vnsee macOS support

Mac OS does have a built in VNC client, but it does not seem to support virtual screens.

Feb 12 '21 09:02 KaffeDiem

I haven't found any way to make a virtual screen. With SwitchResX you can set the main screen size to a exact number of pixels. I did not try, because I have a RM2. A one-Screen setup would also be very useful.

Feb 20 '21 17:02 lfuhr

Thanks for investigating that. If you want to try it out, check out the following thread for beta rM2 support: https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee/issues/15#issuecomment-776746141

Feb 20 '21 17:02 matteodelabre

After some testing with rM2 and macOs: It is Partly working Setting the Screen resolution (on the primary display) works fine using non-free SwitchResX.

macOS VNC-Server:

Enable password in System Preferences (Screen Sharing)
Enable Virtual keyboard in System Preferences (User Settings) => Could not login because virtual keyboard hangs (cannot type Passwort properly)

Vine VNC-Server Screen sharing works (without mouse cursor, not usable as screen only). When doing interactions with the rM the image did stop to display properly.

Feb 21 '21 09:02 lfuhr

Excited to see progress here! I'm looking forward to eventually using my rM2 as a mirrored screen on my Mac for terminal & emacs use.

Apr 19 '21 08:04 OldhamMade

The latest release (0.4.0) adds full reMarkable 2 support (@lfuhr) and no longer forces you to set the server resolution to have 1408 pixel columns. This should make setting up the VNC server easier. Unfortunately, I don’t own a device running macOS so I can’t help with the OS-specific part, but if you see things to implement in the client that would simplify setup, please let me know.

May 08 '21 14:05 matteodelabre

I've installed vnsee on my rM2 and I've set up the macOS screen sharing. When I run vnsee I get the following:

reMarkable: ~/ vnsee
Connecting to 192.168.2.194:5900...
Password: terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
  what():  Server uses an unsupported resolution (3584x2240). This client can only cope with a screen width of exactly 260 pixels and a screen height of 23936 pixels
Aborted

I installed Resolutionator to see whether it would help, and set my macbook's resolution to 1650x1050, but I see the same error:

reMarkable: ~/ vnsee
Connecting to 192.168.2.194:5900...
Password: terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
  what():  Server uses an unsupported resolution (1650x1050). This client can only cope with a screen width of exactly 260 pixels and a screen height of 23936 pixels
Aborted

Is there a way I can set the resolution & rotation of vnsee so I can use the rM2 in landscape?

May 12 '21 15:05 OldhamMade

@matteodelabre if it's any help, my rM2 is running version 2.7.0.51. I'm not running any mods other than renews, which doesn't affect the main OS anyway. Would love to get this running soon; really keen to be able to use my rM2 as an "outdoor" screen for development purposes.

May 31 '21 08:05 OldhamMade

Hello @OldhamMade! Sorry I missed your first message. You need to setup remarkable2-framebuffer on your reMarkable 2 before VNSee (and a lot of other apps) can work. The easiest way to do that is to install Toltec first and then run opkg install rm2fb, but you can also install it manually using the instructions in that repository if you prefer.

Note that VNSee is also available as a package in Toltec, but it’s not yet up to date unfortunately, so you’ll need to keep VNSee manually installed as you already did.

Jun 03 '21 15:06 matteodelabre

After some testing with rM2 and macOs: It is Partly working Setting the Screen resolution (on the primary display) works fine using non-free SwitchResX.

macOS VNC-Server:

Enable password in System Preferences (Screen Sharing)

Enable Virtual keyboard in System Preferences (User Settings) => Could not login because virtual keyboard hangs (cannot type Passwort properly)

Made some progress on the OSX front. Some research I did lead me here, and running this command from that thread sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteManagement VNCAlwaysStartOnConsole -bool true bypasses the login screen completely, allowing the vnsee to connect using the built in screen sharing vnc server.

That being said, the actual performance is still pretty rough. The screen is displayed landscape on the portrait reMarkable, and it seems the screen doesn't update properly. I forced a lower resolution by using mirroring with an external monitor, allowing much more of the screen to be seen. I'm using an rm2, so I don't have a way of forcing a screen refresh. Here's an image showing what it looks like:

Jun 06 '21 03:06 isaacwisdom

hi there, sorry that I'm not familiar with ssh command. I've opened ssh access, like the picture showed. WX20210816-143428@2x

but I don't know how to copy and install vnsee and vnsee-gui in to my device.

reMarkable: ~/ scp /Users/gamma/Downloads/vnsee root@remarkable:/root

Host 'remarkable' is not in the trusted hosts file.
(ssh-rsa fingerprint sha1!! 17:a7:bd:ed:dc:10:7d:0c:aa:3c:6e:b3:7d:84:73:e4:79:b9:e8:0a)
Do you want to continue connecting? (y/n) y
root@remarkable's password: 
/Users/gamma/Downloads/vnsee: No such file or directory

Can u kindly teach me how to?

Aug 16 '21 06:08 sanwacompany

hi there, sorry that I'm not familiar with ssh command. I've opened ssh access, like the picture showed.

but I don't know how to copy and install vnsee and vnsee-gui in to my device.
reMarkable: ~/ scp /Users/gamma/Downloads/vnsee root@remarkable:/root

Host 'remarkable' is not in the trusted hosts file.
(ssh-rsa fingerprint sha1!! 17:a7:bd:ed:dc:10:7d:0c:aa:3c:6e:b3:7d:84:73:e4:79:b9:e8:0a)
Do you want to continue connecting? (y/n) y
root@remarkable's password: 
/Users/gamma/Downloads/vnsee: No such file or directory
Can u kindly teach me how to?

It says that you have no vase file in the Download folder of the user gamma on your computer. You can drag the file into the terminal to prevent mistakes.

Aug 19 '21 13:08 lfuhr

if I open the remote login from Mac preference, I could vnc to it showing the login windows bu that's it. No so practical for now. Is there a way to let vnsee auto-rescale?

Nov 01 '21 02:11 winteraspect

I came across a tool to create dummy monitor in mac. The tool is made for a different reason but I don't know if it also helps here. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDummy

Nov 13 '21 04:11 winteraspect

Any progress?

Feb 19 '22 20:02 simonante

Dismal. Trying everything suggested above. Can‘t get even past ‘Failed to innitialize VNC connection‘. Wonder if anyone still trying? This needs to work.

Feb 23 '22 12:02 simonante

I've had some limited success getting it to work with the OSXvnc/Vine VNC server

You can use BetterDummy mentioned above to create a 1404x1872 display to match the reMarkable's aspect ratio. I'm still having problems getting a cursor to appear on the VNC client, and the stability of OSXvnc leaves a little to be desired... But it's so close to working well.

IMG_20220426_151931