Wireless iBook and PC question

martianmattmartianmatt
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hi All,

I just got a new iBook G4 and Airport Extreme card and want to link it to my PC in which I have a DSL modem installed (PCI card). I don't really know much about networking so...



Question: can I just get a PCI 802.11g card for the PC to which the airport extreme card would talk or do I have to get a 'base station' of some kind (with router/modem/switch capability)?



I wan't to avoid the later if possible as I'm returning to Australia in 2 months and they have 240v/50 Hz AC like Europe and I don't know if the DSL modems would be compatible with the system Down Under.



Thanks

MM

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    jxfreakjxfreak Posts: 138member
    You dont need a base station for computer to computer networking. If you have configured file sharing for both computers, it should show up under "Get Connect" or Airport panel on the top right.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    edit: uh, if your DSL modem is an internal PCI card , that's what I'd be checking for ISP support in Aus

    not sure if the WiFi Routers will like it either...



    Airport Extreme from Apple Australia



    All modern Apple products are 100 - 240 V Autosensing power supplies.





    Your iBook has an 802.11g antenna and card for transmit/receive.

    If you want your PC to communicate wirelessly with iBook, or iBook to wirelessly access your DSL (or Australian equivalent high-speed network), you'll require a base station for WiFi access.



    Some Mac Systems allow for the desktop CPU to add an Airport Card and act as a Base Station (Software Base Station option). It is possible that your PC may accept a WiFi _card_ to mimic this behaviour, but it is less clear if equivalent "Software Base Station" exists for PC WiFi solutions.



    A PC WiFi Router such as LinkSys/Belkin <model advice anybody?>, may talk seamlessly to your AE iBook (same 802.11g), but the PC setup may differ slightly, and given your PC doesn't really have any need for wireless itself, it seems odd to me that you'd use it solely to administer a WiFi network intended for Mac only access.



    Apple's AE Base Station can act as a router and you can jack your PC into one of it's Enet ports, your DSL into the other (plus a USB shared printer port if you want) and administration will be handled from the iBook (better tools) for which the wirelessness is intended anyway.

    Given the PC is tethered and the iBook is AE, that's the method I'd pick.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    martianmattmartianmatt Posts: 79member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by curiousuburb

    edit: uh, if your DSL modem is an internal PCI card , that's what I'd be checking for ISP support in Aus

    not sure if the WiFi Routers will like it either...



    Airport Extreme from Apple Australia



    All modern Apple products are 100 - 240 V Autosensing power supplies.





    Your iBook has an 802.11g antenna and card for transmit/receive.

    If you want your PC to communicate wirelessly with iBook, or iBook to wirelessly access your DSL (or Australian equivalent high-speed network), you'll require a base station for WiFi access.



    Some Mac Systems allow for the desktop CPU to add an Airport Card and act as a Base Station (Software Base Station option). It is possible that your PC may accept a WiFi _card_ to mimic this behaviour, but it is less clear if equivalent "Software Base Station" exists for PC WiFi solutions.



    A PC WiFi Router such as LinkSys/Belkin <model advice anybody?>, may talk seamlessly to your AE iBook (same 802.11g), but the PC setup may differ slightly, and given your PC doesn't really have any need for wireless itself, it seems odd to me that you'd use it solely to administer a WiFi network intended for Mac only access.



    Apple's AE Base Station can act as a router and you can jack your PC into one of it's Enet ports, your DSL into the other (plus a USB shared printer port if you want) and administration will be handled from the iBook (better tools) for which the wirelessness is intended anyway.

    Given the PC is tethered and the iBook is AE, that's the method I'd pick.



    I should elaborate a little. I don't intend necessarily to use my internal DSL modem (Intel 2100 Pro, or some such) in Aus. But I don't want to get a new DSL modem here with the chance it may be incompatible in Aus. I also plan to continue to use my PC extensively for internet access along with the iBook.



    I currently have this kind of setup:

    line

    |

    DSL PCI card

    |

    PC



    I was thinking of this:

    line

    |

    DSL modem - internal PCI card

    |

    PC

    |

    PCI wireless card

    |

    (ether)

    |

    iBook



    It sounds like from your message and jxfreak's it could work given support by Windows (98SE). It would also allow me some flexibility in the future with a wireless net link on the PC.



    Any further ideas or useful information y'all have?



    MM
  • Reply 4 of 5
    jxfreakjxfreak Posts: 138member
    oops, windows 98SE, that may change everything. OS X really networks well with win2k and XP. Never tried 98. That may be problamatic.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Hmm. That internal PCI DSL modem makes it tough. It's trivial to set up a Mac to share an internet connection (ethernet/modem) via Airport - it's just one box click in system prefs. I have no idea if Windows (especially 98 ) can do anything similar. Somehow I doubt it. File sharing over 802.11g would probably be tricky, but do-able. 'Net connection sharing, I doubt. And even if it's possible, it would probably be next-to-impossible to find the control that enables it, and completely impossible to get it to actually work.



    The "best" way to share a DSL connection, assuming you have a stand-alone modem, if to put a cheapo wireless router between the modem and the PC. Cheap, simple to set up, and the router doubles as a firewall. I use D-Link's DI-614+. Maybe you just need to wait 'till you head back to AUS and get a standalone modem....or find out for sure which modems you can take with you.
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