Mac and Linux Networking Question

[Guest]

Hi, so after my recent experiences with Windows, I have found that I really don't like the way Windows manages and keeps history of connections and their hosts. Do mac OSXes and or Linux OSes such as Ubuntu have a better logging of history for these kinds of things? I want in depth detail for each connection with a nice format. 

 

If this should be in software and OS, my bad, I think it's networking related though too. On the edge maybe? Idk, sorry it's late and I have been working for a very long time on tech stuff. 

[ALwin]

snip

 

In OSX, it keeps a record of the various WiFi connections/hotspots you've connected to.  You have various network connection settings per connection type (WiFi, USB ethernet, Thunderbolt ethernet, etc.) and save their settings individually.  You can make network connection setting profiles (a.k.a. Location) so that (for example) if your school/office requires a proxy but your home doesn't, you do not need to re-enter the proxy server address all the time when you move your Macbook between home and school/work, you just switch the profile.

 

When it comes to doing certain things, without the reliance of third party applications or tools, I find OSX does them better than Windows.

[Guest]

In OSX, it keeps a record of the various WiFi connections/hotspots you've connected to.  You have various network connection settings per connection type (WiFi, USB ethernet, Thunderbolt ethernet, etc.) and save their settings individually.  You can make network connection setting profiles (a.k.a. Location) so that (for example) if your school/office requires a proxy but your home doesn't, you do not need to re-enter the proxy server address all the time when you move your Macbook between home and school/work, you just switch the profile.

 

When it comes to doing certain things, without the reliance of third party applications or tools, I find OSX does them better than Windows.

That sounds similar to how Windows works with Home, Work and Public networks

[ALwin]

That sounds similar to how Windows works with Home, Work and Public networks

 

In a way it does, however Windows seems to have only these three locations while in OSX you can choose to have as many locations or profiles as you want.

 

In Windows, I don't recall being able to keep different static IP address settings using a profile.  But in OSX, if at home you can rely on the DHCP server to get a dynamic IP but at other places you are required to enter the IP address manually, you can just save all of that using the location profiles.  With Windows you cannot save profiles like these.

[Guest]

In a way it does, however Windows seems to have only these three locations while in OSX you can choose to have as many locations or profiles as you want.

 

In Windows, I don't recall being able to keep different static IP address settings using a profile.  But in OSX, if at home you can rely on the DHCP server to get a dynamic IP but at other places you are required to enter the IP address manually, you can just save all of that using the location profiles.  With Windows you cannot save profiles like these.

OSX sounds pretty promising, thank you for that, how about Ubuntu? Does it have something like that?

[ALwin]

OSX sounds pretty promising, thank you for that, how about Ubuntu? Does it have something like that?

 

No, I'm not that familiar with Linux.

[Guest]

No, I'm not that familiar with Linux.

in OSX, is it possible to save settings for a specific network and for each time you connect to that network wired and or wireless? And then is it possible to edit the connection settings of a network if you're not connected to it on OSX as well? The second bit I wasn't able to on windows 

[ALwin]

in OSX, is it possible to save settings for a specific network and for each time you connect to that network wired and or wireless? And then is it possible to edit the connection settings of a network if you're not connected to it on OSX as well? The second bit I wasn't able to on windows 

 

For this, save it as a location profile.  And yes you can edit the settings even if you are not connected to that network, or at least you should be able to.

 

For example, say you have a single WiFi connection at home but you want to save two different profiles based on some criteria.  You can save the settings as, for example, Location Home 1 and Location Home 2 each with different IP addresses or proxy settings, etc.  The profiles/locations you save in OSX will also save the settings for whether you are connected via ethernet, WiFi, etc.  So you can have 1 profile for WiFi at home and another for ethernet at home.