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swordfish5736

macrumors 68000
Jun 29, 2007
1,898
106
Cesspool
funny i was able to get the new firmware for my time capsule before i installed airport utility 6

i dont think you need the 6.0 utility to update to the newer firmware...think they just released the firmware update and released the airport utility at the same time
 

fat jez

macrumors 68020
Jun 24, 2010
2,083
614
Glasgow, UK
i dont think you need the 6.0 utility to update to the newer firmware...think they just released the firmware update and released the airport utility at the same time

Correct, or nobody with Snow Leopard or earlier would have been able to update their AEBS/Time Capsule
 

dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
2,708
388
.nl
No, I don't. As far as I can tell "sharing a printer across the network" still works. Plug it in, go into System Preferences->"Print & Scan", and you should be able to add a new Bonjour printer without any configuration necessary.
Then you have no idea what you are talking about. We are talking about a feature on the Airport Express, Airport Extreme and Time Capsule that do not run MacOS X. These devices are controller by a software tool called Airport Utility which can be run from either MacOS X or Windows. With this utility you can set up printer sharing in version 5.6 and lower by clicking on the "printers" tab. In 6.0 this option has now disappeared.

What you are suggesting will require the use of a Mac which can be a problem because not everybody will use a Mac (you don't need one to use the Airport products, you only need Windows or OS X) and it requires this machine to be always on as it now takes over the role of print server from the Airport device. If you have a notebook this is quite problematic as well as something like a Mac Pro because of the energy it needs (as well as the noise it makes). The Airport devices excel in this area.

Yes, but you don't actually need the options to share a printer, do you? I never had a use for that configuration pane.
How I do it does not matter. The problem in this is very simple: one used to be able to do it and some people took advantage of that. Apple updated the utility and removed the option. How are these people supposed to control their printer sharing? As far as they know something that could be done before now is not possible any more. To them it looks like the Airport device is broken. Some will be very pissed off and look for other options that do work. Like I said that would mostly be any competing routing/ap product out there that has the same low energy usage as the Airport products have. Btw, with your reasoning one can argue if you even need to share the printer, it has a cable you can hook up. Heck, you can go even further than that and argue if you need a printer in this digital era at all. But that would be besides the point: Apple removes functionality, functionality people relied on and used. They don't announce this before the update nor give any solutions to overcome this problem. THAT's the problem. Your view is too narrow minded.
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,582
2,909
you have no idea what you are talking about.

I obviously haven't made myself clear enough. You have misunderstood what I was actually trying to explain.

We are talking about a feature on the Airport Express, Airport Extreme and Time Capsule that do not run MacOS X.

I realize that.

These devices are controller by a software tool called Airport Utility which can be run from either MacOS X or Windows. With this utility you can set up printer sharing in version 5.6 and lower by clicking on the "printers" tab. In 6.0 this option has now disappeared.
There's no need to go to that tab since the printer that you plug into the Airport base station is shared automatically, and can be added locally without any further configuration. The configuration pane is useful only for seeing a list of connected printers, changing their name, and optionally enabling WAN sharing.


explanation.png


It just works. ;)
 
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scifi451

macrumors regular
Jan 3, 2003
155
1
MN
Another thing which is nice for the dummy user, but which I find a security flaw is the fact that you can see all passwords for your airport device. In previous versions (and throughout Mac OS X) I used my keychain for storing and viewing my passwords whenever I forget them, but now everybody who has access to your Mac and knows how to start (or install) the Airport utility is able to view all the passwords of your Airport devices. So you'd better make sure any passwords in there are not the same as any of your other password(s) you use elsewhere... :confused:

(in Airport Utility 6.0, select an airport device --> click 'edit' --> click in the menu bar on 'Base Station' --> 'Show passwords')

Hmm wondering why I see no place in my 6.0 version utility to show passwords.
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,465
329
I've now seen why the "but you can still download 5.6 and it gives you all the previous advanced features" rationale doesn't cut it. If you're talking to someone and trying to sort some relatively simple network problems it's a giant pain if they're using 6. With the older version, you could get them to open it and direct them to say the pane with the list of assigned addresses. Now you can't do that, and it's such a basic troubleshooting move I can't believe they separated it out.

I wonder how the AppleCare folks like this?
 

dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
2,708
388
.nl
The configuration pane is useful only for seeing a list of connected printers, changing their name, and optionally enabling WAN sharing.
Exactly, so the "it just works" does not apply there ;) I'm glad you are now recognising that you DO loose functionality with 6.0. But like I said, this is not the worst part. Not having logs and stats is far worse as you need it when there are problems.
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,582
2,909
I'm glad you are now recognising that you DO loose functionality with 6.0.

:rolleyes: I never doubted that. I only addressed your incorrect claim that printer sharing didn't work anymore.

dyn said:
Basically you have to resort to other options if you want to share a printer across the network
No you don't. It just works.
 
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dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
2,708
388
.nl
You might want to reread your previous post in that case because what you are now implying is completely contradictory to your previous post. Can you or can you not change certain settings like name of the printer? If not then things clearly do not "just work" for those that need to change these settings. And for them the printer sharing simply "does not work". Is my claim incorrect? Absolutely not!

And try to get your post correct the first time. It is getting annoying to see 2, 4 or even 10 (!) quote notifications from just you.
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,582
2,909
Is my claim incorrect? Absolutely not!

I give up. If you really think that "you have to resort to other options [now] if you want to share a printer across the network", so be it.
 

diamond.g

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2007
11,114
2,444
OBX
You might want to reread your previous post in that case because what you are now implying is completely contradictory to your previous post. Can you or can you not change certain settings like name of the printer? If not then things clearly do not "just work" for those that need to change these settings. And for them the printer sharing simply "does not work". Is my claim incorrect? Absolutely not!

And try to get your post correct the first time. It is getting annoying to see 2, 4 or even 10 (!) quote notifications from just you.
Is it possible for the APE to share more than one printer at a time (via USB)?
 

will

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2002
179
0
I've switched from 7.6.1 to 7.5.2 on my 4th generation 2TB Time Capsule. With 7.6.1 I would lose access to my Time Capsule disks and sometimes Internet connectivity: very frustrating. It would be fine after a reset or if left for 10 minutes or so.

If you need to revert your base station:

* Download Airport Utility 5.6 from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482 (can co-exist with later versions)
* Run Airport Utility 5.6
* Right click on your base station and choose "Upload firmware" and choose version 7.5.2.

Airport Utility 5.6 also has a lot more functionality. I not against streamlined interfaces, but one of the reasons Apple APs are popular is that you still get access to all the low level stuff if you need it. The latest version of the Airport Utility provides none of this.
 

serge005

macrumors newbie
Mar 6, 2008
9
0
I know I can install v5.6 to get my advanced features back, but I just have to say what a dumb***** move to remove essential features from a mainline version of an application. I wasted 5 minutes right clicking, option clicking, triple swipe swoosh twisting the new pretty router icon because I couldn't quite figure out how to open the advanced configuration screen - there had to be one! I then resorted to searching Google for help. 2 more minutes of time wasted to find my answer.

Time to sell my apple stock.
 

DutchDaun

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2012
1
0
What. The. ****.

Okay, I'm about to jump ship. **** this ****.

I am so sick and tired of Apple targeting the idiots of this world. Especially when I invested $10K in their ****ing hardware, and this is how I get treated? You take away all the options that I use, give me NO SUITABLE REPLACEMENT, then proceed to tell me that I can't actually use older versions of the software because it won't run on the latest greatest Apple OS and I absolutely -must- be current to use the things that I actually rely on (ie, Xcode)?

This is pure ****ing madness. Pure. ****ing. Madness.

What the hell is wrong with options? O P T I O N S. You know, check boxes and drop down menus and stuff. What is wrong with giving us advanced UI pages that normal users don't have to use, so those of us who can't stand the bling bling blingety bling UI interfaces can actually still get to the things that matter to us?

"Our way or the highway" is ****ing arrogant, that's what it is. I have seen Apple go from a professional company making truly high end stuff, to a consumer company targeting everyone, to this ****ing fischer-price mammoth obsessed with building toys for people who can't even comprehend a ****ing folder on their desktop.

This **** needs to end. Give us our ****ing options, and stop being lazy ass programmers. I swear to god this company is going to implode like a goddam atomic bomb if they don't smarten the **** up soon.

-SC
Haha, what a great rant! Since using Lion i am starting to feel the same about Apple. What a dumbed down, bling bling, unstable and slow OS compared to Snow Leopard! (Newest Mac Mini i5/2.3/4Gb). But i am afraid nothing is going to change, except that the OS will even be further dumbed down, even down to the point that the user has no access to the filesystem anymore.
 
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