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Viewing Wi-Fi Details in Snow Leopard

In Snow Leopard, hold down the Option key before clicking the AirPort menu. Doing so reveals additional technical details including which standards, speeds, and frequencies you're using to connect, as well as what's in use by other networks. With the Option key held down and with a network already joined, the AirPort menu reveals seven pieces of information: the PHY Mode, the MAC (Media Access Control) address, the channel and band in use, the security method that's in use, the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) measurement, the transmit rate, and the MCS Index. In Leopard, some, but not all, of these details are revealed by Option-clicking the AirPort menu.


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Macs & Mac OS X | 13 Aug 2007 | Listen  | Print Printer-Friendly Version of This Article

Hardware-Related Updates Follow Apple Announcements

by Jeff Carlson Send Email to Author

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Not long after Steve Jobs left the stage at last week's Apple press event, a succession of small updates began to pop up, some of which applied to the brand-new machines themselves. The following updates are available via Software Update or as stand-alone downloads.

People who unpacked their new aluminum iMacs were treated to iMac Software Update 1.0, which provides unspecified "important bug fixes." It's a 5.1 MB download.

The Keyboard Software Update 1.1 is intended for people who purchased the aluminum Apple Keyboard separately and enables features such as the remapped function keys that adjust brightness and activate Exposé. The update, a 32.1 MB download, covers both the wired and wireless versions, though the latter isn't expected to ship until next month.

The Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.1 applies to Apple's desktop tower Macs and adjusts the fan behavior; it's a 544K download.

The company's latest professional laptops also gained a boost in the form of MacBook Pro Software Update 1.1, which contains important bug fixes and also addresses issues with Motion versions 2 and 3. The 14.7 MB download applies to the 2.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro models.

 

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