Bonjour - what the hell is it?

[Karvel]

I was just reading the Bonjour page on the Apple website and this caught my eye;

The network could be as simple as two AirPort Extreme-equipped PowerBook users sitting in a hotel meeting room miles from the nearest AirPort Extreme Base Station with some large files they need to share. Before Bonjour, frustration. With Bonjour, your computer will discover others, making file sharing completely simple.

Now, assuming that scenario could be replicated the same with an iMac and a MacBook, how can I use Bonjour to share files? The Mac OS X Help seems a bit confusing... it seems to be going on about OS X Services which seems a bit of a hidden place for this Bonjour technology to hide

But I think I'm not even sure what it is...

So if I have an iMac and a MacBook connected wirelessly to a Netgear router wired up to my Windows PC, does that mean in essence that all three machines are essentially in a "network"? How does Bonjour come in then? Am I able to send, say, a file from the iMac to the Windows PC since they are both 'feeding off' the Netgear router?

Apologies for my n00bness, I don't really get networking

 

[chaoticbear]

I don't actually know anything about it, but it sounds to me like it's creating an ad-hoc network across which you could transfer files. An ad-hoc network is one where two (or more) computers connect directly, instead of going through a router.

 

[Karvel]

It seems to imply that there is no log-in - isn't that a bit.. unsafe?

 

[numediaman]

Through Bonjour you decide what is accessible and who you connect with. I suppose it is similar to the way your Bluetooth file sharing works.

In this way, it is very secure.

 

[Karvel]

How do I do that then? (say, iTunes sharing and Shared Photos in Front Row)

 

[chaoticbear]

How do I do that then? (say, iTunes sharing and Shared Photos in Front Row)

I imagine the same way that you would over a standard wireless network, but I don't know - I haven't ordered my MBP yet, and have only very limited knowledge of Macs. (Waiting for my refund check to come in this semester before I make the switch. )

 

[After G]

Bonjour is a technology to get your devices and services to communicate easily with each other. Instead of having to wade through a mess of configuration for your iTunes, or iPhoto, or file sharing, you just check a few boxes and go.

An example of how it works is if you enable printer sharing on OS X on one computer in your network, you don't have to walk around to every other computer and configure it to find the shared printer. OS X shows you in the printer dialog that a new shared printer is available, and it does this without you having to do anything.

For getting sharing to work with iTunes and iPhoto, look in the preferences menu in each application.

Also check the Sharing tab in System Preferences and make sure each service you want is enabled through the firewall, if your firewall is on.

 

[Bulldog VII]

Bonjour - what the hell is it?

French for hello!

 

[Karvel]

So if I activate the sharing in iTunes/iPhoto, (and have started the "Personal File Sharing" service in the Sharing preference in System Preferences), but I have not opted to require a password to gain access to the Music/Photos which I have decided to share, does that mean that anyone within range can access them?

 

[chrisfender0]

bonjour

You can send pretty much any kind of files thru bonjour and your CPU's will only create a network if you set it up but then you can manage an internal network and get other people on your network. As long as your CPU's have built-in airport cards or you have connected them thru a router you can set that up with the network wizard on a PC easier than on a mac (and safer because it only establishes a short connection once during the entire setup). From there it's a matter of people wanting to connect to your network and you can expand to your entire neighborhood

 

[DAbrams]

Seriously, reading this thread has made me more confused on how this actually works.

So then what would I do in this scenario: I want to use my iMac to connect to a new printer that is Bonjour equipped. What is the order of operations I would have to do?

 

[frosse]

I too am veeeeery confused about this Bonjour thingy.

I read that Bonjour for example makes a mac and a PC work really well with each other and that Bonjour makes file sharing sooo much easier.

Therefore I tried it out, installed Bonjour on my PC (winxp home) but all it kept nagging 'bout was Printer Sharing. I dont want Printer Sharing - I want [easier] file sharing? I don't see why Bonjour would help me, doesnt file sharing between two comps work like really well? Atleast it does for me...

How can Bonjour help me with file sharing? And how do I configure it?

 

[richard.mac]

I too am veeeeery confused about this Bonjour thingy…

…installed Bonjour on my PC (winxp home) but all it kept nagging 'bout was Printer Sharing. I dont want Printer Sharing - I want [easier] file sharing? I don't see why Bonjour would help me, doesnt file sharing between two comps work like really well? Atleast it does for me...

Bonjour, formerly Rendezvous, is Apple Inc.'s trade name for its implementation of Zeroconf, a service discovery protocol used in Apple's Mac OS X operating system from version 10.2 onwards, and on Microsoft Windows operating systems when installed (it is installed with iTunes, for example). Intended for use on local area networks, Bonjour uses multicast Domain Name System service records to locate devices such as printers, as well as other computers, and the services that those devices offer.

all the major printer companies include the Bonjour protocol in their printers as i assume they liked what Apple had done with it. because of this printers pretty much set them selves up on Macs and it is very easy to share a printer to other Macs wirelessly.

it starts to get hard when you want to print wirelessly to a printer that is attached to PC. believe me i know as thats my setup at home. i found the only way around this was to use CUPS which is the printing protocol in Un*x.

The current implementation of Bonjour for Windows is version 1.0.4. This version works with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista. It is primarily used in order to ease the installation, configuration, and use of network printers and thus runs from startup. Bonjour for Windows also adds Zeroconf capabilities to Internet Explorer, and provides a Zeroconf implementation to Java JVMs.

it gets easier if its the other way around; printing wirelessly to a printer connected to a Mac from a PC. that is what Bonjour for Windows is for.

…I read that Bonjour for example makes a mac and a PC work really well with each other and that Bonjour makes file sharing sooo much…

…How can Bonjour help me with file sharing? And how do I configure it?

Mac OS X and Windows dont file share using Bonjour they use SMB. two Macs on the same local network file share using AFP.

also looks like this thread has had a few views! maybe Apple hasnt explained Bonjour well enough and new users are curious?

 

[MacBoobsPro]

If you have two macs both wireless equipped and one has a printer attached to it but you want to print from the mac not attached. Turn printer sharing on, on the mac with the printer connected to it. Bonjour takes over and now the other mac is able to see it without any setup on your part. You can now print (wirelessly) from the remote mac. This works for other things like file sharing, music sharing etc. Before bonjour you would then have to go to all the macs you wanted to be able to see the printer and manually tell them to search for it.

There is more to it than that but I wont pretend I fully understand it. However Bonjour is a technology not an application.

 

[eRondeau]

Seriously, there's nothing to understand -- just turn on Sharing and it is "just there". It surprised the heck out of me when I first saw it work. Go into your Sharing preferences on the "target" computer (that is, the computer that will be shared) and turn on Print Sharing or File Sharing, and password-protect if desired. Then your other Mac's will show it as a source in the Finder. It really is that easy. I have my iMac set-up as a "shared" computer and my iBook can easily see it and share files, or print through it. Again, don't try to make it unnecessarily complicated -- it's a Mac!

Further to that, you can independently turn on iTunes Sharing and iPhoto Sharing through those program Preferences and, again, it just works. I was shocked and amazed to fire-up iTunes in a hotel room recently and find a half-dozen shared iTunes Libraries just waiting to be explored. Very, very cool!

 

[thewhitehart]

Just connect the printer and enjoy! If it's bonjour enabled, your mac will see it when it advertises its services.

When I bring my mac to work, it sees all the networked bonjour printers, and has the drivers for them already.