October 16, 2004
Apple simplicity: let the user add an obscure extra character instead of putting all the options in the drop-down list

Nerd document follows:

One of Wendy's friends got an Airport Express and let me try it out. I already have a Linksys BEFWS114 router + wiress access point + switch, so I wanted to just have the AE join my existing wireless network. Unfortunately, it turns out that manufacturers don't agree on how to generate WEP keys from passphrases. Thankfully, the OS X connection settings let you specify WEP keys directly in hex or ASCII, with a pull-down menu to specify the format. However, the Airport Express configuration manager only has a box for a WEP passphrase.

After a lot of annoying trial and error and Googling, I remembered that back in the old days I had to enter a "$" in front of my WEP key to get OS X to figure it out. It was buried in the fine print of the user manual that came with my Airport card ages ago. So out of curiosity, I tried just entering the dollar sign plus the WEP key into the AE utility's "WEP passphrase" box. Bingo! Green light!

I have no idea why Apple didn't just put in a pull-down menu like in the OS X connection settings to let you enter WEP keys directly. It would make it so much easier to get things working with third party wireless access points.

Also, I can't get Windows to use the HP PSC 1210 printer when I attach it to the AE. The Macs have no problem, of course. Overall, the Airport Express is a very nice little device, especially if you're content to do everything the Apple way.

Posted by tim at October 16, 2004 11:24 PM
Comments

have you hacked the AE to allow you to use it as a system sound output, rather than just an mp3 player? that would be much more useful imho.

Posted by: r. on October 24, 2004 06:42 AM

It didn't belong to me and it's gone now, so I didn't get too crazy with it. Plus, the latency on the AE would make it pretty sucky for system sound output. There's a delay of a few seconds between hitting "play" in iTunes and hearing the sound from the AE. It's fine if you're just playing music but it wouldn't sync with playing movies or pinging whenever I hit the wrong key.

Posted by: tim on October 24, 2004 12:28 PM
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