OPINION • OCTOBER 4, 2000
Road Hog: Separating the Hogs from the Sheep [Page 3 of 3]

OS X on a Hog?
The highest-end multiprocessing on Macs will have to wait for OS X, of course, which is why the dawgs at the companies above were all using Linux to run their demos. I have to confess that I'm only moderately amused by the notion of OS X at this point.

I'm amused as hell, though, that Apple thinks we'll pronounce it "Oh Ess Ten," which is what they want, rather than "Oh Ess Ecks," which is what it freakin' SAYS. Of course, these geniuses are the same ones who wanted us to pronounce SCSI as "Sexy," and I'm convinced that the reason they killed the technology is because we insisted on calling it "Scuzzy."

I use my Road Hog for work, though, which is why I don't have much interest in finding out all the ways that OS "Ecks" doesn't. That said, you can indeed run it on your Hog, as long as it's of post-Wall Street vintage. (Hey, what were they thinking with THAT name?)

But I'm going to copy something here that I read elsewhere, a very clever workaround for the fact that "Ecks" doesn't currently support wireless networking. Here's exactly what I saw, edited only for spelling and punctuation:

"Log in as 'root'- type that in as your username, no password. You have to do this to gain access to change system files. In the directory: system->library->extensions, make another folder called "Airport.Kext". Open up a text editor, usually the one included in OS X called 'text editor.' Under format, select plain text instead of rich text, then paste/type exactly as shown:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist SYSTEM
"file://localhost/System/Library/DTDs/PropertyList.dtd">
<plist version="0.9">
<dict>
<key>Date</key>
<string>March 17, 2000</string>
<key>Name</key>
<string>com.apple.AirPort</string>.....

(Okay, I'm skipping the next TWENTY lines of code, but it continues thusly....)

Then restart your machine. Log in as you normally would this type. Select system preferences, and choose network. You will see a different setting, one called Ethernet card 1- choose it and select DHCP (hopefully that is what your ISP uses, if not, you are most likely out of luck). You may have to click the lock to make changes. In any case, keep selecting stuff until the 'apply' button is available. When you restart, your AirPort should be functioning."

Should be??

Please don't think I'm making fun of this guy. I think he deserves a medal for figuring this out. But I think he shows that we're a long, long way from getting any real work done with OS "Ecks," unless you consider cleaning up after Apple's unfinished development on your own dime to be your real work. But hey, if it is, go for it whole Hog, as long as yours was born after 1998. And know that all the bleating the sheep can muster will make no difference whatsoever one way or the other, except to other sheep.

All the more reason to avoid stocks in the end, and stick to Hog futures.

Tim Wilson, Man About Town™, is the Producer of Plug-in Central, one of the Core Connections here at Digital Media Net. Write him at twilson@digitalmedianet.com.

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