Apple Releases Redesigned iOS-Like Airport Utility 6.0 and an Airport Base Station Bug-Fix

[Idgit]

Has anyone tried holding down the option key while accessing options in the new version? Apple sometimes likes to hide more advanced options in the some of its software.

 

[JohnDoe98]

A toggle between simple/advanced would be great, which they did here by releasing the two apps, albeit a clunky way to appease the geeks.

Ironic, they are so focused on elegance of interface lately, yet they allow this "clunky" inelegant option to remain... Seems kinda inconsistent if you ask me. I think your suggestion should have been a no brainer and included from the beginning before they released 6.0. I doubt 6.1 will include your suggestion, but one can always hope.

 

[bryan.cfii]

Where did the signal noise and list of clients go?

Anybody seen where the signal noise and list of clients part went?

This version seems a little basic over the information AU used to offer.
It's basically fine, but it seems to be missing a few things... Any thoughts???
Am I missing something?

Wait... answered my own question. I was only offered the new version. Not exactly smooth apple.

 

[xii]

I just installed the update.

Looks fine to me, but there was a configuration tool for printers in the old application, where did it go, I can't seem to find it anymore!?

Just works fine to me. No configuration is needed on the router side. My printer is listed via Bonjour. So at least this should be no issue.

 

[4np]

Has anyone tried holding down the option key while accessing options in the new version? Apple sometimes likes to hide more advanced options in the some of its software.

Yeah, tried every possibility... found nothing...

A toggle between simple/advanced would be great, which they did here by releasing the two apps, albeit a clunky way to appease the geeks.

Yeah I agree, you should not have to install a 5.6 version to get the functionality you want when a 6.0 version is pushed through software update. But my guess is this is an intermediate solution as the 6.0 branch is clearly being (re)developed from scratch and probably the advanced options are not yet built in. I assume this will be introduced in a later version.

 

[Peace]

Anybody seen where the signal noise and list of clients part went?

This version seems a little basic over the information AU used to offer.
It's basically fine, but it seems to be missing a few things... Any thoughts???
Am I missing something?

Yes. You are.

You are missing the "other" Airport update.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

 

[b-rad g]

Anybody seen where the signal noise and list of clients part went?

This version seems a little basic over the information AU used to offer.
It's basically fine, but it seems to be missing a few things... Any thoughts???
Am I missing something?

In the new app you click on the Time Capsule, Base Station or Express and the little window thing that pops up gives a list of the wireless clients near the bottom, then you can hover over each one and see all the pertinent information on each one.

 

[zorinlynx]

Seems to me some so called "power users" don't like the masses to be able to manage their home networks easier. It would be different if Apple didn't update and release both versions of the utility today but they did. You can use either one you'd like. Or even switch between the two. They provided more options, not less. They both can be installed (at the same time even) so I don't see the problem.

I see a lot of knee jerk reactions that aren't very well informed.

I think a lot of us have a strong fear that since Apple is making so much more money from iOS than from the Mac, that they are going to start neglecting the Mac platform and/or making it more like iOS to the detriment of power users.

I'm all for an easier to use utility so that regular folks can configure their routers. However, calling the stripped down version "6.0" and the one with all the features "5.6" suggests that they plan to phase out this "5.x" line moving forward, and make the 6.0 utility the only one available at some future time.

If they had called them: Airport Utility 6.0 and Airport Utility Pro 6.0, I'd feel a lot more confident that this isn't the case. But the way they did number them is concerning, even if it's not an actual problem at this point in time.

I'm all for making things easier to use, but I'm not for removing good features or locking down the system. Apple appears to be on a general trend in that direction. It's worrying.

 

[Patriot24]

I messaged the OP and asked if they could append the link to v5.6 to their post to clear up any confusion about the loss of functionality.

Unfortunately, I can't message the MacRumors account that posted the news story. Hopefully they will update as well.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

 

[toomuchrock]

Issue with Time Machine working and 7.6.1 Firmware?

Hey there I've a AirPort Extreme (2nd gen) with a USB drive hanging off of it that I use for the wireless backup of my laptops. No issues with upgrading the firmware on this thing is there? I don't want Time Machine to break as apple things I should buy a Time Capsule instead of an Airport Extreme with my own attached USB drive. All the same my iMac (2.93GHz i7 10.7.2) loses it's WiFi connection all the time since 10.7 came out and I do wonder if this firmware fix is something I want.

Thanks

 

[IzzyJG99]

Wonder if this is their answer to all the Wi-Fi issues going on with 10.7....

 

[4np]

Hey there I've a AirPort Extreme (2nd gen) with a USB drive hanging off of it that I use for the wireless backup of my laptops. No issues with upgrading the firmware on this thing is there? I don't want Time Machine to break as apple things I should buy a Time Capsule instead of an Airport Extreme with my own attached USB drive. All the same my iMac (2.93GHz i7 10.7.2) loses it's WiFi connection all the time since 10.7 came out and I do wonder if this firmware fix is something I want.

Thanks

I have a 1TB Western Digital USB hard drive attached to my 3rd generation Airport Extreme which I use as my Time Capsule backup drive. No problems here, just finished a new back up

 

[JohnDoe98]

I'm all for making things easier to use, but I'm not for removing good features or locking down the system. Apple appears to be on a general trend in that direction. It's worrying.

I can't wait for the redesigned and "improved" iWork X. It's going to look stunning, like the beautiful iOS version. The big question though, how many features will be missing in the initial release?

 

[Nuvi]

The number of Apple haters may have actually surpassed the number of people who live Apple on this website.

It used to be a small community of people who actually liked Apple, now it seems to be a FUD factory. Apple's competitors should hire more hardware engineers, and fewer social media engineers.

Get off your high horse and stop being such a naive fanboy. Apple is not what it used to be and I'm not saying it in good way. Apple it used to be all about crating content but now its all about selling it to their users. This dumbing down of Airport Utility is just one of the worrying signs of where Apple is heading - just creating consumer toys for imbeciles. I mean seriously, what the **** is an UPGRADE that takes away features? WTF, Apple is pushing me free downgrades...

I've been using Mac since LC and I truly hate to say but the pirate flag is long gone. Oh, the irony of 1984 ad...

 

[tkermit]

Would someone mind posting a few screenshots of the different options that are available in the new app? My base station is not supported unfortunately.

 

[sananda]

More important: Does this fix a bug where Firmware version 7.6 would cause USB-connected disks to spin up every few minutes?

I installed 7.6 and went back to 7.5.2 because of this issue!

It had my Time Casule spinning every two minutes so I also went back to 7.5.2.

 

[4np]

Would someone mind posting a few screenshots of the different options that are available in the new app? My base station is not supported unfortunately.

Here you go... Screenshots of the Airport Express (802.11n) configuration screens..

 

[kwikdeth]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

does any one know if this version allows for timed-access editing. Anytime I want to add another user (Mac Address) i have to do it on the computer because the iOS apps cant add users. If it is not able to I wont be able to update as my whole network only works if i can white list a mac address.

Yes. It still allows for access control lists.

Question is, do the ACLs work in this new firmware? I had to downgrade from 7.52 back to 7.4x on my ABS because 7.52 totally hosed the ACLs so that any new additions after upgrading to 7.52 would not take. It would show as added but the devices would always error out.

 

[Munas]

I just installed the new Airport Utility version 5.6 along side the dumbed down version and I can say both work fine.

So. No reason to get upset kids.

Some may choose to use the IOS type interface and some may choose to use the original.

Either way they are both new.

It is good Apple made an emergency Exit (Airport Utility version 5.6) I was about to copy an old Airport utility back from my backup.

 

[Nuvi]

I'm all for an easier to use utility so that regular folks can configure their routers. However, calling the stripped down version "6.0" and the one with all the features "5.6" suggests that they plan to phase out this "5.x" line moving forward, and make the 6.0 utility the only one available at some future time.

If they had called them: Airport Utility 6.0 and Airport Utility Pro 6.0, I'd feel a lot more confident that this isn't the case. But the way they did number them is concerning, even if it's not an actual problem at this point in time.

I'm all for making things easier to use, but I'm not for removing good features or locking down the system. Apple appears to be on a general trend in that direction. It's worrying.

Apple could've easily added a "show advanced options"-feature in 6.0 but they didn't. They just killed those features instead. I think this tells you a lot where Apple is heading with many of their products (pro software and hardware in general). I'm just blown away by the fact that so many features have been taken away just like that... Apple is even pushing 6.0 with SU.

 

[tkermit]

Here you go... Screenshots of the Airport Express (802.11n) configuration screens..

Thanks a lot!

 

[knewsom]

I almost jumped in and installed this right away... now I'm glad I read the comments on this story first!

Count me among all the complaints about removing functionality and Apple going to the birds. First Final Cut, now this... Too bad you can't get Avid for Linux!

 

[manu chao]

Apple is over time clearly merging iOS and Mac OS and they are becoming a company that sells electronics to the masses (tech phobic). This is a shame in my opinion because they started as a hacker machine.

Are you living in an alternate universe? Since when was the Mac ever considered a hacker machine compared to DOS, Unix, Linux and Windows? (OS X might be more of a 'hacker' OS than Windows but the Classic OS certainly was not, and OS X was never more of a 'hacker' OS than Linux. And UI parts of OS X were always about being simpler than Windows.)

 

[Gzilirion]

+

+

 

[bbtylrv]

Until they discontinue the 5.x line and 6.x is 10.8 only and Xcode 5.x only runs on 10.8 and I need Xcode 5.x to submit applications to the app store so I can make money. Eventually I'm forced into their new way of thinking regardless. Should I really be expected to keep a machine or even an OS partition around just for configuration utilities in the future?

My point is that they're slowly but surely pressuring people into situations that some of us do not want to be in. I have never felt the way Apple makes me feel right now. It's like they've become all-out hostile to power users and options.

I still use MobileMe (yes, I haven't switched). What happens when that goes away and I'm still on 10.6.8 because I can't stand Mission Control? Well, I lose all that functionality because Apple has refused to release 10.6.9 in an effort to force people onto 10.7.

This is what pisses me off. This lame ass iOS-ification that is spreading around like a goddam cancer. If I'm still using Mac stuff in 5 years when my kid is old enough to comprehend some of this stuff, I can't wait until he asks me "Daddy, were computers ever free? Did you ever use them to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted?".

-SC

Dude, calm down. You can upgrade to 10.7 Lion and simply ignore mission control. No one forces you to use it. Simply put your applications in a stack or hit command/spacebar and search for your app-- or just find them in the finder.