Are they using the built in VNC server for remote access? Even on my LAN the performance is absolutely terrible. Using a different server doesn’t help either. I’ve seen lots of folks make reference to getting GPU-accelerated VNC that dramatically improves performance if the Mini is hooked up to a monitor, but in my experience it doesn’t work. The only acceptable remote desktop solution I’ve ever found for the Mac is NoMachine.

VNC is terribly laggy and inefficient. It's OK for LAN (not WLAN) and localhost.

RDP and NX however work great (I used both SFO <-> AMS in 2005, latency is negligible), but NX is proprietary and X-only. It doesn't work on the macOS GUI server (whatever its name is, Quartz?). There's technologies based on NX when it was still FOSS. For RDP, there's xrdp which acts as glue between an X server yet utilises the RDP protocol (which should be tunnelled over a secure connection such as WireGuard or SSH).

Since we're swapping out X for Wayland I'm curious what the path of remote desktop is going to be.

As for this project, it isn't difficult to run macOS in a VM (or buy a 2nd hand Mac Mini) but if that's too difficult compared to the cost of setting it up this could very well be a viable alternative.

I think you're a little behind, we're in 2018 now ;-) and NoMachine now offers a server version for Mac and for Windows. (for access to the physical display for those who were wondering)

Which protocol(s) does that use?

Still NX. There's some information how it has changed over the years here:

https://www.nomachine.com/AR11K00745

We use the built-in VNC server our selves at 4K resolution. All Mac Mini’s have a headless GPU enabler, which allow for a smooth, windows rdp like, experience.

Sounds almost unbelievable. I can't VNC into my Mac on my LAN without considerable lag. How are you doing that with 4k?

We have a dummy hdmi plug connected to each Mac. That will make macOS think that there’s a screen connected which enables GPU hardware acceleration.

But that’s what I was saying originally —- I’ve heard about this trick of connecting a monitor to improve performance but I’ve never seen it make a difference. Is there something else you have to do?

I personally use Remotix for VNC, Remotix has integrated the Apple specific VNC protocol which allows for more performance, file transfers, etc.

Never heard of that client or Apple's proprietary VNC protocol (sounds like something they'd do). Thanks.

Ahh, I have been using Remmina. Thanks.

What bandwidth/latency are required for responsive interface?

Anything above 20mbit should be fine

Thank you!

Are you using the built-in macOS client? macOS screen sharing has some VNC extensions that make it usable on both wireless and WAN networks. I've been VNC'ing to my 2560x1080 work machine from home for years through a layer 2 UDP OpenVPN tunnel over WAN to great effect (connect to OpenVPN, cmd+K in Finder then vnc://10.20.30.40/). Using the now defunct Back to my Mac always was a crapshoot though (probably due to lack of port opening, therefore an intermediary has to be used)

Is there any Linux client that implements these extensions?

You need to use either the built in Mac client or something like Remotix if you’re using Windows. Every other vnc client I’ve tried performs terribly as you say.

It's in the Netherlands, so already off to a bad start for US users in terms of latency

much more useful for automated building and testing in a mac environment remotely. Would be much less useful if it were straightforward to run macOS under virtualization.