Location Manager
System Tool that Made it Easy to Switch Locations
In System 9, you could easily change settings based on a location in the Location Manager. This made it easy to switch internet connections and printer setups.
Users can save common settings such as Internet IP address, Remote Access Info, and Default Printers. When they arrived at a location, they can switch to the saved settings and immediately get to work.
Three Things I Learned
In MacOS X, there were two tools that replaced the functionality of Location Manager: Marco Polo, Location Manager X, and ControlPlane. These Apps didn't last that long - maybe it was too much work to keep up with the OSX changes?
Apple still doesn't have any built-in replacement tool for Location Manager. This would be useful for people that use laptops in multiple locations. Some of the setups have been migrated to the User Login configurations.
My WallStreet Powerbook still has all the configurations from Acclaim Technology - a company that I worked at in California. There's no reason to keep the information on the computer - as the company has been out of business for more than 20-years! I just have it there for historical purposes.
About Apple Location Manager
The following is from Apple's help on using the Location Manager:
You use the Location Manager control panel to create or select a group of settings, called a location, for your computer.
The location that is currently selected determines which settings are in effect. When you select a different location, your computer's settings change to the ones established for that location.
If you use your computer in several places and need to use different settings for items such as networking, file sharing, time zone, and printing, you can use Location Manager to make changing settings more efficient.
Once you've set up a location, you change settings by selecting the location in the Location Manager control panel or the Control Strip.
If need to switch between the different network you settings for items such as TCP/IP, PPP, and AppleTalk, you can group these settings as a location in Location Manager.
Once you've set up a location, you can change your settings by selecting the location in the Location Manager control panel or from the Control Strip.
If a computer is shared by several people who use different settings for items such as volume and networking, you can set up each user's settings as a separate location in the Location Manager control panel.
Location Manager can then be set so that at startup users can select their own settings.
Third-party applications or control panels may install additional modules that increase the capabilities of Location Manager.
You can use these modules to create locations that change settings in a single application or for the entire system.