{"id":732,"date":"2026-10-13T15:03:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T14:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stigern.net\/blog\/?p=732"},"modified":"2026-10-13T15:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T14:03:36","slug":"fumachine-0-2-6-now-on-the-mac-over-tailscale-and-a-lot-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stigern.net\/blog\/fumachine-0-2-6-now-on-the-mac-over-tailscale-and-a-lot-more\/","title":{"rendered":"FuMachine 0.2.6 \u2013 now on the Mac, over Tailscale, and a lot more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Less than three weeks ago I wrote about FuMachine<\/a>, the little remote desktop I made for the computers around the house when NoMachine\u2019s free version went behind a subscription. A lot has happened since then: eleven new versions, an app for the Mac, and a way to reach my computers when I\u2019m not at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The new Mac app controlling an Ubuntu PC (Wayland) over Tailscale. The window on that screen is the Linux FuMachine app.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FuMachine for Mac<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is now a native Mac app. It views and controls your Windows and Linux computers, runs on macOS 14 or later on both Apple silicon and Intel, and is signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it like any other app: open FuMachine-mac.dmg<\/code> and drag FuMachine to Applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has the same computer list as on Windows and Linux, signs in with a password or by approval, and the viewer has what the others have: displays, quality, full screen, Send shortcuts<\/em>, View only<\/em>, sending and getting files, a picture of the screen and shared copied text. \u2318 works as Ctrl on the other computer, so \u2318C and \u2318V do what you expect. The Mac only views other computers; it can\u2019t be viewed itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your computers from anywhere, with Tailscale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the first post FuMachine only worked on the local network. Now, if you use Tailscale<\/a>, the computers on your tailnet show up in the list by themselves, right next to the ones at home. FuMachine still has no servers or accounts of its own: it asks Tailscale which devices are there, and the connection goes through your own tailnet, encrypted as before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Away from home: every computer is found through Tailscale. Refresh now says what it found.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If Tailscale says your computers are online but none of them answer (it happens now and then, and restarting Tailscale fixes it), the list tells you so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slow connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over Tailscale the connection isn\u2019t always fast. When two computers can\u2019t reach each other directly, Tailscale relays the traffic, and from a phone\u2019s hotspot or a far-away Wi-Fi it can get really slow. So there is a new quality, Slow connection<\/em>, first in the Quality list. Big changes come blurrier and smaller than with Speed<\/em> and are sharpened once the screen is still, while typing and other small changes still go sharp at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tested it this week on a relayed Tailscale link where only about 65 KB\/s got through from the PC to my Mac, and I could still work on it: typing, copying text both ways and sending files all worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reconnects by itself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the connection drops or the other computer restarts, the viewer window now stays open and connects again by itself, for up to ten minutes. The last picture stays, dimmed, until it\u2019s back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Restarting FuMachine on the other computer: the window waits, and is back a second after it is.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sign-in screen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Windows, Settings \u2192 This computer \u2192 Allow access to the lock and sign-in screen<\/em> installs a small Windows service, so you can reach a computer that is locked or where nobody has signed in yet, and sign in from the viewer. Keys \u2192 Ctrl+Alt+Del<\/em> works too. On Linux there are settings for a computer nobody sits at: unlock the screen for viewers who sign in, and keep the screen from locking by itself while FuMachine runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a lot of small things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n