In order to connect a laptop to Mathematics computer network, you will need to provide your computer’s MAC address.

The MAC address look like xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx where x is a hexidecimal character. The method for retrieving a computer’s MAC address varies for different operating systems:

  • Windows.
    • From the Start Menu, choose the “Run…” option.
    • Run the “cmd.exe” program.
    • Once the DOS box has appeared, type “ipconfig /all” into it.
    • The output from the ipconfig command lists the MAC address for each of the network interfaces on your computer. If your computer can connect to a wireless network, you have two MAC addresses. You need to find the non-wireless address.
  • Mac OSX
    • Click on the Apple (BlueApplefromMenu) in the top left corner of your screen.
    • Click the “About this Mac” option.
    • Click the “More Info” button.
    • Click on the top level “Network” link.
    • Scroll down to the bottom of the resulting information, until you see the MAC address entry.
    • It will look something like this:
    • OSX.SystemProfiler.Network
  • Linux
    • Run the command: ifconfig -a
  • Solaris
    • Run the command: arp computer_name (or arp `uname -n`)