Ok, so in the last post I described how to set up a VNC server so that you could connect to you desktop from another computer or a iPad. Now its time to tackle the iPad part.
As we have setup security so that you can only access the VNC viewer over an ssh tunnel, the apps that can handle that is a bit less. There are a ton of apps that will do normal VNC connections but only a few that will do vnc over ssh tunnels. The iSsh apps allows you to run a ssh tunnel in the background but only for 10 minutes (some ios app store restriction apparently) so you could use something else but not for a long time. So the 3 ones i found that does the job is:
iSsh
iSsh is a program that will give you ssh access to any computer, so its not mainly a vnc viewer.
I have been using it for many ears for ssh or X-window access (yes it will give you a x-server on the iPad also) so its defensively a must in my book.
As and extra option you can use it for vnc access also. The small problem is that the VNC implementation is not as fast and responsible as the other apps i will test.
But if you have iSsh already its defenetly someting you can use to access a computer. And for only 9.99$ its a god price.
Pros and cons
On the plus side
- Does more that only vnc
- Best price
- Has both point and click and can bring up a virtual mouse pad for better control
- Can handle private keys
On the negative
- A bit slow
- Not as many VNC options to tune as the other apps
- VNC part not as stable as the other apps
iTeleport
iTeleport was the first program I tested when trying to find the best one for my iPad to Unix connection. It was the most expensive program (for 24.99$) but currently there is a sale on so at the moment its only 19.99$ – same as screen vnc. It has some nice extra features – like if you are connection to a Windows or Mac computer you can use iTeleport Connect and not have to fiddle with port forwarding/open or so. But again – as this is about ssh I think most of you are accomplished enough to handle that.
I like this app a lot as it has the best control feature for me. You use the iPad screen as a mouse – i.e. you move the mouse with movement and then click by touching. It is a personal thing and you can actually turn that off and have the screen in Touchscreen mode and then it will work more or less the same as iSsh or screen vnc.
Its extremely fast and responsive, but screen vnc and iTeleport seems to be at the same level. It has a lot of options to fiddle with if you want, but the downside is that currently it can only handle ssh with username/password and no private keys.
Pros and cons
On the plus side
- Fast
- Can handle movement as well as touchscreen mode
- Easy to setup
On the negative
- Cant handle private keys
- Was more expensive than Screen VNC
Screen VNC
Screen VNC is the last program I tested. Many talk very well about this and its good and solid and has at least the same performance as iTeleport. The small downside for me is that it only has the touchscreen mode, and for me that a bit hard – I like to run a lot in full-screen mode and the touchscreen is not a exact for that, so I more like the movement control of iTeleport and then click. But again its a personal thing.
But is has support for private keys so if you really have to have that, its definitely and option.
Pros and cons
On the plus side
- Fast
- Can handle private keys
On the negative
- Only one control mode available
- Slightly more complex setup
- Not as many options to fine-tune
Conclusions
So for me the conclusion is simple – iTeleport fits my setup perfectly and will allow me to run the connections I want.
Its fast enough for some serious work, but if you do want to program and be really productive you do need to sit in-front of the computer, but its definitely quick enough for some offhand work when you don’t sit in-front of it.
I will continue the “serie” of post with detail setup of each app so you can see how to connect to the VNC server we set up earlier.