Teleport Software

BSD Guru wrote:

Just to add to this. I've been using teleport since Snow Leopard; the developer actually works for Apple. He was always 2 versions behind and after much urging he put the code in the public domain. So if you install xcode, you can just download teleport, compile it yourself and you have an app that you don't have to worry about signing nonsense. I have 3 macs; 2 El Capitan and 1 Sierra, and it works quite nicely. There are a couple of fixes in the github version (I can't recall what they were, but they were important enough for me to decide to compile it myself at the time). It compiles and installs without you really having to know what you're doing.

I mention all of this because I'm not using the version in the app store. The version in github definitely works and allows you to connect El Capitan and Sierra systems.

Can you put a pointer URL in as a Reply?

Just to add to this. I've been using teleport since Snow Leopard; the developer actually works for Apple. He was always 2 versions behind and after much urging he put the code in the public domain. So if you install xcode, you can just download teleport, compile it yourself and you have an app that you don't have to worry about signing nonsense. I have 3 macs; 2 El Capitan and 1 Sierra, and it works quite nicely. There are a couple of fixes in the github version (I can't recall what they were, but they were important enough for me to decide to compile it myself at the time). It compiles and installs without you really having to know what you're doing.

I mention all of this because I'm not using the version in the app store. The version in github definitely works and allows you to connect El Capitan and Sierra systems.

Earlier in this thread I came to the conclusion that you must have 2 copies of the teleport application and that you were running at least one of them from the downloads folder. Can you confirm that you now have just one copy in the Applications folder of each computer?

It is difficult to help solve your problem without being able to see what settings you have. I think the best I can do is to show what I have that is working perfectly under Sierra (10.12.5).

You say "when I double click the Teleport icon" - so you are starting up teleport afresh each time you want to use it. I have it set to launch automatically on startup by adding it to Login items under System oreferences ~> Users & Groups:

This way it will automatically be active whenever you have another computer with Teleport on your network without need to reconfigure. There will be a Teleport icon in the menu bar which on clicking should show this:

"Share this Mac" has to be ticked on both computers. The other two features are optional. On clicking "Configure" you should see the layout"

Ignore the large window on the right (my second monitor on the Mac Pro). If the other computer is off/asleep/not connected or has "Share this Mac" not ticked then its window will appear black. Under "Settings" you should see:

Version checking should off course be off. Show trusted hosts should show something like this:

(You will just have one entry).

I would start by rebooting both computers, launching teleport on each then start setting up.

Best of luck!

Geoff.

I know Teleport works very well* with El Capitan. I would like to know if anyone has it working properly under Sierra? I have not seen evidence of this, anywhere...

In El Capitan the application should reside in your Applications folder. I start Teleport when starting both my Macs and rarely have issues. Dragging files works, gestures across Macs works... I would try fresh installation

That user is me (I've only just come across this post). For info I still have Teleport 1.2.1 working perfectly under Sierra 10.2.4. The tricky part was creating a self-signed certificate* to allow it to instal and run on my then new Mac Pro running Yosemite. It continued to work fine after updating the OS to El Capitan and then to Sierra. I had to go through the slightly more hoops this year in order to instal it on a new MacBook Pro running Sierra.

It's a pity this very useful app is no longer being supported. In such cases when the original developer's certificate expires apps become difficult to instal even when the code is still compatible with a later OS version.

* I'm now following this thread and can supply details if anyone who wants them posts here.

Geoff

I realize that I did not read your original post thoroughly. Firstly I have no experience with any alternative similar applications.

Teleport was originally a preference pane but the last version, 1.2.1 is an ordinary application which therefore does not appear in System Preferences. Therefore I think you must have an earlier version which will be located in ~/Library/PreferencePanes.

[Instructions for getting around the problems you are seeing were posted in the Abyssoft forums but these no longer appear on the web. In 2014 I followed them and succeeded but they were quite complex, required temporarily installing Xcode, creating a self-signed certificate and numerous terminal commands So I don't recommend this approach!]

The version I now have (1.2.1) overcomes most of these complications. It can be downloaded from:

https://github.com/abyssoft/teleport/releases

and the file unzipped to get the application package which can be dragged wherever you want. The only problem is that in Sierra the Security pane in System Preferences no longer includes the option to allow applications downloaded from anywhere. The following article:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/243687/allow-applications-downloaded-f rom-anywhere-in-macos-sierra

shows how this can temporarily be re-enabled by a terminal command to allow Teleport to be enabled. Once you have done this the 'Gatekeeper' security is re-activated and Teleport can be added to Startup items and will be launched automatically on start up without the need for any special actions. I think that this is the path to follow.

(My previous post is slightly misleading since I wrote it from memory but have now looked up what I did in more detail and find that version 1.2.1 was much easier to install.)

Best of luck!

Geoff.

Teleport 1.2 is also an app, not a preference pane according to http://abyssoft.com/news/

but if you still have a Teleport item in System preferences you must also have an earlier version. The preference pane for that may be in your system library rather than your user library. If you deactivate Teleport in System preferences, any icon in the menu bar associated with this version should, I think disappear. If it is already deactivated then the two icons must be for Teleport 1.2 and Teleport 1.2.1. Unfortunately clicking on them does not reveal the version but you can quit it. Teleport applications don't have to be in the Applications folder (my Teleport 1.2.1 isn't) though this would normally the best choice. To find them do a search for 'Teleport' in a Finder window rather than Spotlight and set 'Search:' to 'This Mac'. Their location will appear at the bottom of the window. You can then launch them one at a time. When one is working properly you can delete the other.

I think Abyssoft is/was a small developer who may have moved on but the source code has been put in the public domain on Github so it is possible for someone else to do some further maintenance or development.

It may be too late but is highly desirable to do a backup before making such changes and doing them just on one computer first.

Geoff.

OK, so it seems that you are probably running both of your two copies of Teleport from app files in the downloads folder. If you have been using Spotlight to launch it then it would have found them there and launched them from there - the apps don't include an installer to automatically put them in Applications.

I would quit both by selecting each icon in turn in the menubar and clicking on 'Quit teleport'. Move the 1.2.1 application file from the downloads folder to the Applications folder then double click it there. If it works OK you can delete version 1.2 (1.2.1 is in fact only a minor update to 1.2). To start automatically after booting it has to be in the System preferences - Users & Groups - Login Items.

Teleport does indeed have to be installed on both computers.

As I indicated earlier in this thread the need to create a self-signed certificate only applied to earlier versions of Teleport which were in the form of preference panes. Recent versions (1.2 and 1.2.1) are simple applications and do not need this. Copying what I wrote earlier:

Teleport 1.2.1 can be downloaded from:

https://github.com/abyssoft/teleport/releases

and the file unzipped to get the application package which can be dragged wherever you want. The only problem is that in Sierra the Security pane in System Preferences no longer includes the option to allow applications downloaded from anywhere. The following article:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/243687/allow-applications-downloaded-f rom-anywhere-in-macos-sierra

shows how this can temporarily be re-enabled by a terminal command to allow Teleport to be enabled. Once you have done this the 'Gatekeeper' security is re-activated and Teleport can be added to Startup items and will be launched automatically on start up without the need for any special actions. I think that this is the path to follow.

Geoff.

Are you referring to the Teleport window you should see when selecting "Configure..." from the Teleport icon in the menu bar - or you are not seeing the the screen of one of your macbooks in this window. I am not clear.

I just installed Teleport 1.2.1 on two Macs running Sierra relatively successfully.

Relatively meaning...

Initially I could not get sharing working bidirectionally. I think it was because I had not changed the Desktop picture - crazy as this sounds, there's a teleport bugthat I found by trawling through GitHub that mentions a problem if you have never changed the default desktop image. Since I did this, I am able to control bidirectionally.