Mac G5

[LA_MERC_Captain_Obvious]

Anyone know how to get a Mac with OS X to authenticate with a win2k domain?

I have almost no experience with mac. We ordered a new G5 dual 2.0 ghz for our marketing dept. and it came in today.
I have it pulling IP from the DHCP, but I can't find any other network settings or where to get it to authenticate with the domain, or use a printer from the domain. I can see the domain, but can't connect to it.

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

At the finder...

Click go...connect to server, and you can browse your network, simliarly to My network places/Network neighborhood in windows. When you try to hit a share, you put in your un/pass and go...there is no way built into the os to get it to authenticate to the domain, you can just access shares...

There are third party products such as DAVE and Win Maclan, ect. that may do you more good.

We have 3 macs and 300 PC's, so we are only concerned with getting the mac's access to the shares they need...for example, we have a drive mapped that is using distributed file system...we simply can't map the Mac to "Drive O", BUT we can map it to \\servername\corporate...if you get the idea, and you can map shares to the desktop like drives.

Hope this helps somewhat...I'm a PC tech now, and an ex Mac user, so I'll be glad to help if you need...just pop me up on icq or drop me some mail in my box..


later
j.

[LA_MERC_T4rg3T]

OS X has built in Network Utilities unlike the lesser versions of their OS's.

Look in the utilities folder, there should be a program called "Network Utility" which will allow you to try to ping on your network.

Also, in System Preferences.. Open the Network icon and go to the AppleTalk section and make sure that its Active and on Configure Automatically and the Apple Talk Zone should be your domain. If not you can try to go to the Apple menu >> Locations >> Network Preferences and type "local" into the Search Domains box.

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

NO, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!!!

You do NOT (or at least I dont) want Apple talk anywhere NEAR your Domain!!!!

You can use TCP/IP just fine by using my method above...if you have any trouble, get in touch with me...but please do yourself a favor and make sure every aspect of appletalk is turned off on that machine, and all of your servers for that matter!

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

And In my first post I was referring to OS X since OS 9 won't run as a stand alone on anything since the Quicksilver G4's.

[LA_MERC_Dirge]

lol @ the apple people!

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

Who you calling a apple people...lol.

I used Mac's full time while in college as a Graphic Design major (ended up changing to history), I still have a PowerMac 7200 that I use for MIDI sequencing, and a (almost) dead 8100 that is about to be tossed.

I have 3 Mac's on my network at work, a G4 dual 1.4 and 2 iBooks, The G4 is in marketing, and the two iBooks are for testing our web-based product on both the Macintosh and the Safari Browser...

They fit in pretty seamlessly. They aren't "on the domain" per se, but they can transfer files when the need to, and where they need to, and they don't wreack chatty havoc on the network as they would if they had apple talk tunred on.

To be honest, if I have an all mac, mac to mac network, I would not have appletalk running, and that feeling is even stronger if you throw the PC and TCP/IP into the picture. Tha appletalk protocol sucks by all accounts, it's slow, chatty and as a result eats up valuable bandwidth on the network...

JMHO though...

j.

[pattont]

ER.. you could just throw the mac out the window and the u could authenticate it with the ground... sorry im a mac hater.. build a PC and drive steve jobs out of business.... lets start a revolution..

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

Wow Matrix, that's a nice attitude? Have you ever actually USED a mac, or do you just hate them because you think it is the cool and geeky thing to do?

They are quite good machines, killer for graphics apps, video editing and for sound work...they are still used by most professional artists in those fields, and will probably hold that ground for some time to come.

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

ha ha......:owned

[LA_MERC_LaTech]

Macs are great for doing video and audio stuff (where do you think movies such as Shreck were made?!). For what they do, they're good computers. Personally, I'd take a PC anyday over one, though, because I do no video editing, graphic, or sound stuff (other than games!).

[LA_MERC_Captain_Obvious]

Thanks for the advice Max and Toby.

Max, in your opinion, is the dual G4 in your marketing dept. better at graphics than a comperable PC of the same specs?

Our marketing dept. begged and pleaded for this thing and supposedly Macs are better at handling larger graphic editing jobs.
I believe they used to be, but I'm not convinced that they still are. I was extreamly tempted to build a dual AMD 64FX-51 system instead of getting this Mac. It would have been around $500 cheaper and my VP gave me the choice. But for support, warranty, and time envolved it's easier to just order the Mac.

[LA_MERC_MadMAX]

I'll be totally honest with you - I used to be DIE HARD mac for such tasks, but I don't think that G4 does anything that a nice P4 system would do. It is a VERY efficiant processor to do what it does with a 1.4GHZ clock speed - it runs about like a 2-2.4 GHz P4, it has a gig of ddr, and 2 120 gig drives in it...

The OS factors in too...OS X is pretty stable, and on G4 and higher machines, it is quite fast...it is still dog slow on a G3 class chip though, as we have seen in our 800MHz iBooks.

Another little tidbit, mac usuers are a dream to support. Almost each and every one of them know their box and thier OS inside and out just like the geekyest pc geeks...so some guy in marketing with a mac will usually know way more about his system, how it works, how to troublshoot, than a guy in accounting with a Dell...

People have the stigma in thier minds that Macs are dummy boxes, and a true computer geek wouldn't be caught dead with one, but it's really untrue. Most mac usuers are very knowlageable, and they LOVE talking shop so to speak.

You ask if the mac is better at graphics, I don't know about that, but I DO know this...Mac users love thier systems, and they are far more productive on macs than if you sit them down in front of a PC and tell them to go at it. They take care of the systems, and treat them with respect. I wish everybody at my company was like that!

[LA_MERC_Captain_Obvious]

Some very good points.
I will be very happy if they start requiring less support.
and maybe one day I'll get to build that dual AMD64 FX system so I can compare.... one day.