# Setting up a wireless Mac network



## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

I know nothing about setting up a wireless network and my friend who has a G5 iMac and her Intel MacBook Pro at her studio has asked me how this is done. Does she need to get an Airport router or will an Airport Express do the trick? Can a non-Apple wireless router work as well?


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

Setting up the network is not particularly difficult but knowing what she wants out of it is of primary importance.

Easiest route (free as well) is to use the built-in Airport cards in her existing computers. With this she will be able to share an internet connection, share files/folders, share a printers. The downside to this is that one of the computers needs to be on and connected to the internet for the other to have access.

Next step up is to get a third party wireless router such as LinkSys WRT54G. Setup isn't difficult and the network isn't dependent on one of the computers as a server for the internet connection.

The Airport Express is an easy to setup solution and has a couple of nice additional features (Airtunes and printer sharing) but it is more expensive than a third party router.

Current top of the line is to go with the new Airport Extreme router from Apple. With this she will be able to connect USB hard drive to the router as a file/folder server or back-up station. Connect a printer to the router for printer sharing with the need for a dedicated computer. Does not have Airtunes though.

How she goes about setting up depends on what she has for an internet connection and what she wants to get out of it. Personally I like the new Airport Extreme router but it isn't cheap. Setup should be dead simple though.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Aside from the online guides you'll find for setting up a wireless network, electronic devices as routers do come with explicit instructions, for Macs as well usually.

The easiest route is the relatively expensive Airport Express or Airport Extreme, which may be overkill but are great for reliability. d-link and some other routers do come with a lifetime warranty and will walk you through the entire setup process over the phone, if necessary. But with the Apple routers, that isn't often necessary.


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

It's relatively simple. If a knucklehead like me can set up a mixed wired/wireless network involving DHCP and static IP addressing with a variety of Linux/Windows/Mac machines then you can too!

Just get a Linksys WRT54G router; then, it's cable/dsl modem -> Linksys router --> MacBook Pro and iMac. The included guide(s) should be enough and we're all here to help too. 

If, in the unlikely event that you cannot get it working, then, try the Apple products but for something like her setup the Linksys should be fine and much cheaper. If she wants streaming music all over the place and different devices then all bets are off. :lmao:


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Thanks for all the great info guys! 

She has Telus ADSL and basically wants to be able to use the MBP without having to bring it over to the the internet connection and plug it in. As well being able to use it downstairs (her studio has a loft where the the iMac and the dsl connection is) and sit outside in the summer with the MBP would be good. Also being able to send something to the printer from the laptop is something she would want to do. Sitting outside would be about 30 or 35 feet from where the router would be.

The MBP of course has a wireless card, but the iMac does not.

The Linksys looks like a good deal if that would work. I saw that the model you guys reccommended is $49 US from Amazon, as opposed to $200 for the Airport Extreme.


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## macmac (Oct 22, 2006)

GA,

30-35 feet isn't a problem. I have a D-Link and I must admit it has incredible range. As for the imac, you can either wire it, or pick up an express card. VERY easy to set up.


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

GratuitousApplesauce said:


> Also being able to send something to the printer from the laptop is something she would want to do.


Uhhh....what sort of printer is this?

My next to-do (holy grail) item on my network is to have the Linux-equipped wireless laptop connect to the wired Laserjet 4MPlus which currently has a static IP address. Of course, after that would be to set up an Apache server on said laptop along with MySQL and have it serve up a weblog but I don't think it will ever go that far.


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

macmac said:


> GA,
> 
> 30-35 feet isn't a problem. I have a D-Link and I must admit it has incredible range. As for the imac, you can either wire it, or pick up an express card. VERY easy to set up.


Depends which iMac - if it's an older one make sure it doesn't need the old style card and if that's the case, you'll need a clip for it too. Ask me how I know.

Apple doesn't make the older cards any more and they're pretty scarce.

Margaret


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

As I said in my first post, you can just use the stuff you already have. I would assume that the iMac is wired to internet using an ethernet cable. Turn on internet sharing and set up a wireless network. The MacBook will then connect to the network you just created and will have internet access. If you turn on printer sharing and leave the printer attached to the iMac it will work as well. 

From you preferences panel, click sharing and then the internet tab. There is a simple dialog box to share the internet coming on ethernet out through your airport. 

Apple's built-in help files should walk you through the process handily.

Good luck.


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

Macified said:


> As I said in my first post, you can just use the stuff you already have. I would assume that the iMac is wired to internet using an ethernet cable. Turn on internet sharing and set up a wireless network. The MacBook will then connect to the network you just created and will have internet access. If you turn on printer sharing and leave the printer attached to the iMac it will work as well.
> 
> From you preferences panel, click sharing and then the internet tab. There is a simple dialog box to share the internet coming on ethernet out through your airport.
> 
> ...


Doesn't the iMac need to have an airport card for this to work?

Margaret


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

As far as I know, iMacs have come standard with the airport card for a long time now. I would imagine that a G5 has airport.


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

Macified said:


> As far as I know, iMacs have come standard with the airport card for a long time now. I would imagine that a G5 has airport.


I was going by this:



GratuitousApplesauce said:


> Thanks for all the great info guys!
> 
> The MBP of course has a wireless card, but the iMac does not.


But what do I know.

Margaret


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

Yeah missed that in the later post. From the original post I assumed that the G5 would/should have an airport card. Didn't know that they shipped without one.


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

*my cousin has a g5 imac without Airport,*

it was an option for his machine at the time, he has a 17" Imac g5, 1.8 GHz, 256 ram, 80 gig hdd.


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

Without wireless in the iMac you would need to get a USB wireless adapter or an airport card to set up internet sharing. A better solution would be a third party wired/wireless router like the LinkSys WRT54G. 

DSL modem to router. Wired ethernet to iMac, wireless to MacBook.

The new Airport Extreme has both wired and wireless but is pretty pricey compared to third party solutions.

Good luck.


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Macified said:


> Without wireless in the iMac you would need to get a USB wireless adapter or an airport card to set up internet sharing. A better solution would be a third party wired/wireless router like the LinkSys WRT54G.
> 
> DSL modem to router. Wired ethernet to iMac, wireless to MacBook.
> 
> ...


 I'm no longer at her iMac, but I checked the System Profile and it didn't show an Airport card. It's one of the first generation G5 iMacs.

I assumed that if a wireless router was used like either the LynkSys or the Airport Extreme, then printing something from the laptop would be done by using sharing through the connected iMac that is wired through the same router. Correct assumption? I guess the other option would be to send the file to be printed to the iMac and then print it from the iMac. She has no need for the iMac to be wireless since the dsl modem is sitting right next to it.

Looked at the LynkSys router at London Drugs this afternoon. It's $99 there, I imagine it can be found cheaper. (Incidentally they had the 24" iMac set up with Vista on that big screen ) They had the Airport Express there too for a bit over $100. I guess the Airport Express doesn't allow for a network to be created like the LynkSys router and probably doesn't have the same wireless range.

The LynkSys manual on their site mentions that it will work in a Mac environment, but doesn't specify how, at least in that .pdf and doesn't mention OS X in the system specs, only Windows. I assume that since you guys are mentioning this router model, (WRT54G) it is not a problem getting it to work with a Mac.


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

GratuitousApplesauce said:


> I assumed that if a wireless router was used like either the LynkSys or the Airport Extreme, then printing something from the laptop would be done by using sharing through the connected iMac that is wired through the same router. Correct assumption? I guess the other option would be to send the file to be printed to the iMac and then print it from the iMac. She has no need for the iMac to be wireless since the dsl modem is sitting right next to it.
> 
> Looked at the LynkSys router at London Drugs this afternoon. It's $99 there, I imagine it can be found cheaper.
> 
> The LynkSys manual on their site mentions that it will work in a Mac environment, but doesn't specify how, at least in that .pdf and doesn't mention OS X in the system specs, only Windows. I assume that since you guys are mentioning this router model, (WRT54G) it is not a problem getting it to work with a Mac.



A. If the printer is a network printer then you can send a file/document to the printer, through the router, from the MacBook.
B. If the printer is hooked up to the iMac via (let's say) the USB port, you can send a file/document through the router to the iMac and, then, to the printer from the MacBook.
C. The iMac sounds like it will simply need an Ethernet cable to hook it up to the DSL modem.
D. The Linksys WRT54G model is only about $59.99 at Futureshop after rebate. You might have been looking at the "N" model.
D. 1. No idea about Airport Express range.
E. Networking is networking, it doesn't care what OS you are using.


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

Thanks again for the help, guys.


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## Ohenri (Nov 7, 2002)

Not sure about others here, but my Aiport Xpress has acted pretty odd @ times Like, not letting any of the authorized devices to get on the network (2). That's been pretty annoying @ times. I have nothing against a hard wired link, but I do like streaming the music as well as the wireless printing...


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## gord (Nov 4, 2002)

I am going thru a similar problem with a lombard powerbook that I got on Ebay.I am wondering what would be the best portable wireless solution for this that I could use at wireless access points in libraries and elsewhere. This model does not have a slot for an airport card and only had OS 10.1 on it (from researching this it seems most 3rd party solutions need at least 10.2 installed).


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

GA, can we please get an update on how your friend made out with this situation? Thanks!


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## GratuitousApplesauce (Jan 29, 2004)

IronMac said:


> GA, can we please get an update on how your friend made out with this situation? Thanks!


That project got put on the back burner for now. Too bad her iMac wasn't one of the newer ones that came with a Airport card. I just was reading yesterday how one can use the airport card in a desktop to provide wireless access.


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

gord said:


> I am going thru a similar problem with a lombard powerbook that I got on Ebay.I am wondering what would be the best portable wireless solution for this that I could use at wireless access points in libraries and elsewhere. This model does not have a slot for an airport card and only had OS 10.1 on it (from researching this it seems most 3rd party solutions need at least 10.2 installed).



The Lombard has slots for PC Card and Card Express, so there are a number of such cards that would work. If the card has a Broadcom chipset, then it will work with the built in drivers on the system, such as the Motorola, and the Lucent. As the card hangs out the side of the machine, you do not need to worry about the length of the card. The Lombard does not support the Airport card, there is no slot inside for it, but it should work with a full length Lucent/WaveLAN/Orinoco card (with the antenna).

I am not sure if a Lombard would have enough horsepower to run at "N" speeds, but certainly "B" speeds are sufficient for most circumstances. A little research to see if there are drivers available will yield such clues. I have had success with "selected" D-Link and Linksys cards that use the Ralink chipset. I say "selected" because they mix chipsets, and one chipset used in the Netgear adapter is a "RPI" interface, and hence, is Windoze only. If it works with Linux/BSD, it will probably work with a Mac.

You can also use a USB Dongle, and I have had success with the recent D-Link adapters, the normal and the RangeBooster, however... There are caveats, as they mix their chipsets and some are simply not supported. Buy them cheap or buy them somewhere where you can return them easily. I had two work out of three from one store, all were the same "model", but had different chipsets. 

Oh, and Apple's documentation has good coverage of which slot to use for which cards on the Lombard, the top slot and bottom slot are different. And though a Lombard may be a bit slow in the tooth compared to the standard today, it is hard to beat the battery life on that or a Pismo!


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## johnnydee (Feb 10, 2004)

gord said:


> I am going thru a similar problem with a lombard powerbook that I got on Ebay.I am wondering what would be the best portable wireless solution for this that I could use at wireless access points in libraries and elsewhere. This model does not have a slot for an airport card and only had OS 10.1 on it (from researching this it seems most 3rd party solutions need at least 10.2 installed).


I also picked up a couple of G3 powerbooks! Goodbye IBook!
As far as a wireless solution goes you can use pc cards that have either a Broadcom chipset so OS X sees it as an Airport card and uses native drivers or you can use Ralink or Atheros chipsets and use 3rd party drivers.
Hope this helps .

John


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