Software Base Station

placeboplacebo
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I remember seeing an article somewhere about setting up a mac to be an Airport Base Station to other Wi-Fi enabled computers, and not using an actual Base Station. Does anyone here know how to go about this? Is this something that requires a haxie, or is this a built-in function on any Airport mac? Also, I plan on buying a G5, and according to the white paper for the G5, it has a plug for an external antenna, due to the Powermac's metal casing. Could I plug one of these into the antennae port and get very good range? I'm trying to be frugal here.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    I also remembered a thread about this a while ago.



    The external antenna idea is interesting. I don't see any reason it wouldn't work, but don't take my word for it.



    Also, it looks like the antenna icons on the BS and G5 are *slightly* different. It may mean something, who knows:









  • Reply 2 of 13
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    It could look different just because the actual antennae port is flush on the G5, but sunk into the white plastic on the Base Station.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    I'm referencing the icons. The G5 has the traditional *3 data waves* icon we're all familiar with, but the BS has that *divining rod* thingy. In Apple's icon vocabulary, I'm not sure if these are the same language (or connector).
  • Reply 4 of 13
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Actually, in a recent macworld "do it yourself" article I read, It said that connecting and antenna required opening the Airport case.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    Actually, in a recent macworld "do it yourself" article I read, It said that connecting and antenna required opening the Airport case.



    For the non-extreme base stations that is correct.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    gabidgabid Posts: 477member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    I remember seeing an article somewhere about setting up a mac to be an Airport Base Station to other Wi-Fi enabled computers, and not using an actual Base Station. Does anyone here know how to go about this? Is this something that requires a haxie, or is this a built-in function on any Airport mac? Also, I plan on buying a G5, and according to the white paper for the G5, it has a plug for an external antenna, due to the Powermac's metal casing. Could I plug one of these into the antennae port and get very good range? I'm trying to be frugal here.



    Just make sure that your AirPort card is on, then go to the "Sharing" preference pane, click on "Internet", then check the box for "Share your Internet connection with AirPort-equipped computers", and finally press "Start". Of course, make sure that your Mac is already on-line
  • Reply 7 of 13
    jasonfjjasonfj Posts: 567member
    just to be clear:



    I have a dual 1.42 G4 tower connected to a cable modem, and a 15" powerbook with airport card... all I need is to install an airport card into the tower, switch on sharing and I'm off?
  • Reply 8 of 13
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    That is correct.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    jasonfjjasonfj Posts: 567member
    cool. Is this setup just as effective as using a base station (signal strength, security etc)?
  • Reply 10 of 13
    ensoniqensoniq Posts: 131member
    To my knowledge, there are two main differences between using a Hardware Base Station, vs. using the Software Base Station:



    1 - With the Software Base Station, the computer acting as the Base Station always needs to be on. I'm pretty sure that if the machine is asleep that other computers trying to connect to it for Internet access will fail. (Someone correct me if I a wrong...) A hardware Base Station doesn't go to sleep, so it's a non-issue.



    2 - With the Hardware Base Station, each machine on the network is behind a hardware firewall (the base station) and are given NAT IP addresses. That means the only hardware on the network directly "seen" on the Internet is the Base Station itself. For security, that's a good thing. With the Software Base Station, one machine is directly connected to the Internet itself, with a true Internet IP. If that machine itself is not properly firewalled, there is a larger (albeit not necessarily significant) security risk than having every single machine able to "hide" behind the Hardware Base Station.



    I'm not aware of signal strength between the two setups being significantly different, based on testing I once did between an older Graphite Base Station, and an iMac DV setup as a Software Base Station. Maybe this is different now with the Base Station Extreme. But overall, it seems to me more cost effective (at least for a home setup) to skip the Hardware Base Station and spend the money on multiple Airport Cards instead. (3 Airport Cards for the price of 1 Base Station!)



    Good luck.



    -- Ensoniq
  • Reply 11 of 13
    jasonfjjasonfj Posts: 567member
    If I was to get a base station, how would I connect both the tower and the base station to my cable modem? (assuming I didn't want to put an airport card in the tower).
  • Reply 12 of 13
    regreg Posts: 832member
    You don't need to get an Apple Airport. Linksys has a wireless hub that also has 4 ethernet ports. They go for about $100 USD. They are easy to set up. Check your cable provider for models that are supported.



    reg
  • Reply 13 of 13
    ringoringo Posts: 329member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jasonfj

    If I was to get a base station, how would I connect both the tower and the base station to my cable modem? (assuming I didn't want to put an airport card in the tower).



    Plug it into the LAN port.
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