[Buck_W]

My daughter is headed to school in a couple of weeks and will need to connect to the University's network using her eMac. The University's network handbook says that Macintosh computers will experience limited functionality (includes basic e-mail and Internet connectivity) on the University network. I'm a novice to the world of "networking" and have a couple of questions:

* The University requires a network card. Is that simply another name for the ethernet card that she already has in her eMac? Should it be compatible with their network?

* I'm concerned that she will not be able to access all of the University's domain resources. For instance, the school strongly recommends Windows XP Pro over Xp Home in order to make full use of the networking resources they have available. (They claim that students with only XP Home will not be able to connect to the University "campus" domain.) Will that also exclude my daughter since she has a Mac?

* The University has a 'networking team' to help Mac users get connected to the school's network, but I am concerned about their knowledge. My daughter is running the most recent version of Panther (10.3.4). Are there web-based tutorials available to help prepare us for what we'll need to get connected to the University's network?

Thank you for your help!

[OreoCookie]

The eMac has a network card built-in (labelled ethernet, ethernet is just a kind of network, the most common one). About the details of the rest, I cannot say anything as you haven't posted any links and such.

The comment about WinXP Home is correct, it does not work in domains. Basic internet and mail services sounds good for a start.

Please post more info ...

[Buck_W]

Originally posted by OreoCookie:
The eMac has a network card built-in (labelled ethernet, ethernet is just a kind of network, the most common one). About the details of the rest, I cannot say anything as you haven't posted any links and such.

The comment about WinXP Home is correct, it does not work in domains. Basic internet and mail services sounds good for a start.

Please post more info ...

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Again, I apologize for the lack of info... could you help with what kinds of information you are looking for? If you'll post it, I'll get with the University and see if I can get the specifics.

[fibroptikl]

I think he was saying if you have any more question's, let us know.

And you're right - she probabily will not have all the resources available to her.

[kampl]

I'm curious about this one. What Uni are we talking about? Often I find universities post requirements and details regarding their networks and resources on public webservers.

I've been on a largescale NT and now AD/2k centric network for several years now and have never had an issue accessing resources I've been granted access to.

The exception for me, are some inaccessible web-based applications that were written with only Windows machines in mind (activeX is usually involved), and some home grown applications that were written solely for Windows and not deployed on a Citrix farm or Windows Terminal server I can access.

I wouldn't mind poking around the school's webpages for information on what they are doing that might hinder access to their resources from an "alternative" platform.

[ginoledesma]

A good start would probably to ask the school's network administrators what "functionality" Windows XP Professional enjoys and that Windows XP Home or the Mac would not. If these added functionality is not "required" for your daughter's education, then it shouldn't be a problem.

If I'm reading this correctly, the "domain" resource they're referring to would probably be participating in the Windows network domain for file and printer sharing.

The good news is that, if your daughter doesn't need to access those resources, then the "limited functionality" shouldn't be a problem. But if her teachers and friends extensively use the domain resource for file sharing (e.g. homework submission, reading material, etc), then that could be a problem. So if this is a requirement, then have no fear, because Thursby sells a product called AdmitMac that allows the Mac to participate in the Windows domain seamlessly. It sells for about $120, but there's a fully funtional, free trial you can download.

[SSharon]

What school are we talking about. I have visited a few schools other than my own and have never had a problem with limited functionality. The main problem I find is IT people that don't know anything about windows and know even less about mac so they assume its inferior. I think my school only recently stopped supporting windows 95. Fine there might be one person in 10,000 using it but most people get a new computer for university and are not eighth or ninth year seniors that bought a computer with win 95.

Bottom line is that I would be shocked if using a mac would actually cause a problem. Of course some windows apps don't exist for mac but thats not the issue here.