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Reviews
@ Applelust
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Review:
Connectix DoubleTalk
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Connectix Doubletalk
For too long, Macs have been discriminated
against in the corporate PC-centric environment. The
mere mention of the word 'Macintosh' within earshot
of certain IT people may bring on convulsions, cold
sweats and dry-mouth. I say "certain IT people"
because I've heard from many IT professionals who
love Macs as much as I do. It's just another example
of Macrimination
as reported by our very own Steve Sobek.
At this very moment I'm typing this
review (yes, this IS a review, keep reading) on my
Titanium Powerbook G4 in an office entirely composed
of PC's. You see, I am the square peg amidst a plethora
of round holes. I have Apple posters covering my office
walls proclaiming my 'squareness'. However, this should
not prevent me from gaining access to the same services
my fellow employees enjoy on a daily basis. In fact,
I have access to our NT Server files & folders,
Mail Server and Internet services. The latter two
of which I had access to even BEFORE installing the
program of which I am about to speak.
It's a wonderful little program called
Connectix DoubleTalk. It allows
Macintosh computers to access Windows networks without
provoking your IT person to laugh at you. In
fact your IT people don't even need to know your using
it! You simply install Doubletalk on your Mac, adjust
a few settings and you've got access to files, folders,
and printers on your company's Windows network.
Accessing Doubletalk's features is simple
as well. A handy control strip module provides access
to activating or deactivating Doubletalk, logging
in and out, opening the chooser and opening the Doubletalk
Control Panel.
The control panel is where you enter
your network settings. If your company is using DHCP
it's even easier to set up. DHCP automatically obtains
all necessary information directly from the Windows
server. Otherwise you may need to contact your IT
person and get the proper information.
Initially, I had problems getting Doubletalk
to let me log into our NT domain at work. However,
I was still able to access network files. I just had
to enter my network id and password every time I needed
to access a drive. A call to Connectix tech support
resulted in no reply to my request for help. Recently,
my company made a corporate wide switch to using DHCP
and this solved my login problems. Now, I may simply
log in once and access files and folders many times
over.
Unfortunately, my company doesn't have
any Postscript capable printers attached to the network,
so printing with Doubletalk is not an option for me
at the moment. Yet, to access printers and files you
must first log in to the Windows network using the
name, password and domain name provided to you by
your IT people.
If you don't have a login name or password
you'll need to be assigned one by your IT person.
Once logged in you use the Chooser in the Apple menu
to access the network. Doubletalk uses your Mac's
built in Appletalk protocol to access Windows resources.
You'll notice after Doubletalk is activated the Chooser's
appearance changes slightly. The left column is divided
in half and a list of domains or zones is shown in
the lower half while your printers and protocols remain
at the top. Once you select Appletalk in the top half
and a domain in the bottom half you'll see a list
of computers in the right column that belong to your
domain.
Double clicking on a computer in the
domain will open a dialog box showing you any shared
resources that are accessible. Double clicking on
a shared resource then mounts it on your Mac desktop
just like all other media.
When opened, you'll see a list of files
and/or folders in the familiar finder interface ready
to be copied to or from. When you're done with the
resource simply drag it to the trash and it goes away.
Accessing printers is nearly the same, except you
choose the LaserWriter 8 icon in the chooser instead
of the Appletalk icon. Select a domain and any postscript
compatible printers shared on that domain will appear
in the right column. Select a printer and it too will
appear on your desktop ready to be printed to. You
will need to find an appropriate PPD (PostScript Printer
Description) file and install it into the Printer
Descriptions folder in your extensions folder. You
can visit http://www.connectix.com/doubletalk/support
for instructions on downloading PPD files.
So far, Doubletalk has worked great
for me, and lucky for Connectix tech support because
my initial problem worked itself out. The Doubletalk
documentation is very thorough and well laid out with
a FAQ section at the end.
With Connectix Doubletalk, Mac users
no longer need to feel left out for simply wanting
to use the most elegantly designed computers on the
planet. As for those IT people, well, I think most
of them are just jealous because you get to have your
cake and eat it too.
Michael
Tate Jones
