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Windows users have had RDP forever. Its fast, it works, and it's ubiquitous - but what options exist for remote controlling a Mac OS 9.x computer on my local network?

I've read that a VNC server exists for OS 9, but I must admit VNC is my least favorite option for remote controlling a system. I've had great success with NoMachine (OSX, Windows, Linux, RPi, etc) - but I don't see any support for older operating systems like Mac OS 9.x (or, sigh, Windows 98) - (which I can understand, but boy I wish they did!)

Aside from VNC, do any other remote control options exist for a PPC Mac running Mac OS 9.x?

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One option would be mac-minivnc a recently published open source project on Github. It claims to be a VNC server for classic Macs (including the 68000 models!) but I haven't used it.

When classic Mac OS was mainstream, the most popular solution was Timbuktu. It was a commercial product introduced in the late 1980s and it was popular with Mac networks in the 1990s. It worked on the 68K Macs as well as PPC, over TCP/IP or AppleTalk. Remote desktop was the primary feature.

Later versions were extremely flexible, supporting a variety of groupware features and niceties like clipboard integration. In the early-mid '90s when I was in school, we were fortunate to have an entire lab full of networked Macs, like the LC 525 and Performa 5200. Using Timbuktu our teacher could both view the screen of any desktop on their machine, as well as redirect them to the projector on the wall. Quite impressive for the time.

It was discontinued around 2013; however the last version (TCP/IP only) still runs on Intel Macs under OS X, as well as Windows.

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    What about AppleTalk Remove Access, aka ARA which did allow for remote control of Macs as well.
    – Michael Shopsin
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 14:39

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