question about networking when running windows on macbook

Jolly Roger <jollyroger.DeleteThis@pobox.com> wrote:

> In article <1ih122c.1ajnk4tdma1kpN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
> d4g4h4.DeleteThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
>
> > Hope this question is appropriate for here. My employer will be buying
> > me a laptop as part of a new job I have with them. They only support PCs
> > for networking, but I only use Macs in my work (music.) I'd like them to
> > get me a macbook, and I'd run windows on it in addition to OS X. I'd
> > simply use the wifi under OS X when travelling away from work. Could I
> > expect them to allow the windows partition to be networked (via
> > ethernet) without a problem?
>
> Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "they only support PCs for
> networking"?
>
> Mac OS X connects to TCP/IP networks just fine, and you can access
> Windows network services with Mac OS X as well. Windows, when running on
> Macs, connects to TCP/IP networks as well - TCP/IP is TCP/IP.

I'm aware of that, but they won't actually connect Macs full stop. It's
annoying, but that's the way it is with them. I'm hoping that if I run
Windows on the laptop, they'll allow me a network connection. I'd prefer
parallels, but I'm not sure if that will satisfy them. I'll report back
what they decide...

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

In article <1ih1gir.td6pk31xq7s54N%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
d4g4h4.RemoveThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

> Jolly Roger <jollyroger.RemoveThis@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <1ih122c.1ajnk4tdma1kpN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
> > d4g4h4.RemoveThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
> >
> > > Hope this question is appropriate for here. My employer will be buying
> > > me a laptop as part of a new job I have with them. They only support PCs
> > > for networking, but I only use Macs in my work (music.) I'd like them to
> > > get me a macbook, and I'd run windows on it in addition to OS X. I'd
> > > simply use the wifi under OS X when travelling away from work. Could I
> > > expect them to allow the windows partition to be networked (via
> > > ethernet) without a problem?
> >
> > Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "they only support PCs for
> > networking"?
> >
> > Mac OS X connects to TCP/IP networks just fine, and you can access
> > Windows network services with Mac OS X as well. Windows, when running on
> > Macs, connects to TCP/IP networks as well - TCP/IP is TCP/IP.
>
> I'm aware of that, but they won't actually connect Macs full stop. It's
> annoying, but that's the way it is with them.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. It's not as if they'd be able to
tell what sort of computer is connecting to the network - Macs use the
same hardware as any other PC.

> I'm hoping that if I run
> Windows on the laptop, they'll allow me a network connection. I'd prefer
> parallels, but I'm not sure if that will satisfy them. I'll report back
> what they decide...

I really don't see why they would care one way or the other.

I work for a major semiconductor manufacturer on a huge corporate
network. The people who handle network and desktop support for our
corporation do not officially support Macs, but that in no way means
Macs are somehow barred from being used. The fact is Macs work just fine
in all-Windows environments.

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

Jolly Roger <jollyroger.DeleteThis@pobox.com> wrote:

> In article <1ih1gir.td6pk31xq7s54N%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
> d4g4h4.DeleteThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
>
> > Jolly Roger <jollyroger.DeleteThis@pobox.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In article <1ih122c.1ajnk4tdma1kpN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
> > > d4g4h4.DeleteThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hope this question is appropriate for here. My employer will be buying
> > > > me a laptop as part of a new job I have with them. They only support PCs
> > > > for networking, but I only use Macs in my work (music.) I'd like them to
> > > > get me a macbook, and I'd run windows on it in addition to OS X. I'd
> > > > simply use the wifi under OS X when travelling away from work. Could I
> > > > expect them to allow the windows partition to be networked (via
> > > > ethernet) without a problem?
> > >
> > > Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "they only support PCs for
> > > networking"?
> > >
> > > Mac OS X connects to TCP/IP networks just fine, and you can access
> > > Windows network services with Mac OS X as well. Windows, when running on
> > > Macs, connects to TCP/IP networks as well - TCP/IP is TCP/IP.
> >
> > I'm aware of that, but they won't actually connect Macs full stop. It's
> > annoying, but that's the way it is with them.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by that. It's not as if they'd be able to
> tell what sort of computer is connecting to the network

They'd know what computer you _wanted_ to have connected to the network.

> - Macs use the
> same hardware as any other PC.

I think it's the software they use to allow people to log on to their
computers, which then gives them access to the network. There's a Mac
suite here for example, but it requires no login, but they're not
networked.

> > I'm hoping that if I run
> > Windows on the laptop, they'll allow me a network connection. I'd prefer
> > parallels, but I'm not sure if that will satisfy them. I'll report back
> > what they decide...
>
> I really don't see why they would care one way or the other.
>
> I work for a major semiconductor manufacturer on a huge corporate
> network. The people who handle network and desktop support for our
> corporation do not officially support Macs, but that in no way means
> Macs are somehow barred from being used. The fact is Macs work just fine
> in all-Windows environments.

You're preaching to the choir here. They're attitude is very strange.
I'd go further, but that might not be wise...

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

In article <1ih1lam.1yk94751nov5swN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
d4g4h4.RemoveThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

> Jolly Roger <jollyroger.RemoveThis@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <1ih1gir.td6pk31xq7s54N%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
> > d4g4h4.RemoveThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
> >
> > > Jolly Roger <jollyroger.RemoveThis@pobox.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > In article <1ih122c.1ajnk4tdma1kpN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>,
> > > > d4g4h4.RemoveThis@yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Hope this question is appropriate for here. My employer will be
> > > > > buying
> > > > > me a laptop as part of a new job I have with them. They only support
> > > > > PCs
> > > > > for networking, but I only use Macs in my work (music.) I'd like them
> > > > > to
> > > > > get me a macbook, and I'd run windows on it in addition to OS X. I'd
> > > > > simply use the wifi under OS X when travelling away from work. Could
> > > > > I
> > > > > expect them to allow the windows partition to be networked (via
> > > > > ethernet) without a problem?
> > > >
> > > > Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "they only support PCs for
> > > > networking"?
> > > >
> > > > Mac OS X connects to TCP/IP networks just fine, and you can access
> > > > Windows network services with Mac OS X as well. Windows, when running
> > > > on
> > > > Macs, connects to TCP/IP networks as well - TCP/IP is TCP/IP.
> > >
> > > I'm aware of that, but they won't actually connect Macs full stop. It's
> > > annoying, but that's the way it is with them.
> >
> > I'm not sure what you mean by that. It's not as if they'd be able to
> > tell what sort of computer is connecting to the network
>
> They'd know what computer you _wanted_ to have connected to the network.
>
> > - Macs use the
> > same hardware as any other PC.
>
> I think it's the software they use to allow people to log on to their
> computers, which then gives them access to the network. There's a Mac
> suite here for example, but it requires no login, but they're not
> networked.
>
> > > I'm hoping that if I run
> > > Windows on the laptop, they'll allow me a network connection. I'd prefer
> > > parallels, but I'm not sure if that will satisfy them. I'll report back
> > > what they decide...
> >
> > I really don't see why they would care one way or the other.
> >
> > I work for a major semiconductor manufacturer on a huge corporate
> > network. The people who handle network and desktop support for our
> > corporation do not officially support Macs, but that in no way means
> > Macs are somehow barred from being used. The fact is Macs work just fine
> > in all-Windows environments.
>
> You're preaching to the choir here. They're attitude is very strange.
> I'd go further, but that might not be wise...

If you can get them to buy the Mac then agree to just about
anything. Once you have the Mac, then use Boot Camp, but unless
your PC work requires lots of disk space, I would use a moderate
Boot Camp partition.

Now once you have everything setup as desired in Boot Camp, I
would point VMware Fusion or Parallels at the Boot Camp partition
and run Mac OS X all the time. The PC can provide your corporate
network access, but you can still have access to your Mac
environment all the time.

And along the way, you might even find out that you can use the
Mac to connect to the network. But if nothing else, you will be
able to move data between the PC and Mac environments via
Parallels or VMware Fusion.

By the way, I've worked for both Compaq and HP, where I signed-in
my own Mac as personal property and kept them in my office, plus
carried my Powerbook in and out every day. Neither of these
companies were Mac friendly, but they didn't do anything to
explicitly block my Mac usage.

And at my current company, I'm using my own PowerMac Dual G5 as my
workstation (using two 18" LCD monitors provided by my company).
I turned the company provided PC into a test system. My current
company if more Mac agnostic in that they at least provide a Mac
VPN client and from time to time actually think about what
employees with Macs at home might need to access the corporate
network).

Bob Harris

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) <d4g4h4 DeleteThis @yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Hope this question is appropriate for here. My employer will be buying
> me a laptop as part of a new job I have with them. They only support PCs
> for networking, but I only use Macs in my work (music.) I'd like them to
> get me a macbook, and I'd run windows on it in addition to OS X. I'd
> simply use the wifi under OS X when travelling away from work. Could I
> expect them to allow the windows partition to be networked (via
> ethernet) without a problem?

It depends to some extent on how exactly you intend to run Windows on
the MacBook.

If you use Boot Camp, then your MacBook will be booted into Windows and
won't be running Mac OS X at the same time. As far as your employer is
concerned, you will just have a Windows laptop, with Ethernet and/or
wireless connections available.

If you use virtual machine software (Parallels Desktop or VMware
Fusion), your computer will be running Mac OS X, with Windows running
inside a virtual machine. I'm more familiar with VMware Fusion, in which
you can set up the networking to operate in several different modes.

In the mode that I use, the virtual machine appears to be a separate
computer on the local network, with its own unique MAC address. The rest
of the network sees me as two computers: one is running Mac OS X, the
other is running Windows. They share a physical network interface, and
you can't exclude the Mac side from the network easily (without also
cutting off Windows). You also can't set it up so that VMware uses one
interface while Mac OS uses the other one. (There might be some way to
do this, but it isn't obvious from the user interface.)

The other modes result in the virtual machine hiding behind a virtual
NAT router, or only having network access to the Mac host and not to the
physical network, or turning networking off completely.

The question is whether your employer's definition of "support for
networking" is a policy which says "you are only allowed to connect
(authorised) Windows PCs to the network, and no other platforms are
allowed", or "we won't help you if you want to connect a non-Windows PC
to the network".

In the latter case, a virtual machine should work fine. The Mac might
not get a valid IP address or an Internet connection for itself,
depending on how your employer's network is configured, but your virtual
machine running Windows should be happily working on the network.

If the policy is that you aren't allowed to use a Mac on the network,
your only option is likely to be Boot Camp, which will require
restarting the computer each time you want to switch between Mac OS and
Windows.

--
David Empson
dempson DeleteThis @actrix.gen.nz

David Empson <dempson.TakeThisOut@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:

> David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) <d4g4h4.TakeThisOut@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Hope this question is appropriate for here. My employer will be buying
> > me a laptop as part of a new job I have with them. They only support PCs
> > for networking, but I only use Macs in my work (music.) I'd like them to
> > get me a macbook, and I'd run windows on it in addition to OS X. I'd
> > simply use the wifi under OS X when travelling away from work. Could I
> > expect them to allow the windows partition to be networked (via
> > ethernet) without a problem?
>
> It depends to some extent on how exactly you intend to run Windows on
> the MacBook.

I'd use it in the way that would suit work!

> If you use Boot Camp, then your MacBook will be booted into Windows and
> won't be running Mac OS X at the same time. As far as your employer is
> concerned, you will just have a Windows laptop, with Ethernet and/or
> wireless connections available.

That's the best idea then- many thanks for the heads up!

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins