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Steve Bosell · 12:46 AM

The one thing that I hate about OSX is the fact that laptop users can not plug in a network cable to transfer files faster than wireless without rebooting or resetting the network interface and the spinning beach-ball of death. Windows 2000 can use multiple network connections without a hitch, why can't they fix it!!!!

chabig · Mar 16, 2006, 12:59 AM

You should try some troubleshooting steps. The Mac can do everything you asked just fine.

Chris

Steve Bosell · Mar 16, 2006, 01:21 AM

I doubt it, When I boot up my powerbook with no network cable, just airport connected, I have a box running OSX.4 server that connects some network shares. If I connect a network cable and transfer files it is at airport speeds. If I disable Airport, the finder gives me the beech ball and several minutes later I get the "disconnect network shares" dialog. I can then down and up en0 and reconnect to the shares manually and it works fine, it is just a pain. It has behaved the same since 10.2, with the exception of the disconnect shares dialog, which was new with 10.4 I believe.

zerostar · Mar 16, 2006, 01:25 AM

Not sure what you are saying in the 2nd post, but I have a 15" Alu Powerbook here, connected to my G5 and a windows box (AFP & SMB) and I hop between ethernet and airport all the time with no fuss.

Tomchu · Mar 16, 2006, 01:43 AM

I understand what you're saying, but the reason it's happening is because you're going about it all wrong. Once you've MADE a connection (whether to a share, FTP server, SSH server, whatever), OS X will not swap that connection over to a new interface. If you plug the Ethernet cable in, and THEN connect to your share, OS X will default to using en0 (wired).

Not even Windows will automagically move your open connections over to a new interface.

Steve Bosell · Mar 16, 2006, 01:58 AM

Sorry, but windows does just fine swapping between network interfaces. It is embarrassing in the workplace when you get the beach-ball and try to explain that OS X rocks, but switching between wireless and a network cable jacks it up.

Chuckit · Mar 16, 2006, 02:50 AM

That would be quite embarrassing if it had ever happened to me…

I think perhaps there is a problem with your computer.

baw · Mar 16, 2006, 04:45 AM

I do everything you posted with no problems on my Macs.

Steve Bosell · Mar 16, 2006, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by baw

I do everything you posted with no problems on my Macs.

Are you using LDAP to connect to network shares at login with only Airport enabled?

Big Mac · Mar 16, 2006, 05:12 AM

I'd like to see a Windows machine switch connections on the fly and maintain existing network connections with delay or issue. I doubt it has that ability any more than OS X does.

OreoCookie · Mar 16, 2006, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by Steve Bosell

Sorry, but windows does just fine swapping between network interfaces. It is embarrassing in the workplace when you get the beach-ball and try to explain that OS X rocks, but switching between wireless and a network cable jacks it up.

Windows does not really work well with multiple user interfaces. Especially if you happen to have several dns servers for instance or you don't want certain traffic through one interface. (I was trying to build two separate networks for my parents' computer: one network with a backup server connected via lan and internet via wlan.)

SMacTech · Mar 16, 2006, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by Steve Bosell

Sorry, but windows does just fine swapping between network interfaces. It is embarrassing in the workplace when you get the beach-ball and try to explain that OS X rocks, but switching between wireless and a network cable jacks it up.

You got a problem. As others have stated, " I do this all the time and don't have this problem "

chris v · Mar 16, 2006, 10:29 AM

I do his occasionally as well. I just plug in an ethernet cord, turn Airport off, and away I go. No delays, no beachballs.

Nexus5 · Mar 16, 2006, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by chris v

I do his occasionally as well. I just plug in an ethernet cord, turn Airport off, and away I go. No delays, no beachballs.

Try to do this with an iDisk mounted in the Finder. Have fun!

nexus5.

SMacTech · Mar 16, 2006, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by chris v

I do his occasionally as well. I just plug in an ethernet cord, turn Airport off, and away I go. No delays, no beachballs.

Well, I think the problem here is in the closing of an active LAN connection. I usually unmount any shared volumes before just dumping the connection. So if that is not done, you will see some delays as OS X attempts to contact that network connection to close it properly.

nexus5: A mounted iDisk sucks, I wasn't counting that in this discussion

ism · Mar 16, 2006, 11:14 AM

Steve,

I do wonder if everyone is understanding what you mean. I.e. Mount a remote volume via airport. Turn airport off, plug in ethernet and Remote Volume is still mounted.

I can't say I've ever tried. However, the Apple blurb appears to indicate this is possible:

Originally Posted by http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mobility/

And if you connect and disconnect from servers frequently, Tiger will make your life a little easier. Tiger can maintain a persistent connection to file servers through sleep/wake cycles, even when your Mac is disconnected and reconnected to the network. You won’t have to reauthenticate to the server manually every time.

Perhaps re-order your preferences so ethernet is above airport. Perhaps try sleeping the machine inbetween the switch.

The best info I found: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...mounted+volume

Steve Bosell · Mar 16, 2006, 12:46 PM

I agree, I guess I am not explaining my situation very well, there is nothing wrong with the laptops. It seems that OSX binds network shares to an interface, to switch interfaces you need to unmount all shares first, then disable the "old" interface, connect the "new" interface and remount shares. Even going through this rigmarole it seems that I still get slow transfers on the fast interface most of the time. It is piss poor behavior, and like I said, it works great with windows 2000, simply disabling wireless and plugging in a cable gets you a 100 mb full duplex connection, no problems on a windows domain. Apple really needs to work on the "Apple Domain".

Big Mac · Mar 16, 2006, 01:03 PM

Again, I'd be really interested to see Windows reroute the connections so transparently, Steve. If it's as smooth as you claim it is that would be one area in which Windows is clearly superior. I just have trouble believing it's that smooth.

Tomchu · Mar 16, 2006, 01:33 PM

Steve, when you're doing that with Windows, it actually IS reconnecting. It's not doing an on-the-fly switch. When it detects that the old interface/connection is no longer available, it just transparently reconnects. Install a packet capture utility and see for yourself.

Something like this is extremely difficult given TCP/IP's design. Think of the other party -- they, too, maintain a connection to your Airport's IP address. When you plug your Ethernet cable in, not only is it a different physical interface, but it's a different IP. How does the other party magically know to send packets to the new IP, rather than the old one that initiated the connection? It just doesn't work that.

Steve Bosell · Mar 16, 2006, 07:27 PM

I am not saying that with a windows box you can start transferring a file over wireless, plug in a network cable and it speeds up. I am saying that I can log into a windows domain, disable wireless, plug in a network cable, and transfer a big file at 100 mb no problem. When I try the same process with OSX the finder hangs, spinning beach-ball, and a dialog to disconnect drives 3 minutes later, the quickest way to accomplish this task is actually to reboot! Maybe it has something to do with how windows caches domain credentials or something, I am sure it is actually reconnecting to the network share, however it does it almost transparently.

Tomchu · Mar 17, 2006, 05:29 AM

Ahh, okay. That's a clearer explanation.

In this case, you're correct. Finder's handling of lost connections is very poor. Most of the time, Explorer isn't all that much better, but it does manage to re-mount SMB/CIFS shares gracefully.

ism · Mar 17, 2006, 05:38 AM

Seeing as how Apple's marketing speak implies OSX should do this, does anyone have any experience of this ever working?

CatOne · Mar 17, 2006, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by ism

Seeing as how Apple's marketing speak implies OSX should do this, does anyone have any experience of this ever working?

Yes, I use it all the time, and it works just fine.

I can start a transfer (between two machines on my local network) over Airport, and watch it go slow. Then I can plug the laptop in to my GigE hub, and watch the transfer just ROCKET UP in speed. It works perfectly well... I haven't had a problem. No spinning beachballs, no nothing. The routing is automatic.

The OP has a configuration issue which his machine(s). It is not an OS bug. Him hoping "Apple will fix it" is silly... there's nothing to fix. He should check his network interface order or routing tables 'man route' from the command line.

zerostar · Mar 17, 2006, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Bosell

I am saying that I can log into a windows domain, disable wireless, plug in a network cable,

Try not disabling the wireless, it should jump to the ethernet connection on its own (move ethernet to the top of you network list) and not miss a beat

Tyre MacAdmin · Mar 17, 2006, 03:31 PM

What kind of machine are you using?

Tomchu · Mar 17, 2006, 04:27 PM

Finder is still a POS when it comes to lost network connections. It completely freezes for about a minute until it pops up the "OMG THIS DRIVE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE!1!!!1" dialog.

Steve Bosell · Mar 17, 2006, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams

What kind of machine are you using?

I have a powerbook 1.67, and an iBook 900mhz. It is definitely a problem with the OS/Finder since at least 10.2, just like nexus5 said, mount your idisk and disable the network connection, what a joke.

zro · Mar 18, 2006, 12:29 AM

If it was the Finder relaunching the Finder should cure it. It doesn't. Something that's communicating with the Finder is allowing it to happen while the Finder doesn't allow any sort of user override.

This problem also occurs if a network share is left mounted while the machine it's on is shut down. SBBOD every time. I would much rather see a timeout dialog pop up when a mounted share stops responding just like a timeout pops ups when you first try to connect to one that doesn't shake hands right away.