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Is Rendezvous Sharing More Than You'd Like?

Posted by Cliff on from the loose-server-ports-sink-LANs dept.

Gropo asks: "I just got an email from my father who has just recently upgraded from OS 9 to Mac OS X on his PowerMac. He's connected to the 'net via Adelphia Cable and shares his TCP connection with my Mother's iMac via Software Base Station. He got a call from his neighbor (also running Mac OS X) who noticed 'My Father's Computer' show up on his network. My first thought was: 'He's picking up your AirPort signal' - alas the neighbor has no AirPort card. The neighbor *does* however also have an Adelphia cable modem. I asked him to scan for available afp:// servers and sure enough, a foreign machine showed up. What's the easiest way (if at all possible) to enable auto-detection for the local wireless LAN (useful for file and printer sharing within the household) yet remain invisible to other people also behind the cable companies' local DHCP box?"

6 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. mac attack by Michael.Forman · · Score: 5, Funny


    there once was a power mac
    on the net i thought i'd hack
    i was stunned to see
    it ran bsd
    my plans were thus set back


    Michael.

    sh: /usr/bin/fortune: not found

    --
    Linux : Mac :: VW : Mercedes
  2. It's easy to fix... by dotgod · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just apply the patch. ;-)

  3. Rendevous Web Servers by grouchomarxist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Recent versions of MacOS added rendezvous support to web servers, so you can automatically detect those web servers using Safari. As a result I came across a co-worker's web site and saw some rather racy web sites that he was working on in his spare time.

    So yes. Rendezvous just might be sharing more than you'd like!

  4. Talk about unlikely... by Big+Sean+O · · Score: 4, Funny

    Two guys, neighbors, both running Jaguar, both on the same cable modem subnet.

    I mean, what are the odds? They're so low to be trivial! :-)

    (Caveat: I've been a Mac user since 1984, so this slam is just good natured ribbing...)

    --
    My father is a blogger.
  5. Re:time to "switch" by Gropo · · Score: 4, Funny
    Wow, hilarious. Guess what? Dad started out in the industry by programming tabulation machines in the 60's, later IBM mainframes, partnered in a business renting time on Harvard's mainframe to calculate regional school system schedules and even co-authored a Lord of the Rings game for the MiniPDP he'd bring home to us on weekends back in the early 80's.

    I don't think he needs some greenhorn pissant telling him what platform best suits his needs.
    Get dad a secure Windows XP machine.
    SOMEONE SET UP MY DAD THE RAW SOCKETS

    Try again, dingleberry.
    --
    I hate Grammar Nazi's
  6. iTunes aplenty then? by davstein · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, with Rendezvous on, you could potentially have a TON of iTunes libraries at your disposal, right?