Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

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CHAPTER 9 CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET
The AirPort menu item provides some additional information
about your current connection as well as other available
WLANs in your area. First, the icon in the menu bar will signify
the strength of your current network signal; four bars is
great, and one bar (which looks more like a dot) is not so
good. In the list provided from the AirPort menu item, you can
see a list of all the available networks divided by secured and
open networks. If you hold your cursor over one of the network
names, a tool tip will pop up showing the type of security
used as well as the relative signal strength. Selecting a network
from the menu will prompt you for any security passwords or
authentication and then connect you to that network.
NOTE WEP passwords are generally hexadecimal strings
10 digits long for 40-bit and 26 digits long for 104-bit keys.
Apple, however, tends to use common “password” strings for Figure 9-9. The AirPort menu
passwords (which are then converted to hexadecimal strings). item will allow you to view and
The thing is, if you are connecting to a WEP-secured WLAN select any of the Wi-Fi networks
and are given the hexadecimal key, when you type it into the
in your location.
Password text box, Leopard will by default assume you are
entering a text password and convert the string you enter from a normal text string to a hexadecimal
string. To prevent this from happening, you must start the hexadecimal string with a $
character. So if you are given 3B-2D-98-AA-32 as a hexadecimal string, you should enter
$3B2D98AA32 in the Password box.
Creating Separate Networking Profiles for
Different Locations
If you rely on DHCP for everything or you never move your computer around, then you can set
up your network and live just fine with it. However, if you are using a portable computer and
you need to connect multiple networks that use different settings, then you may want to take
advantage of the Location feature. At the top of the Network preference pane, there is a dropdown
list that by default is set on Automatic. While Automatic is selected, any changes you make
to any of your network interfaces are saved in the Automatic location.
If you need to have multiple network configurations—one at home that is basically the same
as the Automatic setting and one for work too where you are assigned specific networking
information—then you can add a location from the drop-down list and configure the networking
for that location as needed. Once you have multiple locations set up, a Location item will
appear in your Apple menu that will allow you to switch your networking preferences from one
location to the next.
Summary
This chapter covered what you need to get your computer connected to the Internet with your
Mac. We attempted to skirt around some of the more complex networking issues, saving most of
those for Part 6 of this book, which is dedicated to networking. The point is to get you up and
running so you can follow along with the next chapters that cover Safari, Mail, and other
Internet-related applications.