Since the system didn’t require logins, I assumed that it instead used the MAC address of the wireless interface, so I correctly assumed that it would just be a matter of spoofing a different address.

Steps to change MAC address on OS X (Current as of 10.6.x)

1. Open terminal window, determine which interface is your wifi interface.  In examples, we’ll use en0.
2. Type ‘ifconfig en0 |grep ether’ to determine your current MAC address.  Might as well copy that.
3. If you are currently associated with an access point, proceed to the next step.  Otherwise skip to step 5.
4. To dis-associate from access point,  while keeping the wireless interface up, type following: ‘sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z’
5. Enter the new MAC address:  ‘sudo ifconfig en0 ether 00:11:22:33:44:55′.  NOTE: you can simply change the last digit of your current address which will suffice.  Remember this is in hexadecimal, so 0-F are valid.
6. Verify:  ifconfig en0 |grep ether.  You should see the new MAC address for the interface.  If not, it’s likely that you were still associated to the access point. (Cannot change while associated)
7. Connect to the wireless network, proceed to the login page or whatever mechanism that is in use, and enjoy the renewed block of time.  It is probably good form to order another coffee if you are going to stay awhile…

Note:  You can for whatever reason revert to the standard MAC Address by using the same ‘sudo ifconfig en0 ether aa:bb..” command, or simply reboot where it will be read from the address burned onto the card.

The optical drive bracket is made of a solid piece of aluminum, in which the disk drive (SSD in this case) is mounted.  The SATA adapter circuit board is attached to the bracket by the way of three screws.  The hard disk is then mounted to the bracket by two screws on one side of the drive.   I have no worries about mounting an SSD drive in this adapter, but it would have been nice to have all four mounting points of the drive used.

The external USB powered superdrive kit is nearly identical to the Macbook Air Superdrive.  Obviously, the build quality is lacking in this knockoff , as the entire top is relatively flimsy plastic, where the Air Superdrive is sturdy aluminum, but it gets the job done and far better than some of the other external slim dvd cases that I’ve seen.

The Maxupgrades Optical Bay kit including usb case for Superdrive

The cheap, but perfectly adequate, set of tools included in the kit.

The optical drive bay frame. Solid piece of aluminum and is a perfect fit.

A view of the the OWC SSD drive mounted in the optical drive bay adapter.

Bottom view of SSD drive and SATA adapter

The USB case looks very much like the Air Superdrive

The Superdrive just sort of wedges into the case.

Optical bay adapter mounted in the 17inch Macbook Pro.

Not large enough to use for all of the data on the iMac, but more than enough for the OS, all of my apps, and even a couple VMWare fusion images I use on a regular basis.  Meanwhile the 1TB 3.5 drive handles all the rest of the junk (download files, iTunes library, etc.)

The results – After cloning my boot drive (SuperDuper), and restarting – the boot time was cut down to less than 1/4 of what it was with the 1TB drive. Launch times on big/slow apps (Eclipse, DBvisualizer, MS Word,etc.) is incredible.

Notes:  The slimline 2.5 Caddy was purchased from NewmodeUS.

A couple pics:

SSD Drive and Slimline sata drive caddy

SSD Mounted in Caddy

The iMac opened up, exposing the Superdrive

SSD installed

The pictures will just have to speak for themselves for the time being.

I recently decided to trade up from my Mac Mini, and into something a bit more powerful. Which led me to create the ‘DorkPro‘.

Made out of cheap PC hardware and put into carefully wedged into a discarded G5 case, the Dork Pro performs like a real Mac Pro, at a fraction of the cost.


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