macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual

Wiring the Network

Most people connect their computers using one of two connection systems: Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

Note

Until recently, Apple had its own name for Wi-Fi: AirPort. That’s what it said in System Preferences→Network, for example, and that’s what the menulet was called.

AirPort was a lot cleverer, wordplay-wise, than the meaningless “Wi-Fi.” Unfortunately, not many people realized that AirPort was the same thing as what the rest of the world called Wi-Fi. So at least in its onscreen references, these days, Apple gives AirPort a new name: Wi-Fi.

Ethernet Networks

Every desktop Mac has an Ethernet jack (Figure 14-1). Apple laptops don’t have Ethernet jacks built in, but you can add one in the form of an adapter that plugs into one of your USB jacks.

Figure 14-1. Every Mac except the Air has a built-in Ethernet jack (left). It looks like an overweight telephone jack. It connects to an Ethernet router or hub (right) via an Ethernet cable (also known as Cat 5 or Cat 6), which ends in what looks like an overweight telephone-wire plug (also known as an RJ-45 connector).

If you connect all the Macs and Ethernet printers in your small office to a central Ethernet hub, switch, or router—a compact, inexpensive box with jacks for five, 10, or even more computers and printers—you’ve got yourself ...