By Prince McLean
Published: 08:00 PM EST (05:00 PM PST)
Installing Software: Remote Install
While Remote Disc is a "nice to have" alternative to carrying around the SuperDrive, being able to use the drive to reinstall Mac OS X is even more useful, and appeared to work more reliably than Remote Disc, too. The CD and DVD Sharing software also installs a new utility that allows a remote system to host a bootable DVD for the Air over the network called Remote Install Mac OS X (below). With the utility installed on nearby host system, you won't need to carry a USB hard disk with a copy of the Air's Install DVD, making the Air easier to set up afresh than other systems.
Once launched from the host system, Remote Install leads the user through a setup process that identifies the shared DVD and allows the user to select to use WiFi or an Ethernet cable for the remote installation.
It then directs the user to boot the Air with the option key held down (below).
Option booting on the Air brings up a modified disk startup selection screen (below top) that allows the Air to find a host on the local network running the Remote Install utility, as well as enabling the Air to join a wireless network in order to find one. It presents the discovered network install DVD as a bootable drive, and after selecting it, the DVD boots and runs just as if it were directly attached.
During the install process, both the Air and the host system serving the installer DVD show a progress bar indicating how long the process is estimated to take.
How Slow Is a WiFi OS Install?
Performing the same Mac OS X "erase and install" on the Air, including the bundled applications but manually deselecting X11, extra fonts, printer drivers, languages, the remote Ethernet install was actually slightly faster compared to using the directly attached USB SuperDrive. Over WiFi, we expected the install to take much longer. It did not.
54 minutes to install Mac OS X from SuperDrive DVD
50 minutes to install Mac OS X from Remote Install DVD over Ethernet
and drumroll please...
49 minutes to install Mac OS X from Remote Install DVD over WiFi. Yes, we couldn't believe that either.
Why was WiFi such a problem for Migration Assistant but so brilliantly well executed and practical for use with Remote Install? Who knows, but we were floored by the slick wireless install. Simply option boot the Air, select the desired wireless network from the drop down menu, enter your password, and installation takes off just as if it were booting from an install DVD. After completing the first phase, it reboots and continues the install process, asking for the wireless password again. It then finishes up and you're done.
Of course, if you have a flakey WiFi network, a non-standard wireless router, or are using something other than 802.11n WiFi, you have to lower your expectations. Apple presents a few suggestions for reducing sources of wireless interference, including turning off Bluetooth. As long as your WiFi works well, Remote Install should blow you away.
Remote Repair and other Utilities
In addition to using this process to install Mac OS X, it can also be used to remotely access other features of the Mac OS X DVD, including:
Startup Disk, for manually setting the boot device.
Reset Password, in case a user account login password is lost.
Firmware Password Utility, for securing the Air against anyone else booting it from the installer DVD and wiping a password.
Disk Utility for remote verifying or repairing of the Air's drive.
Terminal
System Profiler
Network Utility
Restore System from Backup, which uses Time Machine to restore the system.
These installer features usually only work when a Mac is booted directly from the installer DVD, and do not work when the DVD is imaged to hard drive. This restriction is in place to prevent other users from overriding firmware password security and running the utilities, particularly Password Reset, on a machine they are not authorized to reset. With full physical access to the system, however, anyone can learn how to override the firmware password; the Air is not secured against theft even when a firmware password is set, and must be kept physically secured.
Unlike Remote Disc, the Remote Install process didn't ever give us any troubles. The issues with Remote Disc seem to be related to Bonjour browsing, which can sometimes be a tricky beast. Remote Install only uses Bonjour for initial discovery of the installer disc, and appears to rely on Apple's already mature NetBoot technology to do the heavy lifting. Still, we were impressed that the DVD installer could boot and complete over WiFi so rapidly, and hope to see this new wireless install firmware rolled out for all new Macs, both to simplify network installs and to provide easy access to the DVD utilities from a central host.
To Buy or Not To Buy
Our experience with Remote Install suggests -- against our preconceived notions -- that Air users don't necessarily need to buy the $30 Ethernet dongle and need only consider getting the $99 SuperDrive if they have needs Remote Disc can't solve. Once the early adopter Remote Disc issues are resolved, the SuperDrive will be even less important, but simply being able to burn DVDs, watch DVD movies, and rip CDs seems to make the external drive an easy option to spring for when getting the Air, even if (or perhaps "when") Remote Disc works well enough to not need it.
Just as with the SuperDrive, the USB Ethernet adapter only works with the MacBook Air, and sports the same black-labeled packaging to distinguish that fact.
In the Apple store, the Air's USB Ethernet adapter was placed next to thin FireWire cables intended for use with MacBooks, which seems like a cruel tease for Air users.
One More Thing...
There's still another buying decision MacBook Air users will need to think about: that $1000 Solid State Drive option. Is it worth the extra grand? We've been running tests to find out, and will present them in the next segment on the MacBook Air.
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