Hi,
Maybe I should also state it the other way round.
Once several Mac are on the same subnet (Preferably the same LAN at a home Network) then they will "See" each other.
If the Finder's Preferences are set to Display Shares then they will appear in the Finder's side bar.
From there clicking on the Share open the window on the left and connects at Share level as a Guest on the other computer.
What you see will depend on what the other computer has set up as shared folders/Drives etc in System Preferences > Sharing
On the top right of that window there is now the option to "Connect As"
Click this brings up a dialogue box to enter username (Shortname form) and the Password.
To be clear in System Preferences > Sharing is the Computer Name.
It is this that will display at the other end (Or whatever .local edit you have made.)
Normally the set of any Mac take the name from the First User to Set up the Mac.
(I did this and ended up with two computers trying to call themselves "Ralph Johnss Computer" - Apple does not add the apostrophe on names ending in s)
This is how they appear as Computers in the Shares.
The Login you do as Guest gets to see at least the Drop boxes of any User Account set up on the second computer.
The Specific Login can be as any User that has an account on that computer (not necessarily the Logged in account).
You then have the same access to the second computer as they (that User Account) do.
At this point you can drop and drag any thing you want to anywhere in either direction.
Any app that is Bonjour enabled for other platforms should give you similar levels on Logging in.
As a means of "networking" your Macs it is "always On" and only needs the specific Log On to each computer.
After that the link is constantly maintained - unless one computer goes to sleep.
iChat works over the top of this.
With the Audio Only and Video chat functions you can call others to the meal table and the like.
You can Use the Screen Share to Drop and Drag files to the other computer.
You can send files as well with ichat itself (non Screen Sharing) but even with Auto Accept running on the other computer's ichat they will end up in the iChat File Transfer Folder (Downloads).
There are issues though if one computer is logged in using a Mac User Account that Has Parental Controls and the iChat Limit set.
For some unknown reason this disables at least iChat's ability to use Bonjour (they will not appear On line/Pop up in your Buddy List).
There is also a Screen Sharing app in Leopard and Snow Leopard.
It is stored in the System/Library/Core Service folder
It can be launched directly or by using the Finder's Go Menu > Go to server and typing VNC:// instead of AFP or SMB
You then get a Pop up dialogue box to log on as a User on the other computer.
This does not have the Audio Chat alongside like iChat does and if there are two Displays at the other end you can choose to view one or the other or both.
It gives you the same access as that User on that computer has.
I have not tried this to another VNC client on a PC (And I don't have a Linux computer)
9:26 PM Monday; February 14, 2011
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