Airport Questions

mark eggersmark eggers
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hello all,



I currently own a Power Mac G4 1GHTZ machine I purchased back in April. I have a cable modem and broadband service.



I am buying a Powerbook 12" with an Airport extreem base station. I will be getting a card for the PB.



Is the tower I have Airport ready?



Do I need to buy a card for the tower?



Can someone explain the procedure for getting an Airport network up and running?





Thanks!



Mark

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    No I don't think your tower will be airport ready unless you speced it that way when you purchased it. You should be able to buy an airport card for the G4, though it is not essential.



    Basic setup:

    a) If your cable company requires it, find the hardware address of the airport base station and register it with your cable co. as a computer that you want to access the net. The hardware address is normally on the box, or you can hook it up to your BP / G4 direct and use the airport admin utility to find it.



    b) Connect the airport WAN port to the cable modem.



    c) Connect the G4 via cable to the LAN port. (Unless you have chosen to use a AE card in the G4.)



    d) Use the AirPort Admin Utility or the Config Assistant (both in Applications/Utilities) to setup the base station.



    I am sure there will be instructions with all the gear, and you can alway come back here and ask a more specific question if you get stuck.



    G.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    technically, "airport ready" means, "able to have an airport card placed within it", so the answer is yes.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    mark eggersmark eggers Posts: 11member
    I guess I should ask if I have to use a card in tower?



    I want to run cable modem to Airport> Airport to tower via Ethernet cable> Airport used for powerbook via Airport extreem card.



    Is this doable?



    Thanks



    Mark
  • Reply 4 of 10
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    Yes, read my post!!
  • Reply 5 of 10
    mark eggersmark eggers Posts: 11member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gargoyle

    Yes, read my post!!



    Sorry this network stuff is new to me



    Mark
  • Reply 6 of 10
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    All G4 towers are 'Airport Ready', meaning they have a built in antenna and dedicated slot for installing an airport card. Your tower probably didn't come with one so you'll need to buy an Apple AirPort card. The airport extreme base station (802.11g) is capable of talking at the slower speed (802.11b) of the card. The card is about the size of a overly thick credit card and should cost 100 dollars or less.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    cranercraner Posts: 6member
    I have a Broadband router NetGear 814. One port in connected to my MDD Powermac 1G duel. The other port on the router is connected to Airport Extreme. I can see and configure the Airport from the Powermac no problem. Unless you have a second gen MDD machine you would not want to put in a Airport card in as the 1st Gen machines don't support the new high speed extreme cards. It will work, but the whole system will default to the slower speed of the old standard, even if you are using a Airport Extreme in the Powerbook.



    It was important to me that I could configure through the powermac as the Airport is used for WiFi connection to a Sony Vaio laptop.



    You will have no probelms getting it all to work.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    delphikidelphiki Posts: 76member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mark Eggers

    I guess I should ask if I have to use a card in tower?



    I want to run cable modem to Airport> Airport to tower via Ethernet cable> Airport used for powerbook via Airport extreem card.



    Is this doable?



    Thanks



    Mark



    One important thing to note here is that if you do the setup this way you will actually not be using airport for the tower. The key here is "via ethernet cable". Airport is wireless. This would just be a standard ethernet connection, which really wouldn't be affected by the presence of airport or airport extreme on your network. Your tower no doubt has built in ethernet, so there should be no issue just plugging it in via a cable. So basically, as everyone else has been saying, yes.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    kantarellkantarell Posts: 13member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mark Eggers

    I guess I should ask if I have to use a card in tower?



    I want to run cable modem to Airport> Airport to tower via Ethernet cable> Airport used for powerbook via Airport extreem card.



    Is this doable?



    Thanks



    Mark



    You won't even need the airport basestation! The tower with airport card will be your basestation. But it will be running at regular airport speed, not Extreme.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    snazlordsnazlord Posts: 62member
    Quote:

    You won't even need the airport basestation! The tower with airport card will be your basestation. But it will be running at regular airport speed, not Extreme.





    good point. save yourself a couple hundred bucks, ditch the ABS, and just use the tower as your base station. you probably won't need the extra speed of "extreme" anyway.
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