search for vino, I get a result called "vino-p". But if I click enter I get an error message:

"Could not open location 'file:///home/user/vino-p'

Error when getting information for file '/home/user/vino-p': No such file or directory"

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

But I was looking at loldier's post below here regarding the remmina, and that guide was suggestiong to just type in $ vino-preferences in the terminal. And hey, that worked :)

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Do I need to "allow connections" in the vino-preferences on both pcs?

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

I did. It doesn't hurt to experiment. If something doesn't work, try something else.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

> It doesn't hurt to experiment.

Well that's a bold statement isn't it?

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

How are these programs functioning really?

I mean how does these programs make the computers communicate?

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016
calher

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Beigetreten: 06/19/2015

Using your computer over SSH X forwarding all the time?  That's
terrible.

Maybe if you open up the iMac, you can detach the screen from the
computer, and attach it directly.

jxself
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Beigetreten: 09/13/2010

"Maybe if you open up the iMac, you can detach the screen from the computer, and attach it directly."

When I first read the subject line of "Using old iMac as display for newer macbook?" that was what I thought they wanted to do.

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

On MacOS (or Mac OS X Mountain Lion and later): install XQuartz. Then, it's pretty easy to use X11 forwarding to your GNU/Linux host. Up until Snow Leopard and Lion, it was called x11.app and included by default before it was dropped and became optional.

https://www.xquartz.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XQuartz

$ ssh -X name at domain

Graphical X programs will appear on your Mac desktop in no time. To get the best bandwith and speed, use an Ethernet cable to connect your router and hosts.

xquartz.png xquartz_mac.png xquartz_mac_3.png xquartz_mac_4.png xquartz_mac_5.png
loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016
GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

When I followed that guide and did ssh -Y gman@remote I got the error:

"ssh: Could not resolve hostname remote: Name or service not known"

How did you manage this?

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

That's a placeholder. Your credentials are something else. A user name and IP address.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Right, so instead of remote there should be user name or IP address? :)

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

Yes. Something like 'user@192.168.x.x'. The remote address.

If you use ssh, you'll probably have to open port 22. I couldn't communicate between hosts in LAN unless I allowed this in the firewall.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

May I ask you how you open port 22?:)

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

One more question:

Isn't opening port 22 and using ssh a little more risky than just staying at local network?

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

Ports are the same WAN/LAN. It depends on the IP. I have not allowed ping or ports from the outside Internet. They are closed in the router and do not respond. Anyway, ssh is installed and enabled by default in Trisquel. Server daemon sshd and OpenSSH Server is not.

IP 192.168.x.xxx is a local address. You can connect to any host in your network with ssh which is encrypted (as opposed to telnet, which is not).

I had two routers when I first tried this -- hence the confusion. Now, it works after clean install without any firewall exceptions. All my workstations are now connected to the same router.

I use ssh to transfer local files between my workstations (laptops).