Airport Utility

Apple has released new versions of Airport Utility for the Mac and for iOS.
(6.1 and 5.6.1 for the Mac, and 1.1 for iOS). The major changes are
support for the new Airport Express and the addition of IPv6 (except for
5.6.1, which already had it in 5.6) support.

Although Airport 5.6 could run on Lion, 5.6.1 cannot; it can run only on
Mac OS X 10.5.3 through 10.6.8. But that's no big loss because about the
only thing that 5.6 could do that 6.0 couldn't was support IPv6.

--
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.

On 6/12/12 11:14 AM, Michelle Steiner wrote:
> Apple has released new versions of Airport Utility for the Mac and for iOS.
> (6.1 and 5.6.1 for the Mac, and 1.1 for iOS). The major changes are
> support for the new Airport Express and the addition of IPv6 (except for
> 5.6.1, which already had it in 5.6) support.
>
> Although Airport 5.6 could run on Lion, 5.6.1 cannot; it can run only on
> Mac OS X 10.5.3 through 10.6.8. But that's no big loss because about the
> only thing that 5.6 could do that 6.0 couldn't was support IPv6.
>
There is something else. When I upgraded to 6.0 awhile back I discovered
that it doesn't enable the Time Capsule archive function. When I called
Apple, they told me to revert to 5.6. I wonder if they've restored that
function in 6.1.

Michelle Steiner <> wrote:

> Apple has released new versions of Airport Utility for the Mac and for iOS.
> (6.1 and 5.6.1 for the Mac, and 1.1 for iOS). The major changes are
> support for the new Airport Express and the addition of IPv6 (except for
> 5.6.1, which already had it in 5.6) support.
>
> Although Airport 5.6 could run on Lion, 5.6.1 cannot; it can run only on
> Mac OS X 10.5.3 through 10.6.8. But that's no big loss because about the
> only thing that 5.6 could do that 6.0 couldn't was support IPv6.

Hardly. I had a look yesterday at 5.6 and 6.1 side by side, and found a
lot of features in 5.6 that are still missing in 6.1.

Without repeating the exercise, off the top of my head 6.1 is still
missing:

- RADIUS access control
- SNMP configuration
- log access and forwarding
- detailed view of client connections and signal strengths
- some more obscure IPv6 settings
- Bonjour network name configuration (local and global)
- Use wide channels setting
- Interference robustness
- Multicast rate
- Transmit power

There were probably a few more.

If the simultaneous dual-band Airport Express supports any of those
features, then you cannot configure them on Lion at present, because
Apple hasn't released a version of Airport Utility for Lion which
supports this model and those features. The iOS version can't configure
these features either, so you would have to use a Mac running Leopard or
Snow Leopard, or a PC running Windows 7.

I tried installing Airport Utility 5.6.1 on Lion and it refuses. Having
a look inside the package, it updates a bunch of frameworks so it
clearly is specific to Snow Leopard and Leopard. Apple would have to
release a separate build for Lion.

I've ordered the new Airport Express, so I should be able to have a play
with it in the next couple of days.

--
David Empson

In article <1klmicy.trjm0n5vz4eN%>,
(David Empson) wrote:

> I tried installing Airport Utility 5.6.1 on Lion and it refuses. Having
> a look inside the package, it updates a bunch of frameworks so it
> clearly is specific to Snow Leopard and Leopard. Apple would have to
> release a separate build for Lion.

I don't know about 5.6.1 but Version 5.6 (560.18) runs just fine under
Lion on my iMac.

--
PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf
of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. -- Ambrose Bierce

Tom Stiller <> wrote:

> In article <1klmicy.trjm0n5vz4eN%>,
> (David Empson) wrote:
>
> > I tried installing Airport Utility 5.6.1 on Lion and it refuses. Having
> > a look inside the package, it updates a bunch of frameworks so it
> > clearly is specific to Snow Leopard and Leopard. Apple would have to
> > release a separate build for Lion.
>
> I don't know about 5.6.1 but Version 5.6 (560.18) runs just fine under
> Lion on my iMac.

And for me, but 5.6 doesn't support the new model of Airport Express
(simultaneous dual-band 802.11n).

You need to run 5.6.1 (Leopard, Snow Leopard or Windows 7) or 6.1 (Lion)
to configure the new Airport Express. 6.1 is missing lots of
configuration options, so at present it looks like Lion users won't be
able to configure some features of the new Airport Express, unless all
those features are actually removed from the device and not configurable
using 5.6.1 either.

--
David Empson

In article <tom_stiller->,
Tom Stiller <> wrote:

> I don't know about 5.6.1 but Version 5.6 (560.18) runs just fine under
> Lion on my iMac.

5.6.1 will not install on Lion.

--
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.

On 6/12/12 6:09 PM, Ed Anson wrote:
> On 6/12/12 11:14 AM, Michelle Steiner wrote:
>> Apple has released new versions of Airport Utility for the Mac and for
>> iOS.
>> (6.1 and 5.6.1 for the Mac, and 1.1 for iOS). The major changes are
>> support for the new Airport Express and the addition of IPv6 (except for
>> 5.6.1, which already had it in 5.6) support.
>>
>> Although Airport 5.6 could run on Lion, 5.6.1 cannot; it can run only on
>> Mac OS X 10.5.3 through 10.6.8. But that's no big loss because about the
>> only thing that 5.6 could do that 6.0 couldn't was support IPv6.
>>
> There is something else. When I upgraded to 6.0 awhile back I discovered
> that it doesn't enable the Time Capsule archive function. When I called
> Apple, they told me to revert to 5.6. I wonder if they've restored that
> function in 6.1.

I just checked. The 6.1 update still does NOT support the TC archive
function. Since that's most of what I use the airport utility for on a
regular basis, I guess I'm still stuck at 5.6.

In article <michelle->,
Michelle Steiner <> wrote:

> In article <tom_stiller->,
> Tom Stiller <> wrote:
>
> > I don't know about 5.6.1 but Version 5.6 (560.18) runs just fine under
> > Lion on my iMac.
>
> 5.6.1 will not install on Lion.

Which is what David Empson said in the quoted section you snipped.

--
PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf
of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. -- Ambrose Bierce

In article <1klmrox.1klnmyouxb272N%>,
(David Empson) wrote:

> Tom Stiller <> wrote:
>
> > In article <1klmicy.trjm0n5vz4eN%>,
> > (David Empson) wrote:
> >
> > > I tried installing Airport Utility 5.6.1 on Lion and it refuses. Having
> > > a look inside the package, it updates a bunch of frameworks so it
> > > clearly is specific to Snow Leopard and Leopard. Apple would have to
> > > release a separate build for Lion.
> >
> > I don't know about 5.6.1 but Version 5.6 (560.18) runs just fine under
> > Lion on my iMac.
>
> And for me, but 5.6 doesn't support the new model of Airport Express
> (simultaneous dual-band 802.11n).
>
> You need to run 5.6.1 (Leopard, Snow Leopard or Windows 7) or 6.1 (Lion)
> to configure the new Airport Express. 6.1 is missing lots of
> configuration options, so at present it looks like Lion users won't be
> able to configure some features of the new Airport Express, unless all
> those features are actually removed from the device and not configurable
> using 5.6.1 either.

So, David, does 5.6.1 keep all the features of 5.6.0 which were in your
omitted list for 6.1? In other words, if one doesn't plan to buy a new
Express, is there any reason to upgrade from 5.6.0 to 5.6.1 if you're
running 10.5/6?

--
Republicans' blaming Obama for the national debt are like an arsonist
blaming the fire department for the fire.

Fred Moore <> wrote:

> In other words, if one doesn't plan to buy a new
> Express, is there any reason to upgrade from 5.6.0 to 5.6.1 if you're
> running 10.5/6?

You can't upgrade _from_ 5.6 to 5.6.1 because 5.6.1 doesn't run on 10.7
and 5.6 doesn't run on anything _but_ 10.7. On 10.5 or 10.6, you can
upgrade from 5.5.3 to 5.6.1 but not to 5.6. On 10.7, you can upgrade
from 5.5.3 to 5.6 (and/or 6.x) but not to 5.6.1.

Yes, it's weird. Think different.