Macs, can I remote desktop into it for software development?

Solution 1:

http://www.wikihow.com/Setup-VNC-on-Mac-OS-X

This is relatively useful tutorial on this issue and the options/solutions available. You can use other clients besides apple remote desktop. Though I have to say apple's remote desktop is a nice piece of software. However, you said you are just adding one os x box to your network.

EDIT:

You can use this tutorial to get the server side of things working on the mac (which is really just turning on remote desktop services), then use whatever vnc client you use for vista to connect to it.

Solution 2:

ARD does use VNC; you can also use a separate VNC server, such as OSXvnc, which performed better for me over WAN connections when I've compared the two (but that was some time ago, so Apple has likely improved their server in the meantime.)

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Solution 3:

As others have mentioned, Apple Remote Desktop uses VNC and the built-in ARD Client allows you to enable straight VNC access. To do this under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:

1. launch System Preferences (either from the Apple menu or /Applications)
2. Click on "Sharing" icon
3. Check the "Remote Management" checkbox to turn on ARDAgent & AppleVNCClient
4. Click the "Computer Settings..." button
5. Check the "VNC viewers may control screen with password:" checkbox and fill in a password
6. Click the "OK" button
7. That should be it, you can quit System Preferences

You can then use any VNC Client on Windows to control it.

I'd suggest also opening up SSH access to the box while you're in the Sharing prefs in System Preferences as you can simply kill the aforementioned AppleVNCServer process if it crashes and you have trouble connecting. I used to have to do this regularly on some Mac boxes, but haven't had to in a few years (although, I also don't connect directly with a VNC client anymore either).

BTW - I believe that the VNC password is for screen zero.