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Home Wireless Network: Will This Work?


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Home Wireless Network: Will This Work?
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Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2005-02-12, 09:55

We soon will be buying a second computer - an iMac G5 to add to our iMac G3 - and will likely set up a wireless home network to connect the two computers and to allow my wife's Wintel PC laptop to connect wirelessly to our high-speed internet connection.

Networking is a new thing for me. I have learned a bit reading these forums and my OS X 'Missing Manual', but still feel pretty unknowledgeable. My main objectives in home networking are sharing our broadband connection and a printer, while allowing my wife's Windows laptop to hook up, on occasion, wirelessly. My main worry is any slowdown in internet access by any of the computers due to wireless networking (I am impatient on the internet).

Here is my proposed set up:

- I will connect a wireless router - 802.11g - to my high-speed modem.
- I will connect the G3 to the wireless router via cable (ethernet, I assume). The G3 does not currently have an Airport card, and even if I bought one it would - I understand - only have 802.11b capability, which could slow down my internet connection if I connected the G3 wirelessly and even, I have read, slow down the whole wireless network.
- I will have the G5 equipped with an Airport Extreme card and network the G5 wirelessly.
- I assume I will also be able to wirelessly network my wife's PC laptop - equipped with 802.11b, only unfortunately - on occasion when needed.
- I would connect the printer to the wireless router to be my 'network' printer.


Will this work or am I on the wrong track? Also, a couple of other questions:

- What is my best bet for a wireless router for this purpose. Airport Base Station? Airport Express? Third-party router?

- Will my G5 connected wirelessly -802.11g - to my broadband modem maintain the speedy internet connection that I want and expect?

I would be very grateful for any advice.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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thegelding
feeling my oats
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: there are nice people here...that makes me happy
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2005-02-12, 10:23

mmmm...more questions rather than answers probably here chinney my friend...

i have my iMac DV wireless and my iMac FP wireless...i don't think the DV will slow down your G5 (congrats on that)...they should flow independently, but what do i know, neither one of my machines are airport extreme

i like having them all wireless personally, and would recommend this site:

http://www.lacocostore.com/cgi-bin/r....cgi?group=air

though i thought the adapter card was much cheaper....and can't find them at apple anymore??


as for the pc...i am about to work on something like that for my daughters boyfriend...he just bought an iBook and an airport express (he probably should have got the basestation)...his parents have a non-wireless pc...he is having problems setting up the cable modem to pc to wireless iBook...so i am likely heading to his house to waste part of my day...sigh...perhaps i should just get him to get a wireless card for the pc first...that would take one headache out of the equation...except it still leaves that damn pc....

good luck...smart people will show up soon

g

as for you last questions...i like the express (small, etc) but if you are going wireless and wired, i recommend the ufo looking basestation...has 2 ethernet connections...the cable modem goes to the wan and sends wireless...the lan connects to the wired computer

then you have high speed internet to both wired and wireless...i am not sure how to do that with the express

edit...if you want that iMac DV wireless...also check out ebay...a number of adapters there...or ask murbot...he is the ebay king and almost canadian too
ebay search

crazy is not a rare human condition

everything is food if you chew hard enough

Last edited by thegelding : 2005-02-12 at 10:45.
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iDorf
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Rochester, NY
 
2005-02-12, 10:55

other AppleNova
Click above link to get some answers.

I use a Netgear FWG114P - it has a USB printer port. I don't use this, but there is a limited set of printers that will work. Apple's basestation may be best bet with using this feature.
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BlueRabbit
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
 
2005-02-12, 11:18

If you want to go cheap and get a wireless router without a USB port, it's quite convenient to just plug the printer into one of the computers and turn on printer sharing. You have to have that computer on to print, but if it's on anyways, it works out just as well.

Also, the iMac adapter card is much cheaper than that. It was only $20 when I got mine 2 years ago. They must have been discontinued or something.
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Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2005-02-12, 13:25

Thanks for the advice and links. Anything more from others would be welcome too.

It looks like my proposed set up would work, but I would need a router such as the Airport Base station with the appropriate two ethernet ports. Thanks g. There may be other, cheaper routers in addition to the Airport Base Station that do this, but some of the links seem to indicate that the Apple solution is easier to configure and might be more reliable. I will take a look at the Netgear too.

I realize as well that other routers - even Express - would work if I just want the single ethernet port. But then I would need to equip my G3 with Airport, both adapter and card, and that looks expensive and still has me only connected on the slower wireless protocol for that computer..

Thanks for the tip about running the printer from the computer USB with printer sharing. That could make things easier if I were to buy a router without the USB port. I realize that the printer-linked computer must be "on", but does "on" include "on" but asleep? We never turn our computer off, but we do put it into sleep mode.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.

Last edited by Chinney : 2005-02-12 at 13:44.
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BlueRabbit
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
 
2005-02-12, 14:25

When you're looking at routers, take a look at Linksys. I've never used any of their routers, but they just got bought by Cisco. So, their routers will probably be more likely to get advanced stuff more quickly.

With the printer sharing, the computer has to be on (not asleep). So, if you have a computer that's on and Folding@Home all the time, that should work. However, the monitor can be turned off/screensaver or whatever.
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Franz Josef
Passing by
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London, Europe
 
2005-02-12, 14:50

Airport Extreme better than Express - so unless you're on a really low budget go for former. Express is good, I use both, but should be thought of more as adjunct to iTunes. Extreme has more external interfaces and more features so it's better suited to digital hub with printer. 802.11g is fast so won't slow down your broadband.

Suggest you buy your wife a Mac mini with Airport Extreme card - that way you'll be sure no compatibility issues. It's Valentines day after all
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