N.B. Throughout this whole installation process *talk to the user*. The user can be a good source of weird information about hardware and software issues concerning the machine, and the user is the person who will have to live withthe machine after you are through with it. Even if the user doesn't know much about their own machine, take this as an opportunity to shed a little light on the arcane workings of their computer. Explain what you are doing as you go along. Offer to answer any questions as you go along, be they directly related to the hardware / software installation, residential networking, or networking at Carleton in general.
Installing an Ethernet card usually is a pretty simple matter of opening up the Macintosh, identifying the correct slot to plug the card into, plugging the card in, and then closing up the case again. The only major exception to this is the Performa; it opens in an odd manner and the logic board needs to be reset before it recognizes the existence of the Ethernet card you've just installed.
Installing an adapter is also fairly painless. If you are installing an AAUI (Apple AUI) adapter, just find the appropriate outlet (the one with the <...> sign) on the back of the Macintosh and plug the adapter in. If you are working with an older Mac, we frequently use 25-pin SCSI adapters. You should be able to find the appropriate outlet (the one with the diamond shape) on the back of the Macintosh that will accept the adapter.
If you aren't sure if the Macintosh to be networked requires a NuBus card, a ComSlot card, an LC card, an external adapter, or already has built-in Etherenet, please consult one of the myriad of Mac databases kept in ACNS\COMMON\MAC or just ask.
If you needed to install a card or an external adapter to the Macintosh, you will most likely need to install drivers to enable communication between the card and the computer. In most cases, installing the appropriate software off of the accompanying disk is the best thing to do. In some cases, if the user bought a Macintosh with in-built Ethernet, they might have moved the Ethernet drivers and other network software to a separate folder or even thrown away those files. You will want to move the files back into their appropriate directories (you can often just drag the filesover to the System Folder and the operating system itself will take care of where to put them) or reinstall the software.
The network software that needs to be installed on the Macintosh is different depending on what kind of Macintosh you are working with. In most cases, you will want "classic" networking software, such as the Network and MacTCP control panels. If you are working with a PCI-based Mac, you will need to use Open Transport networking, which includes the AppleTalk and TCP/IP control panels. In most cases, this software is either already installed on the machine by the manufacturer or by the driver install disk; you might want to get newer versions of the software from the SysNet Macinstosh install disks.
Be prepared to reboot the computer several times during this process.
If AppleTalk is not active, turn it on by making it active in the Chooser. (You might need to reboot after doing this.)
If the Mac uses classical networking, open up the Network control panel. Make sure that it is set on the appropriate driver (Ethertalk).
Then open MacTCP. You will want to use the following settings:
You should obtain the IP address of the machine from Les, Dave, or C.
If the Mac uses Open Transport, open up the AppleTalk control panel. Set the network to Ethernet and set the current zone to the appropriate setting. Then open TCP/IP. Again, you will want to set it so that the computer is connected via Ethernet. Instead of setting everything manually, the computer will obtain its configuration information via a DHCP server; you should be able to set this under the Configure option.
Then Telnet from the Macintosh to Veblen. The DHCP server will send appropriate configuration information to the Macintosh and will lend it a "temporary" IP address. Run the comfile ACNS:[COMMON]DHCPMAIL and answer its questions; this will send the appropriate information to the DHCP maintainer so that the computer can get a more permenant IP address and a proper domain name.
Reboot the Macintosh to force it to boot up under the new settings. Then test the Appletalk networking by going under the Chooser and checking for zones. If you do see zones, make sure that you can see the various machines, printers, etc. that normally live in those zones..
The easiest way to test TCP/IP networking is to install Netscape and attempt to run it. If Netscape fails, it is more likely than not that the TCP/IP networking is not set up correctly.
First, if the computer does not have Disinfectant or other virus-checking software on it, please install Disinfectant.
You should be able to install Netscape from the SysNet Macintosh install disks. There are two versions of the archive: one is a Stuffit archive and the other is a self-extracting archive. Please note that if you need to use the self-extracting archive because the user does not have Stuffit Expander or any other method of expanding the Netscape archive, they will have a hard time with the Residential archives.
Once you have it installed, please try running it. If it is not set to do so already, the default home page should be:
http://www.carleton.edu/local (The Bald Spot page)
You should also place a bookmark for the following page:
http://www.carleton.edu/archives/res/mac/mac_dorm.html
You should show this page to the user, make sure that the user knows how to get back to this page, and explain the policy regarding the various programs archived here. Some users haven't done much work with Web browsers or worked with various archives; walk through the download and installation of an archive if they seem confused by things.
In most cases, walking people through an install of NSCA Telnet is helpful.
Installation of the client software is pretty trivial. First, you will want to confirm that the Macintosh is capable of running the client software. The Mac must has a 68030 or faster processor, 5 MB for free memory, be running System 7.1 or later, and have access to a Novell 4.1 server.
If the Macintosh that you are working on is running System 7.5.3 and is using the in-built Ethernet (Macintosh 660AV, 840AV, Power Macintosh 6100/60, 7100/66, 8100/80 Power Macintosh 6100/66, 7100/80, 8100/100), please see if the Apple Built-In Ethernet Update was installed on the machine. If not, please install it on the machine. This update fixes some problems with the MACE Ethernet controller.
Currently, the client installation software package can be found in the web archives. When the archive is expanded, you should have a folder named CL4MAC and it should contain (among other things) the NW Client Installer. Double-click on the NW Client Installer and do an Easy Install. Please note that the computer will reboot after the installation process is complete.
After the computer has rebooted itself, check the following:
Test the setup by logging into the Novell tree yourself and then walk the user through the login process.
Now that everything should work, there are a few details that need to be taken care of before you can leave. You will want to remove any temporary install files (such as the CL4MAC folder) and make sure the user know the location of all the software you've installed.
The last thing you need to do before you leave is to basically remind people what it means to have their computer on the Ethernet. They are a direct node now, as much as places like veblen.carleton.edu or www.yahoo.com are -- with all the pleasures and pitfalls that entails. We aren't responsible for any viruses they download or if some experimental beta software eats their hard drive alive. We can try to help, but our time, help, and energy are finite.
They should be aware that we don't really care what they do on the network; they can download every single picture in alt.erotica,binary.frogs if they so desire. We do care that they don't do anything that violates the user agreement or causes problems with the network.
Written by C. Liang
Last modified: July 9th, 1996