[Cialug] RE: OS X Airport setup ? (OT) Sorry

[Bill Davis]

On Oct 5, 2007, at 4:31 PM, "albus" <albus at iowaconnect.com> wrote:

> I was looking for a simple how-to setup for OS X.x
> to get the wireless up and running.

Then you have what you should need in my email, or in that specific  
link to the "popular how-tow" on the Apple web site. Let me know if  
you need further help though.

> To send to the outlaw

"outlaw" ?

>
> so he can print it and just give a copy to the Mac users that
> haven't a clue on wireless setup.

They will need to know the basestation name to pick (don't assume  
yours is the only one that will show up, or that it will even show up  
at all if broadcasting of the name has Bern turned off) and the WEP or  
WPA key and length to provide when asked (and if its WEP or WPA etc)

>
>
> Stupid Question. If it's not called Airport why do they have Airport  
> in the menu bar for it?

It's all WiFi, but the card in all Macs is almost always an AirPort  
brand card (unless the custom configured it at the Apple store and  
left it out then added a third-party PCcard or PCI card or USB WiFi  
later. Very few do this.) So that's why I guess; saves confusion  
amongst the customers. Makes the marketing and branding guys happy, etc.

>
>
> What do they call it? Maybe that's why I'm not finding
> a simple how-to.

Where are you looking? I found the above info on Apple's support site  
in a few seconds....

>
>
> <rant>
> I don't know why it is, but it seems like the more people
> I find that have a Mac don't have a clue how to do much
> with them but surf and email. And maybe art work.
> </rant>

That's because that's generally all most folks DO with their computers  
(you left out Word, Excel and Powerpoint though). Macs just generally  
self-configure out of the box and self-heal if problems crop up later  
so a lot of folks who don't like futzing with computers buy 'em for  
that reason....and a lot of computer- savvy folks recommend them to  
their relatives so the don't end up spending hours fixing the thing  
every time they go visit their relatives or end up being the family's  
own private on call unpaid support staff.


>
> It's not that hard at least for me to get it working on the ones
> I've dealt with and I DON'T have a clue with Mac OS anything.

But you're a computer geek. Macs are not designed for computer geeks.  
They are designed for everyone else. I've usually found that's what  
causes computer geeks to get lost on Macs. They expect it to be harder  
than it is.  I get bit by that myself sometimes and I've used Macs  
since '84....all the OTHER OSes and computers I also use (I got  
started programming in 1976) throw me off because they are generally  
much more poorly designed.

>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Davis" <bill.davis at gmail.com>
> To: "Central Iowa Linux Users Group" <cialug at cialug.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 3:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [Cialug] RE: OS X Airport setup ? (OT) Sorry
>
>
>> Albus -
>> Can you give me more detail about what you're trying to do?   
>> There's  no such thing as "OS X Airport".    AirPort is the WiFi  
>> basestation  product line from Apple; there are several models.   
>> They also sell  AirPort cards (I think; the cards come built into  
>> all Macs these  days, so they may not be purchasable separately  
>> except as a service  part....that's what a friend of mine did to  
>> upgrade to WiFi "N" on  his older MacBook that just supported WiFi  
>> A/B/G in fact.)
>> Are you setting up a non-Mac laptop to access an AirPort   
>> basestation?   It's just a WiFi basestation so you can access the  
>> way  you would any other company's WiFi basestation.    I can't  
>> tell you  how to do that under Linux, because I don't use Linux (I  
>> use OS X for  my Unixy needs..;-).
>> Or if you are setting up the WiFi on an Apple laptop, it will help   
>> you set that up when you first start it up out of the box if there  
>> is  one around.  If not, go to Apple menu in the upper left corner,  
>> pull  down the menu and select "System Preferences".   In the  
>> System  Preferences window that will appear, find and click the  
>> "Network"  icon.   When the Network preferences screen appears,  
>> click the  "Assist Me" button.
>> Use the online help for more info; after starting your Mac, make  
>> sure  it says "Finder" next to the Apple menu at the upper left  
>> corner.   Pull down the "Help" menu and pick "Mac Help".  In the  
>> Mac Help  window search field in the upper right corner, type  
>> "airport" and  press RETURN.
>> Also, from the "Popular How-Tos" on Apple' support site  (www.apple.com/support 
>> ):
>> http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303595
>> There are instructions in PDF format provided on the CD that comes   
>> with the AirPort basestation too, or you can download them from  
>> the  Support section of Apple's web site at www.apple.com/support/manuals/
>> Let me know if you need further help.   (Or if you're accessing  
>> from  a Linux machine, what you have to do to access it....I plan  
>> to set up  Linux under Virtualization on my Mac some day soon and  
>> may need help  myself....)
>> - Bill
>> (By the way....it's "Mac" as in "Macintosh" not "MAC" as in Media   
>> Access Control layer....it's not an acronym like "IBM".  Sorry,  
>> pet  peeve... )
>> On Oct 5, 2007, at 1:22 PM, albus wrote:
>>> Do any of the MAC users on the list have a link to a howto set  
>>> the  OS X
>>> airport up on the laptops?
>>>
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