[djmpower]

I am trying to connect my Powerbook with 10.2 to a corporate LAN at my University running XP Professional. The Tech Department says that only Windows Professional Operating Systems can connect...not even XP Home.

Can 10.2 connect to a corporate LAN like the one at my University? Apple seems to say that 10.2 can connect to corporate LANs perfectly (it's all over the Jaguar page). Is it possible even if Win XP Home can't, and if so how?

I really don't want to get a PC Laptop....I never could again after owning this machine. How can I make it work?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
DJ

[starman]

Originally posted by djmpower:
I am trying to connect my Powerbook with 10.2 to a corporate LAN at my University running XP Professional. The Tech Department says that only Windows Professional Operating Systems can connect...not even XP Home.

Can 10.2 connect to a corporate LAN like the one at my University? Apple seems to say that 10.2 can connect to corporate LANs perfectly (it's all over the Jaguar page). Is it possible even if Win XP Home can't, and if so how?

I really don't want to get a PC Laptop....I never could again after owning this machine. How can I make it work?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
DJ

The Tech Department should all be fired.

I do it at work all the time.

In the Finder go to "COnnect to Server". Jaguar SHOULD find all the domains and from there you should be all set.

I do it at work over a worldwide WAN every day.

Mike

[seanyepez]

It's easy. I do it too.

[RMXO]

i do it all the time also....

[sworthy]

...doing it right now...

[tooki]

Moving to Networking, since this is not a PowerBook-specific topic.

tooki

[ElBerserko]

I connect to SMB shares on my network at home and OS X has an annoying habit of leaving the invisible file '.DS_Store' where ever I go. Wouldn't connecting to domain shares result in the same in directories where you have appropriate permissions?

[RMXO]

opps double post....

[ghporter]

Your issue is in joining an NT domain, which Win XP Home cannot do, but Jaguar CAN do this through Samba.

Hopefully what your tech support folks meant (he said, knowing it's not the case) is either that only Windows platforms are supported (they don't know anything about Macs), or only Windows platforms are authorized (again, they don't know anything about Macs, but they don't like them). What is probably the case is that not only do they not know anything about Macs, they don't want to learn.

The important thing to do is to obtain a printed copy of your school's IT policy on connecting to the school network. I say printed because it is hard to change text on paper, and some IT departments are staffed by people with tiny egos. Anyway, study the policy to determine whether there is anything that says you can't connect a Mac to the school network. When you find that it isn't prohibited, go see the IT department supervisor. There's probably a step or two you need to complete (I'd require EVERYONE connecting to a network I was responsible for to complete a short computer security course, agree in writing not to do anything to hurt the network or any user on it, and to agree in writing to run up to date antivirus software), and maybe some paperwork to fill out. After your research, you may be the only person who actually knows the proper procedures!

[piracy]

As I posted in the Mac OS X forum:

Well, first of all, the "LAN" isn't running XP Professional...the "LAN" is a network, pure and simple, that any computer under the sun that supports TCP/IP can connect to. So you should be able to get network and/or internet access with the proper settings, regardless.

At issue, I'm guessing, is the server(s) that you are required to connect to on this LAN to retrieve/store/share files. I guarantee you the servers are not running any version of Windows XP...they're running one of the Windows 2000 Server Family, or some version of Novell NetWare, or something similar. Your IT people may not *support* any OS other than Windows 2000/XP Pro connecting *to* the servers; that doesn't, however, mean that any variety of OSes won't work. All you need to do is find out the address of one of the LAN servers, and you'd be able to connect to it just as easily with Windows XP Home, Windows 2000, or Mac OS X 10.2.x...

From Mac OS X 10.2.x, it's smb://name.of.server.edu ... that's it. For more information, see: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106471

Don't let them get away with this crap.

(Note: they could be using special login script or other functionality in Windows Pro operating systems; this, however, doesn't mean they can't support virtually any OS they pleased. Institutions usually make decisions like this in a short-sighted attempt to narrow the breadth of supported configurations.)

[ghporter]

Originally posted by piracy:
...I guarantee you the servers are not running any version of Windows XP...they're running one of the Windows 2000 Server Family, or some version of Novell NetWare, or something similar.

Most likely it's a Win 2K server managing an NT network, since Microsoft didn't really change the NT networking systems when they built 2K.

Don't let them get away with this crap.

I heartily concur, and as I posted earlier, there are ways around the "fear of the unknown" that so many IT departments have.

(Note: they could be using special login script or other functionality in Windows Pro operating systems; this, however, doesn't mean they can't support virtually any OS they pleased. Institutions usually make decisions like this in a short-sighted attempt to narrow the breadth of supported configurations.)

There are ways to handle this sort of login script in Jaguar (though I'm not an expert in this level of detail). And I don't feel that the institution made a decision; I think they left it to the grad students they hired (for cheap!) to manage their network. Bad move!