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Mac Forum / General / Networking / January 2005Wireless setup for 3 Macs: Internet shairing only
We have 3 Macs which I want to set up only for wireless internet sharing. We don't need file sharing, printer sharing,uploading stuff, transferring etc. 1) My G4/450, running 10.3.3 in my office is connected to highspeed cable modem. 2) My husband's iMac G3/500 running 9.1 is in his office. 3) My iBook PowerPC G3/800 running 10.2.1 migrates around the house. None has an Airport card, but all are Airport ready. My husband and I both have offices on the second floor of the house. My office is over the detached garage, so we are separated by about 30 feet, but the signal has to go through two exterior stucco walls. The laptop moves around in the main house. 4) What is the best wireless solution here for internet sharing only? I've researched a little bit and understand that there is equipment out there which might be better at transmitting the signal through the exterior walls than Airport,i.e. the Belkin Pre-N. Someone suggested that I get a Linksys PC802.11g router and use Lynksys' "WET 54GS"s as an ethernet bridge between the G4 and the iMac. The bridge's would be a substitute for Airport cards? Is this correct? What would I use to link up the iBook? 5) Would I have to update all the PCUs to 10.3.3 > 4) What is the best wireless solution here for internet sharing only? > I've researched a little bit and understand that there is equipment out [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > substitute for Airport cards? Is this correct? What would I use to link > up the iBook? get a wireless base station. i like the linksys wrt54g but pretty much anything that is on sale should be sufficient unless you have specific features you need. the apple airport extreme base station is the easiest to set up but it costs more. for security purposes, you want something that does 802.11g as opposed to 802.11b, and you want to enable wpa, not wep. as for the computers, the easiest is to get an airport card for both your husband's imac and the ibook, but you could optionally run a cable to his since it is only 30ft away. your mac is already next to the cable modem, and that is where the router is going to go. you only need the ethernet bridge for computers that are *not* airport equipped. stay away from the pre-n stuff. that standard has not been finalized, and as the name claims, it is 'pre' and might not be able to handle the real thing. also dont bother with the turbo or speedbooster nonsense. > 5) Would I have to update all the PCUs to 10.3.3 not unless you want to, but it might not be a bad idea. Thanks for response. Just to make sure I have this straight re equipment I need: 1) Router for the G4. Any recommendations? 2) 2 airport cards - one for iMac and one for Laptop. Does G4 need an airport card? 3)1 wireless base station (Linksys wrt54g) or Airport extreme base station. Does this reside next to my G4? What does "wrt" stand for. I'm a total newbie when it comes to wireless hookups. I can't run a cable between my G4 and my husband's iMac, it has to be wireless. The distance between the CPUs isn't that farm, but do you think the setup above can handle sending a signal through 2 exterior stucco walls? > We have 3 Macs which I want to set up only for wireless internet > sharing. We don't need file sharing, printer sharing,uploading stuff, [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > 5) Would I have to update all the PCUs to 10.3.3 It isn't necessary for all the Macs to be running the same OS version. Your challenges will mostly be on the hardware side. The only reason I can see to put an AirPort card in the G4 would be to use it as a software base station. Don't. It would be much better to have a hardware base station in the garage office. To share the Internet connection, you'll want a router. Most wireless base stations now come with built-in routers, but you might want to use a separate wired router (they're fairly cheap) depending on the the layout of the garage office and the location of the cable modem. Two floors and exterior walls will present challenges in getting good wireless coverage throughout your house. Exterior walls, especially if they contain wire mesh, can be a problem. If the garage office has a window that faces the house, that's where you'll want to put your wireless base station or its antenna. The internal antennas in base stations are almost always omnidirectional, and you'd probably be better off with a directional antenna that you can point toward the house; so consider a base station that has a connection for an external antenna. Even so, it might be hard to get good coverage on both floors of the main house. Unfortunately, wireless signal strength through walls, pipes, furniture, etc is hard to predict. For an idea of which materials block wireless signals the most, see <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58543>. Short of having a wireless networking consultant come out and do RF measurements, you'll have to experiment with antenna or base station placement. All your Macs are AirPort-ready, but they can accept only the original AirPort card, which has been out of production for some time and has gotten somewhat difficult to find. This might be why somebody suggested an Ethernet bridge for the iMac. Also, external bridges can easily be moved to get better wireless reception. For your iBook, you'll want an AirPort card. |
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