Whatnot

MacBook Pro 6,2 running 10.6.8 Obviously no serial port on the above so how to go about connecting up a Cisco console cable? http://plugable.com/products/PL2303-DB9 These pointed me in the right direction: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080218140558128 - particularly the comments and using 'screen' http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/691299 http://stevenwinterhalter.com/2011/08/26/how-to-connect-your-mac-to-a-cisco-console-port/ In short buy the above USB adapter, install the enclosed "driver", connect up cable, power up and run: screen /dev/tty.usbserial 9600 in the terminal. Bosh. Your in. To get out: I can't quite remember what worked for me. I think it was: "Ctrl-a d" to detach window

I stayed up far too long last night figuring this out, so a post is warranted. VMware Fusion 3.1.3 on Mac 10.6.8 running Debian 5 (lenny) VM. NAT working fine but for some reason it just wouldn't work in bridged mode. I was trawling the t'internet for reasons why when it dawned on me, after reading that for some folk it worked with wired internet, but not wirelessly. If your wireless network is locked down to MAC addresses (access control) then your VM running in bridge mode won't be able to pick up an IP address because... ...it has a different MAC address! Obvious isn't it... grrrrr. I wanted to run in bridged (always used NAT before) so I could connect to services run by the guest OS from the host. I was playing with vnc4server and trying to connect to debian using the Mac Screen Sharing built in app. As an aside don't bother, the base install already comes with remote desktop (vino) which must get in the way as I had all sorts of difficulty. Runnin...

So, delays ssh'ing into my dev box on LAN at home. Check this for probable Kerberos issues getting in the way: http://macnewbie.wordpress.com/2006/08/30/slow-ssh-connections-on-mac-os-x/ :)

When MacOS became Mac OS X I was initially skeptical, thought it was slow and not all that... How wrong I was. Amongst a multitude of other things, one of the great aspects of this OS is it's Unix underpinnings. If it hadn't been I'd have probably never dabbled with Unix and the power that comes with the CLI. Nice :)