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PMDaly · Apr 10, 2005, 03:48 PM

I bring my powerbook to school everyday and when I want to connect to their wireless I have to open up the internet connect program and select pal network (purdue airlink) in airport then go over to the vpn tab and connect. See the thing is, it gets annoying if I open and close my powerbook a lot because I have to keep reconnecting. I have a small group class that I open my powerbook when I need to take notes, check info out on the web or work on projects... but I like to keep it closed otherwise so it doesn't look like i'm not paying attention. I would like my powerbook to automatically connect to pal and the vpn just like it does for my home wireless network. I think this might be a job for applescript or xcode. If anyone has any suggestions/solutions I would appreciate it very much. Yes, this isn't a very pressing issue, but it's somewhat annoying. Thanks in advance for any comments.

siMac · Apr 10, 2005, 04:52 PM

This is what 'Locations' are for. Set up a location for your home setup and one for your school setup, then switch between them, each one automatically reconnecting to its assigned network between sleeps. This way you only need to make one change (direct from the Apple menu) whenever you change physical location.

PMDaly · Apr 10, 2005, 05:01 PM

How do I set this up? Will it still work with a VPN network? See with my home situation all I have to do is connect to my network (w/ p/w) and with the school one I have to connect to their network then to their vpn.

Fusion · Apr 10, 2005, 05:07 PM

I have the same problem at my University because we use a LEAP network. Setting up a location in the network preference pane does not allow you to select a leap network, it just asks you for the network name and password.

Someone gave me the same advice of using locations, but I could never figure out how to get that to work. I am just waiting until tiger and hopefully I can set up something with automator.

Detrius · Apr 10, 2005, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by PMDaly:
I bring my powerbook to school everyday and when I want to connect to their wireless I have to open up the internet connect program and select pal network (purdue airlink) in airport then go over to the vpn tab and connect. See the thing is, it gets annoying if I open and close my powerbook a lot because I have to keep reconnecting. I have a small group class that I open my powerbook when I need to take notes, check info out on the web or work on projects... but I like to keep it closed otherwise so it doesn't look like i'm not paying attention. I would like my powerbook to automatically connect to pal and the vpn just like it does for my home wireless network. I think this might be a job for applescript or xcode. If anyone has any suggestions/solutions I would appreciate it very much. Yes, this isn't a very pressing issue, but it's somewhat annoying. Thanks in advance for any comments.

Instead of going through Internet Connect, you could use the Airport menu extra and the VPN menu extra... then it's two clicks.

PMDaly · Apr 11, 2005, 03:30 AM

I don't want those icons in my menubar. I have not gotten around to creating new menubar icons for them as I have for my other apps (sticky windows, konfabulator, etc.)... they look rather ugly. As I stated before, it's not a very pressing issue, but bothersome nonetheless. I don't think it would be very hard at all to write an apple script or xcode solution that would connect to Purdue's VPN whenever it were available and if it weren't then my wireless network would be selected. I would write it myself but I have a bunch of tests/projects due in the next couple of weeks and I would have to learn all this from 'ground zero'. Any suggestions/help is appreciated. Thank You.
-Pat

PMDaly · Apr 12, 2005, 05:50 PM

How do I add a VPN network to to a location?