sprinting together

You can share your internet connection from a mac. This is something I researched and attempted unsuccessfully for years on PC. This means that I can connect to the Internet with my Sprint aircard and route that internet connection wirelessly to computers within range so that we can all get on the Internet.

Brilliant.

And here's just how easy it was.

I wondered if this was possible since apple does everything well, and since this is something that seems SO simple and reasonable. So I googled "share internet connection on a mac". The first hit was Sharing your Internet connection on Mac OS X 10.5 Help. In the digest it referred to Windows computers doing a "network bridge", so I knew I was on the right track.

OS X help said that I should go into system preferences, click the connection I want to share, and then share it. It said that if I wanted to share an Internet connection with WiFi clients, I would share my AirPort, specify a WiFi network name to create, and give it a password. This looked very promising.

Sure enough, I connected with the Sprint Aircard, told it to share, made a new network, and it looked like it was working.

Now for the test.

I fired up one of my Thinkpads to see if the WiFi network I made was out there. The name I chose was "SSC MBP". Sure enough it was. I double-clicked to connect to it. When you connect to a secure network for the first time, Windows prompts you for a password. But it didn't. It threw some message about not being able to connect because the wireless network was maybe out of range. Believing Windows (silly me) I moved the Thinkpad right next to the MacBook Pro and tried again. No dice. So I went in to the Wireless tab on the Thinkpad and configured it manually. That was pretty simple. I specified the network name and WEP key.

Thumbs up. It works!

So now when I'm at a client site with some other consultants in my company, I'll connect to the Internet and then create a little WiFi network for them to share.

The Internet is too big not to share.

As I said, I've tried forever to do this on PC. The concept of Internet Connection Sharing exists over there. But it's just not the same. There are two reasons why I have been unable/unwilling to do it over there, although I have tried:

1. Internet Connection Sharing works through a wizard that sets all kinds of things on your computer and enters it into an altered state. Turning it off requires going through the wizard again to set everything back, basically reversing the process.
   
   (I did this for my dad. He travels a lot, so he takes his Dell laptop with him. He has a real clunker of a Dell PC that sits on his desk at home most of the time. He connects to his home town ISP over dial up. DIAL-UP. Yes, folks, it still exists. And the name of his ISP is our-town.com. I kid you not. Anyway, I set up Internet connection sharing for him. His desktop dials our-town to get online. His PC shares that over wired Ethernet. That runs to a Linksys wireless router. So now when he comes in from the road he can connect to the Internet and he can print on the desktop's shared printer wirelessly. And he can surf the Net wirelessly, too. At dial-up speeds. When he got his own Sprint aircard it made this not so valuable for him (he was too cheap to get one for the longest time, until I gave him one for Christmas, now he HAS to have it). But he still prints anyway. The point is that it works as long as you let Windows put a spell on your PC with its internet connection wizard.)
   
   Lately I believe PC has gotten better about this, and offers something similar to mac. This process is achieved by selecting two connections (control+click), and then choosing "bridge network connections". This would probably have worked for me except...
   
   
2. Sprint Aircard works by setting up a custom driver. That driver installs itself as a modem rather than a LAN card. You can't bridge a modem using this technique. Only a LAN connection. Why MS makes this distinction or why Sprint decided to have the driver appear this way is up to them. Maybe they knew people would probably share the connection, so they crippled it to force everyone to buy their own card for $60/month and clog the cell tower space.

But maybe there's a good way to do it on PC now, and I just haven't spent enough nights and weekends to figure it out. Or I haven't purchased the upgraded plan from Sprint that has an even more customized driver with a user interface to share the Internet connection by taking over Windows to create a WiFi network its own secret way.

It took me 10 minutes to figure it out and set it up on my Mac.

And as for performance, it's not too shabby. Here's what speakeasy.net says when run from my Thinkpad through my Mac:

So the only problem now is that I'm working up in the Northeast. And if you're in the Northeast and don't have Verizon, you might as well be on dial-up. AT&T and Sprint haven't figured out how to tap into that little market up there, I guess.

you too?

I had a neat encounter in the airport while I waited for American Airlines to get their act together for several hours.

I was sitting next to a guy with a Dell D610. I know the config well. He was playing internet poker. For money? Maybe. Anyway, he was using one of the two outlet plugs. I took the other one.

Then another guy came and sat next to him. He reached over with a magsafe airline adapter and asked me if it was mine. I said thank you, that it must be, and that it must have fallout out of my bag. He said, "it had to be either mine or yours." It was at that point that I realized that he had a MacBook Pro, just like mine. And I found out as I queried that it was just—like—mine.

I asked him if his was the 17". He said it was. I noticed that he was running vmware fusion like me, and that like me he had 3 virtual images in his library. Uncanny. I pointed this out, and he said the thing you really need is the SSD (solid state drive) for over-the-top performance. I told him I had it. We exchanged thumbs up and smiles. I didn't even have to ask if he had upgraded to 8 GB of RAM like me. It went without saying.

I imagine he is a kindred spirit, come to the same conclusions as me, with a similar story as mine, a similar set of interest and desires. He looked to be about the same age as me.

We both went back to our own little virtual worlds while we waited to board. If I run into him again I'll talk to him more. But at the time I didn't want to blow it, to ruin this perfect stranger encounter.

It was very validating to know that I'm not the only one thinking this way, and I'm not the only one willing to put money in the same spot as mouth. And I'm not the only one living the dream.

And one more thing. On the 4 hour plane flight home, I watched a movie, listened to some iTunes, and did some writing. As I kicked back, dimmed the screen, and listened to my Genius playlist, I thought to myself, "My laptop is bigger than yours." And I meant that in all its adolescent glory.

I'm not sure why it's so important to me that I've got a computer that covers me when I'm under fire, that is always there for me, that will never let me down. Maybe I need a shrink to help me unpack my issues. But it was so, so good to find a "friend" to whom I could say, as C.S. Lewis said of friendship in The Four Loves, "Oh, you too?"

those pesky guests

I turned off the guest network on the Time Capsule and it solved all the problems. I can get to webex now.

time capsule webex update

Now I rebooted and tried again to connect to webex. It's getting further, like the little engine that could, chugging up that mountain, except in my story, the little engine throws the towel in and slides backward down the mountain.

What I mean is this. The first part of the web page now comes up, but then it times out. here's the screen shot:

does anybody know why I bought a time capsule?

...Continued...

Now I turned off the Time Capsule and plugged my MacBook Pro straight into the cable modem. Boom. Came right up.

The Time Capsule definitely hates me.

no webex

I intend to get to the bottom of this. This is quite vexing.

I am unable to get to webex.com since I set up the Time Capsule. At all. I don't want to have to send the Time Capsule back, but I will if I have to.

But this is a very vexing problem, and here's why:

1. I cannot get to webex or any webex site (like v.webex.com my company's webex site) from my MacBook Pro over Wifi, neither using Safari nor Firefox.
   
2. I cannot get to webex from my MacBook Pro with a wired connection either.
   
3. I cannot get to it from my iPhone over Wifi.
4. I can get to it from my iPhone over 3G.
   
   Naturally, this leads me to believe it's a problem with my network, and since the only thing that has changed is the Time Capsule, I have a very likely suspect. But...
   
   
5. I can get to it from my wired Windows Vista computer.
   
   Which naturally makes me suspect some apple-related issue. But...
   
   
6. I can get to it from Jill's iMac over Wifi.
   
   So in review, I know it's not a Wifi issue; it's not a wired issue; it's not an apple issue, it's not a router issue. The only two ways I cannot connect are on my iPhone over the Time Capsule and on my MacBook Pro over the Time Capsule. The only logical conclusion at this point, the only thing these two device connection have in common, is me. My own home network hates me.
   
   
7. And now, to further prove it out, I have circumvented the Time Capsule and connected to Webex using my Sprint aircard. I can connect over the aircard.
   
   Now the only logical conclusion at this point is that Time Capsule hates me. That or I'm caught in the crossfire. Maybe webex hates Time Capsule or Cisco hates Apple or vices versa, and I'm the cat getting kicked.

No matter what the result's the same. I can't get to webex.

jumping mouse

Why does my mouse jump when Time Machine is doing a backup? Is this a known issue?

netgear

And this was a great excuse to finally box out my netgear switch since the Time Capsule has only 3 wired ports on it, 1 less than the Linksys had. Talk about no-hassle! Of course, it's just a switch, but it's nice to now have 6 Gigabit Ethernet ports instead of 3.

multitasking

So cool.

I'm on a conference call, company meeting. During this conference call I:

• Registered for a webinar with my MacBook Pro
  
• Downloaded and forwarded a whitepaper to the people on the call (MBP)
  
• Looked up AIM on the App store while I was on the call on my iPhone
  
• Purchased the new AIM for $2.99, which required me to agree to new T&C's (iPhone)
  
• Logged in to AIM and set up my account, including sharing my current location, push notifications, and all that (iPhone)
  
• Checked email and sent a few responses (MBP)
  
• Participated in the conference call (of course) (iPhone)
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

time capsule ordeal or apple: it [doesn't] just works

I am not thrilled with the Time Capsule.

I thought I would share some of my frustrations with you in this forum.

Phase 1 – Easy as Apple Pie

I wanted to configure it from my office first. I plugged it in to my existing router, and it flashed amber. The setup guide directed me to the AirPort Utility, which gave me more information about the issues on a buried menu option.

The complaint of the time capsule was that it was plugged in to a device that did NAT (Network Address Translation) instead of DHCP, and advised me to change the Time Capsule to Bridge Mode if I wanted to continue this configuration.

1. That’s bullshit.
2. That’s bullshit.

The Linksys wireless router I plugged in to uses DHCP. It’s been doling out DHCP addresses for about 6 years. And I’ve hooked other routers into it as well, who in turn doled out DHCP addresses to their clients. So I’m not buying it.

Phase 2 – Problems, Problems, and more Problems

I decided to let Apple be my commander in chief, so I did EXACTLY what the instructions told me to do. I powered down my old reliable primary wireless router and replaced it with the Time Capsule. It flashed amber again. Now what?

I went into the AirPort Utility again for more info. It has a new problem this time. It says, “Your Apple wireless device does not have a valid IP address. Make sure your Apple wireless device is connected to your broadband modem or local network, verify your settings, and try again.” And then they actually said the words that make my BLOOD BOIL, “If you still can’t connect, contact your Internet service provider.”

Yeah. Contact my internet service provider about why their network, that has given me uninterrupted service for two years without so much as a hiccup, and ask them what’s wrong—ask them why my new Apple Time Capsule is flashing amber.

After a little more investigation, I found that the router had the dreaded 169.254.5.32 address. I know from previous experience with my MacBook Pro that this can be resolved by setting the IP address manually, then switching back to DHCP. What a joke that “Renew DHCP Lease” button is.

So I set the IP address to 10.1.1.1 and 255.255.255.0 for the subnet mask. At this point it told me there were 6 new problems found:

1. Base Station Password: The Apple wireless device is protected by the default password.
2. DNS Server(s): The Apple wireless device doesn’t have any DNS server addresses and might have trouble connecting to the Internet.
3. Router Address: The router address you have entered is not compatible with your WAN IP address. [I didn’t enter one: it’s blank]
4. Wireless Security: The Apple wireless device doesn’t have any security on the wireless network. It is recommended that you use WPA2 Personal to secure your wireless network.
5. Allow SNMP over WAN: The Apple wireless device is set up to allow SNMP on the Ethernet WAN port which decreases network security.
6. Allow setup over WAN: The Apple wireless device is set up to allow configuration over the Ethernet WAN port, which decreases network security.

Now, none of these problems scare me, and they all look quite reasonable. The issue here is one of confidence.

What happened to “it just works”?

I was supposed to plug in the Ethernet cable, plug in the power cable, wait 60 seconds, and “after your Time Capsule has started up completely, the status light flashes amber until your Time Capsule has been updated with the correct settings. The status light glows solid green after your Time Capsule is properly set up and connected to the Internet or a network.”

Apple. It doesn’t just work.

I have to baby this thing. I will say this about Linksys. When I got my first Linksys so many years ago, I knew next to nothing about routing. I know a little bit more today (not much compared to network IT pros). But when I got the first Linksys, I plugged it in and it just worked. I was thrilled.

I’m not thrilled with the Time Capsule.

To be fair, over the years I've had issues with my Linksys routers and with my ISP (Time Warner Cable formerly Comcast formerly AT&T Broadband formerly TCI). And I've had to baby them, too. Which is how I know where this whole ordeal is headed.

I just expected more from apple. I guess I've been drinking the koolaid.

Phase 3 – Do it Yourself

So now I’m restarted, having set all the options like I want them, resolving all the “problems” with the blank or default settings, except that it’s got an IP address of 10.1.1.1. It restarted to boot with the correct settings. I intended to let it reboot, change it to DHCP, and let it reboot again for success!

Wrong.

Now it tells me that there is Problem 1 of 1: Double NAT and gives me two choices.
And here’s the real bitch of it all—if I choose the option I want, which is to share a single IP address using DHCP and NAT, it asks me if I’m sure I want to continue without resolving the problem.
Nice.

Anyway, I play the game and choose Bridge, then Continue, then Go back, then choose DHCP, then Continue, and this time it doesn’t act like I’m ignoring the problem.

I continue through, set the manual IP address back to DHCP, and continue on to reboot. It does. And now I’ve got the dreaded 169.254.5.32 address again.

Apple. It doesn’t just work.

Phase 4 – Blame the Other Guy

So now I know what to do. I have to reboot the cable modem. The cable modem that has been up and running for YEARS now with no problem, and hope that it doesn’t fail to come back up properly, which will mean spending AN ENTIRE DAY on the phone with Time Warner Cable Support.

Bottoms up.

And now the light is green. The Time Capsule reports no problems.

I ran through the configuration wizard and setup a secured Guest Wireless network, too. And I got this message:
Yaay beer.

Phase 5 – We Get Signal - Not

And now it’s time to connect to the thing over WiFi and surf the world wide web!

WRONG.

The AirPort utility must have decided that I should connect to the new wireless network and automatically configured it for me. I say this because when I click on my wireless menu the new network “Stone Wire” is there and connected, which means that it had to select it, and set the security options.
So I turn my Airport off on my Mac, give it a few seconds, and then turn it back on.

Nope.

Maybe the problem is with the wireless network? I try connecting to the Guest Network instead.

Nope.

This has turned into a full blown pain in the ass at this point.

Phase 6 – No Net is not Good Net

So now I’m back in the Airport Utility. It’s connected to the Internet. Its IP address and settings are correct. Oh. There it is. The DNS servers are still the meaningless manual ones I typed in before. One more time…

Phase 7 – Finally

And we’re up! I just heard the Tweetdeck tweet. Let’s go and see what my friends are up to.

All in, under 2 hours to get this thing configured (just WiFi, not Time Machine and USB disk, and the other stuff). That’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things, I guess. But I expected it to take about 10 minutes.

I always wonder when I do this stuff what a typical consumer goes through. For me at least the terms are familiar and I know exactly how I want to set it up (that is I know what I want the final product to look like). But what about people who don’t have this?

I don’t know why I carry this burden. It’s their problem. Why does their plight bother me so much? And why do I write on this blog anyway?

my entourage is time zone challenged

If I change the time zone on my computer, which is easy enough on an mac, entourage automatically changes the time on all my appointments, and the time on all my emails, to match the time zone. This is important when traveling. What it doesn't do is change the "default time zone for new events".

So every event has a "default time zone" peculiar to it.

I have never heard of this useless feature before.

It's really bizarre because Outlook gets it right on Windows. When I change my time zone on Windows, Outlook automatically picks it up. All the appointment start and end and dates read out in the new time zone.

Not some other time zone that I'm not in.

It works the same way as my cell phone. When I land in a new time zone and turn off airplane mode, the phone finds a cell tower, pulls the time zone off of it, sets the local time zone for the phone, and then shifts all the times on appointments, calls, emails, and everything else.

Every cell phone I've ever had worked this way.

Every email program I've ever had worked this way.

Except Entourage.

It almost makes me believe the people who say that Microsoft likes writing inferior software for Mac and blame the operating system.

Why can't Entourage do this? Why do I have to tell it to change the time zone after I already set the computer's time zone?


You can see in the screen cap that the appointment is from 2-4. But when I open it up to look at the details, the braindead thing reports the appointment is from 1-3.

Maybe I should fire my entourage and get some new guys to follow me around.

iPhone 3 upgrade

I upgraded to the iPhone 3.0 software today for my iPhone 3G (not S). It was painless. Apple really does that well. When iTunes is loaded and your iPhone is connected you get prompted to donwload and install the upgrade. I waited until I heard a few success stories before upgrading.

I have upgraded several times now--before now it was always on Windows, which was also painless.

I'm looking forward to using the new features. My favorite so far is spotlight--the new global search capability. A very close second is the universal landscape mode--having to slide emails back and forth to read them at a reasonable font size was annoying. I'm also thrilled about copy & paste, but I haven't made use of it yet.

Thanks apple, for continuing to make these things beautiful, functional, and unpainful.

virtually excellent

I'm still loving the mac. The coolest thing for now is virtualization. Virtualize, virtualize, virtualize.

I work for all these customers who have security concerns. They give me one of their laptops to use to access their systems. Most of the time I can't even plug my laptop in to their network. I've never had my equipment confiscated or anything, but they are very clear on this point. Only their image is allowed on their network. One of them is a big name bank that everyone knows. They are so anal retentive that they installed software on their laptop that disables anything USB except for printers or mice. The idea is to keep people from copying off or on files via thumb drive. I had a heck of time once trying to copy some SQL code up to their development server that I had written on my laptop on an airplane. And we had the same trouble going the other way, though I can't remember now exactly why we needed to do that. I can't remember exactly how we got around that situation, but I do know that crossover ethernet cables are easy to make if you have cable and a crimper.

But I digress.

The coolest thing right now on this mac is how easy it is to virtualize everything. I now have about 5 laptops stacked up in the corner of my office because I can run vmware converter on them, make an image, copy it onto my mac, and then load it up with vmware fusion. And with a 64 bit operating system that doesn't suck, I can run several virtual images at once, as fast or sometimes faster than they would run natively on a PC. The 8 GB of RAM I have doesn't hurt. The Solid State Drive doesn't hurt either.

The only problem I'm having now is that I've almost chewed up the 256 GB drive. Maybe they'll come out with a 1TB Solid State Drive soon. Actually, I could use about 4.

sound asleep

The MBP is sleeping again. I'm still not sure exactly what caused the problem. It was a real problem, though. I packed it up and put it in the car. When I got home and stopped the car I could still hear a motor running. It was the fan on the MBP in the bag.

I stopped the programs one by one. Then it could get back to sleep. I'm not sure which program was the culprit, but I have my suspicions. When I quit Entourage it raised a strange error:
It still didn't sleep, though, after Entourage. At least not immediately. But it's sleeping now. I need to be able to depend on the computer going to sleep. If I have to get rid of Entourage to make that work I will.

I wouldn't be completely surprised if it was Entourage. I don't know how much confidence I have in microsoft writing software on the apple platform. And vice versa. There are lots of quirks in iTunes for Windows, too.