[G4] Wireless Networking

[Perry The Cynic]

--On Monday, March 14, 2005 8:16 PM -0500 Brad Larrabee 
<brad.larrabee at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm looking for a way to connect my two non-wireless Macs to my
> wireless network.
> I'd like to be able to plug both of these macs into a router which
> would be connected wirelessly to the existing wireless network.  My
> reasoning is that I'd prefer not to drill any more holes in my
> landlords floor and the modem and wireless rotor are on the second
> floor whereas I occupy the third floor.
>
> I guess I could buy wireless cards for these two machines, but I like
> the idea of having a hub that I could plug a couple of other machines
> into if the need arised.
>
> Is this possible?

Certainly. Almost all airport (aka 802.11) routers can bridge and route 
wireless to wired networks. While the Ethernet side is usually "towards the 
internet," it works just as well the other way around. At least in 
principle.

> Any hardware reccommendations?

Apple's hardware can certainly serve. Plug an Airport Express station into 
the wall next to your non-wireless Mac, plug the Mac's Ethernet into it, 
and you're done. The Airport Base Stations don't contain Ethernet hubs 
though(*), so to connect two Macs would require a separate hub ($9.95 at 
your neighborhood computer store). If you have a spare hub sitting around, 
you can use that, of course.

Many third party wireless routers have built-in hubs. They're also cheaper. 
On the other hand, they are often more, uh, interesting to configure.

> Any thing I should look out for?

Note that Airport Express base stations can extend each others' range as 
well as bridge wired to wireless networks. So depending on how much steel 
and concrete is impeding your reception, this may be a nice side benefit. 
They can only do this with each other though,  not with third party routers.

> I don't know if my wireless is G or B, but I imagine I can figure that
> out by looking at the router.  Do I need to make sure that what ever I
> buy is built for that particular platform?

Almost all G routers will deal with B clients just fine, and vice versa. 
But you won't get G speeds unless everything on a channel is using G(**). 
So if you want the extra speed, use all G devices. If you don't, any 
mixture will do.

Cheers
  -- perry

(*) Actually, the Airport Extreme base station has two ethernet ports. But 
it's certainly overkill for this application, unless you need an antenna or 
the built-in modem.

(**) That's a simplification, but it's good enough for casual talk.
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Perry The Cynic                                             perry at cynic.org
To a blind optimist, an optimistic realist must seem like an Accursed Cynic.
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