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Help! I don't want to switch to Windows

M

mattevil

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 19, 2002
76
0
I'm attending college(Roanoke College,www.roanoke.edu) for the first time in about a month. Unfortunately I don't know if i can hook up my trusty mac to their network.At http://www.roanoke.edu/Computing/computer_recommendations.htm
they say" IBM Compatible machines are required to connect to the Roanoke College network. Roanoke College does not connect Macintosh machines to the network."

Is this crap because they were given funding by Dell or something?
Somebody help me
I've got so much invested in software on my mac (photoshop 7, office x). All i want is internet and mail(gnutella would be nice) i don't need printer sharing etc.
Is their software i could buy (Virtual PC,Dave,Doubletalk)?
Or could i simply use the settings they give me. I admit i'm ignorant about what i need to be connected. Dialup isn't much of an option because there is only one phoneline in the room. I definetly want to keep my mac because i plan to go to film school and my mac would be good for editing school films.

Any help would be greatly appreciated
 
If all you need it for is email, then you should be ok. What kind of email account do you have?? Do you already have one, and just want to access it while at school? I can see how they might not have the Apple services installed onto the file servers, but a network is a network, and it shouldn't matter what kind of computer you have.

I have taken my TiBook to my aunt and uncles place before, where they had a 100% peecee network set up (for file sharing and such). I plugged my TiBook into the network, and with a minor setting change, was able to go online with my computer and even get to my email account. Essentially, I had to grab an IP address from their DHCP server and that was it. The time it took to do that was negligable (if even that long). OS X is even better, since you can have it grab what it needs on the fly (and not have to manually tell it where you are).

I would be very surprised if you couldn't go online from the college. Depending on what kind of printers they have there, you also might be able to print to those. I know that many HP laser printers come with Appletalk services installed and active, which allows you to print directly to them (don't need to go through a spooler like peecee people do :D). If you find you need to print (from time to time) see if you can convince one of the college techies to make a printer close to where you are accessable to the Mac. That is, if you can't go right to it under OS X. If you update to 10.2, you might not even need to bother them at all. :D
 
what your college is telling you is probably only to keep them from having to deal with fixing macs (like that would be necessary). i'm assuming that you will be connecting to the network through ethernet, in which case you'll probably just need to plug in the cable and start up the computer, thats it. as far as email goes, if your getting one from the university, they should provide you with all the smtp server info and you can just get it through the mail app and internet access should not present any problem.
 
they are definitely trying to avoid helping with Macs. A network is a network. Cross platform isn't an issue anymore, just plug in and boot up, the worst you could have to do is change your network settings to DHCP.

Then email them and tell them they are being silly and should change it to no mac support is the book.
 
I'd assume they don't want to offer any support at all to Mac users, the best thing to do is find local campus Mac users to see how they handle the challenge.

http://www.macwindows.com/

Should have info on how Mac users are working in the Windows world.
 
I think there is a bigger issue at hand. Is a college that trieds to promote one platform over another really a place of open ideas and higher learning?

My school was Mac based (they even got ALL purple iMacs to match the school colours). Even so, connecting my PeeCee (my dark days of computing...) to the Mac network was a breeze.
 
They would have to go out of their way to prevent a Mac from connecting to their network. Because Macs use universal standards for their networking protocols, they will work with just about every network in the world: PC, Unix, or Mac.

A lot of schools and networks say this, but it is meaningless. I've connected to many all-PC networks flawlessly.

Internet connections (web-browsing, e-mail, ftp, P2P, etc.) should work with no configuration. If you need help mounting PC shares, just come back and ask.

Taft
 
The answer is simple tell them, if you can not use your mac on their network, then you will give your money to a college that will let you. Why the freak would you want to go to a school that would tell you that you could not use the computer of your choice. That would be like going to a school that only let you vote (choose opposite political party from own here) when you were (whatever party you prefer to vote for), instead of not caring, and allowing you to make your own decisions. Isn't that half of the college experience, making your own decisions!

I am a Network Engineer at a University (Carnegie Mellon), and we support damn near everything. Our "preferred" email client "Mulberry" (www.cyrusoft.com) has Mac OS X Carbon, Windows, and Unix (Linux and Solaris I believe) binaries available. There is no reason, other than a draconian IT department, for not supporting Mac.
 
thank you

i just wanted to thank everybody for their help.
It's nice to see people help others in this day and age.Makes me think their is alot of truth to that mac users are smarter study.
 
Here's their "reason:"

3. Windows XP Home Edition and Windows 98/ME/NT machines do not contain the necessary Microsoft licenses to access the Roanoke College network and its file servers.

They've gone with the Microsoft licensing scheme that requires each individual client to have a network client license.

I don't remember all the details of the licensing schemes -- I don't think it will affect operation at all, but may violate their licensing agreement with Microsoft.
 
If you just want to use it to get out to the internet, it won't be an issue at all. Those m$ licenses are for connecting to the server only. You might need to pick up a printer for your own use (if they don't have Appletalk turned on for the network printers). If they are using HP printers there is a way for you to turn that on. ;) Go to hp's web site, find the HP laserjet utility and download it. With that, you should be able to find the printer. OR, you can go to the printer itself and try to turn the Appletalk services on there. You can find the utility under the drivers & software listed for the printer type/model. For example, you can find the drivers and software for the HP 5000 here. I use that utility all the time to check on printers on the network at work.

Best case, get friendly with one of the tech's and have them make the services active for you. Worst case, learn how to enable the ones you need that are not there for you under 10.2.
 
...

Oh Please, they probably are sponsered by IBM or Dell or some other loser PC company. A Mac can handle and PC network! You shouldn't need any additional software. Damn PC people...:eek:
 
At the high school where I go, they have similar "rules". I was once confronted by the network Admin, being asked if "that thing runs Windows 95" (the only allowed OS according to their 'rules').

Until now, the network admin himself has been the only problem I've encountered. They use standard Ethernet (10 mbit :rolleyes: ) and DHCP. And soon 802.11b-based wireless networking (same as Airport).

The only thing I can't do is to mount the shared Novell file systems and use the printers (except for one that has AppleTalk turned on). Maybe I'll be able to with the HP Utility mentioned in the thread.

So my suggestion is, screw the rules :)

Edit: Typo / inconsistent grammar / TypeScript Processing Error / AggeMam Error / Insert your text here / Vufmiav
 
Originally posted by aggemam
At the high school where I go, they have similar "rules". I was once confronted by the network Admin, being asked if "that thing runs Windows 95" (the only allowed OS according to their 'rules').

Until now, the network admin himself has been the only problem I've encountered. They use standard Ethernet (10 mbit :rolleyes: ) and DHCP. And soon 802.11b-based wireless networking (same as Airport).

The only thing I can't do is to mount the shared Novell file systems and use the printers (except for one that has AppleTalk turned on). Maybe I'll be able to with the HP Utility mentioned in the thread.

So my suggestion is, screw the rules :)

Edit: Typo / inconsistent grammar / TypeScript Processing Error / AggeMam Error / Insert your text here / Vufmiav
Click to expand...

I used to use my long-lost PowerBook G3 on the WinNT 4 and Win95 network at work. I could print to the HP LaserJet 5Si because I loaded the printer drivers from the HP CD-ROM and they found the various HP printers on the network.
 
Originally posted by szark
Here's their "reason:"

3. Windows XP Home Edition and Windows 98/ME/NT machines do not contain the necessary Microsoft licenses to access the Roanoke College network and its file servers.

They've gone with the Microsoft licensing scheme that requires each individual client to have a network client license.
Click to expand...

This looks like the reason to me as well. Basically they are saying you wont be able to browse the campus network and see/mount file servers.

If these servers are running cifs/samba you can mount them from OS X.
in the connect to server dialog type:

smb://computer.domain/mountpoint

this irritates windows admins no end....

----
our organization has been looking at purchasing a filer system that only has unix/windows access. If you want to connect to it from < OS X you need to run DAVE.

So, if you need to access Roanoke's network from OS X, no problem. use samba mounts.
If you have to use OS 9, get a copy of DAVE.

--
On our network all Windows 2000 Professional machines print via IP, which means if you can find the ip address of the printer you need to use, just create an lpr printer from print center in OS X or an LPR printer from the Desktop Printer Utility in OS 9 or earlier.

There is absolutely no reason that you should not be allowed to use a Mac on their network. Are they concerned that your Mac might slow down the spread of viruses through their network? :D

neilt
 
Two years ago after I bought my Powerbook for college, they (American University, Washington DC) told me that they do not support Macs on their network AT ALL. I was told that the campus techs would not help me with any technical issues I encountered AND that I would not be able to use any of the campus resources (web stuff mostly like email and class forums). Needless to say I was more than upset at this but after spending all that money I wasn't about to buy some wintel box so I went ahead and took it with me. Within about two minutes I was online using the campus email and I was even able to print on the HP printers.
A few months after being there I was informed that the school was sponsered by Dell and that is why Macs are discouraged. But I NEVER had a problem especially after OSX was released. Then a few months ago my sister enrolled at John Carroll University and they too send out their campus computer requirements and it specifically stated that they will not support any Mac and gave the same bs about not being able to access any of the campus resources. Not only was it a disappointment to me but also my sister who has been dying to make the switch from PC to Mac. So to prove her wrong when she went to visit a few weeks ago I had her take my PB with her to see and she said as soon as she plugged it in everything worked instantly with no problems although she didnt try to print.
So whatever your school is telling you I am going to say they are full of ****. Don't buy any of it because it all comes down to who pays that school to put computers in the buildings. I hope that gives you a little bit of hope because it would be a shame to see the day a place could ban a certain brand of computer from being functional just becuase of who sponsers them.
 
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