Set up Mac OS X for on-campus wireless
You must have an 802.11b compatible wireless network card in order to connect to RIT's wireless network.
Apple's AirPort and AirPort Extreme cards are compatible with 802.11b. To find out more about these cards and which computers are compatible, visit the "Apple AirPort" Web site.
Set up automatically
In general, Mac OS X comes preset to use wireless networking -- assuming your computer has an Apple AirPort or AirPort Extreme card installed. It should "just work" as-is if there is a wireless network -- such as the RIT wireless network -- in range.
Set up manually
To set up wireless networking manually (for AirPort cards and third-party wireless cards installed in your Mac):
- Open the "Network" preference panel in the System Preferences application.
- Click the pop-up menu next to "Show" and select "Active Network Ports" (Jaguar or earlier) or "Network Port Configurations" (Panther). The window will change to display the status of your network interfaces -- whether they are on or off, and in what order they will be used.
- Verify that your wireless card's port has a check next to its name. It should be named "AirPort" or "AirPort Extreme." If you have a non-Apple wireless card, it will probably be named something else.
- Click on the name of your wireless card and drag it below the "Built-in Ethernet" line. We recommend setting your AirPort connection to be a lower-priority port than the Ethernet port because Ethernet will be faster and more secure than AirPort.
- Click the pop-up menu labeled "Show" again and select the wireless card.
- Click on the "AirPort" tab.
- Turn on the "Show AirPort status in menu bar" option.
- Click on the "TCP/IP" tab.
- Click the pop-up menu next to the "Configure" (Jaguar or earlier) or "Configure IPv4" (Panther) text and select the "Using DHCP" item.
- Click on the "AppleTalk" tab.
- Verify that the "Make AppleTalk Active" option is turned off. The RIT wireless network does not route AppleTalk traffic. (See "AppleTalk support policy".)
- Click the "Apply Now" button in the lower right hand corner of the window. If you are within range of a wireless network, you should see numbers appear in the "IP Address" field.
Connect to the RIT wireless network
The following directions assume you are using Mac OS X with an Apple AirPort or AirPort Extreme card.
- Click on the AirPort menu bar item. It looks like several arcs, and indicates the signal strength for your current AirPort connection.
- Select "rit" from the AirPort menu. If the "rit" network is providing the strongest signal, the AirPort software may already have selected it. In that case, it should already have a check mark next to it.
Register your wireless network card
If you haven't registered your network card (Ethernet or wireless) yet, this is the perfect time to do so. You only need to register a network card once (or, for student computers in the residence halls and apartments, once per academic year). If you already registered your network card in classic Mac OS then you do not have to register it again, and vice versa.
Each network card that you use at RIT must be registered separately. If you have already registered for the RIT Ethernet network but want to use wireless networking, you must register your wireless card, as well. If you do not register your network card, you will not be able to use that connection to get to the Internet.
If you have an Apple AirPort or AirPort Extreme-capable computer, the wireless card installed which may be installed inside must still be registered. Apple's on-board Ethernet boards also count as a "network card."
Before you can use your wireless card to get on the Internet, you must register it:
- Make sure you are connected to the "rit" wireless network. (Disconnect from the RIT's Ethernet network by pulling out the Ethernet cable from your computer -- temporarily, at least. This ensures that you will not register -- or re-register -- your Ethernet connection by accident.)
- Open a Web browser.
- Go to http://start.rit.edu/ and follow the on-screen instructions to register your computer.
That's it, once you are registered, you can use your RIT wireless connection to get to the Internet in any area that has wireless coverage. To activate your new wireless registration immediately, you will need to Release and renew an Internet address.
