How To Link my G4 Tower and Operate it from my Mac Mini

[yomark]

Question:
I'd like to see and operate BOTH my Mac Mini and my G4 Tower on the same monitor and keyboard, but I'm not sure that's possible. I'd like to do this so I can take advantage of the OS 9 (Classic) mode on the Tower, and to transfer files and apps back and forth. I found the following thread in my search, which is helpful, but not exactly what I'm looking for: http://macosx.com/forums/hardware-peripherals/292339-hooking-up-g4-tower-my-mac-mini.html
What's the simplest way of doing this? Can anyone help?



OS: 10.4.7

Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: Mac mini
Machine Model: Macmini1,1
CPU Type: Intel Core Duo
Number Of Cores: 2
CPU Speed: 1.83 GHz
L2 Cache (shared): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MM11.0055.B08
Serial Number: XXXXXXXXXXXX
SMC Version: 1.3f4

 

[gsahli]

a two-part answer is required -
Control the G4 by VNC/Remote Desktop.
On the G4, System Prefs > Sharing, Services, turn on Personal File Sharing and Apple Remote Desktop.
On the mini, get a VNC client (also called viewer):
I have this one and it works -
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/
(Do you have a router? it greatly simplifies networking between computers. You need to know the IP address of the G4 here.)
Run VNC on the mini. Can you control the G4 OK?

In case I over-simplified, here's a guide:
http://www.wikihow.com/Setup-VNC-on-Mac-OS-X

 

[Giaguara]

Or Apple Remote Desktop.

Built-in VNC is an option for Mac OS X 10.5 or later, so in this case it would need more than just the system preferences setting for VNC - it'd need something else as a VNC option, e.g. Chicken of the VNC.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14099

 

[yomark]

Thank you for your reponses, gsahli & Giaguara, but you're talking way over my head. Would what you discussed be possible with Tiger? (No, I don't have a router: I'm on dial-up) or do I mis-understand what a router is?

 

[gsahli]

Yes, what I described is what you do to remote control the G4 from the mini, including using OS 10.4. I didn't give you the file sharing instructions yet - go ahead and just try the remote control (VNC) part.

These extra gyrations are required for direct ethernet - computer to computer:
1) connect ethernet cable to each.
2) On each go to System Preferences > Network > show built-in ethernet, and set Configure: manually. Enter IP address of 192.168.3.2 on one and 192.168.3.3 on the other, and enter subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 on both. Apply and exit System Prefs.