I'm desperate...

[Carolyn Duncan]

Ok, I need some help networking. I have one cable internet connection jack and I want to have 2 computers hooked up. The PC has been hooked up for awhile, the Mac is the addition. One is a Mac and the other is a PC. How do I network them easily? You really gotta break it down simple for me, the "dummies" books and the help I've gotten from pros has left me a bit confused.

[mike o'leary]

'networking for dummies' confused you? did you try 'networking for the catatonic mind'?

actually ive looked into networkign macs and pcs some, and as far as ive been able to figure out theres really no easy way. on the other hand ive never really looked into it that carefully, just sort of out of curiosity. good luck and let me know if you learn anything.

[Carolyn Duncan]

Originally posted by mike o'leary
'networking for dummies' confused you?
It didn't confuse me, it just didn't help any. I'm gonna keep lookin' into stuff though.

[Nate Smith]

I'm about to be doing this myself in the next couple days...I'll post here letting you know what I figure out...

[Carolyn Duncan]

Thanx. I'll be watching the forum to see what you come up with.

[FotoPlasma]

Do you want file-sharing between the Mac and the PC, or just internet access from both?

If just internet access is needed, then all you'd have to do is define the default gateway and any DNS servers (you can call your ISP about both of those) on the computers (though I have very little experience with Mac networking, I'll bet whatever you'd be looking for would be in the Networking Control Panel).

However, IIRC, you'll need a seprate program to interface between the Mac and the PC, and I seem to remeber seeing something like that selling for about $100, once (though I wouldn't doubt being able to find some freeware for it, search for something like "PC Mac Networking File-Sharing" at www.google.com, hmm... after about 30 seconds i found http://wcic.cioe.com/~galanti/ which tell of someone else's experiences with networking a PC and a Mac [but it looks like he was using a Win95 box, dunno what OS you have], and then there's http://www.miramar.com/ which offers a program called PC MACLAN, which looks like it'd might be a possible answer).

Well, I hope this helped...

[Carolyn Duncan]

If you made that anymore complex I think I'd get it. Not really, but I'll see what I can do. I only need internet sharing between them. Thanx for the input. If anyone else knows any other ways I'm all ears.

[Nate Smith]

For just internet sharing, it's actually not that hard...Win98 and everything after that have a "Internet Connection Sharing" option that you can use if you already have the two machines physically connected with the necessary LAN equipment....what OS do you have, and I think I can help you out from there...

[Carolyn Duncan]

I have OS 9. I don't have the 2 computers physically connected yet. From what I understand I have to have a LAN card in the PC and have an ethernet cord running between the 2 computers. Is this correct?

[Nate Smith]

Originally posted by Carolyn Duncan
I have OS 9. I don't have the 2 computers physically connected yet. From what I understand I have to have a LAN card in the PC and have an ethernet cord running between the 2 computers. Is this correct?

Unless you get a special "crossover" ethernet cable, you'll need a hub between the two machines...what version of Windows on the PC side? And yes, you will need a LAN card in the PC

[Mike Soukup]

Originally posted by Nate Smith

you'll need a hub between the two machines

Instead of getting a hub, spend the extra $50-100 and get a router. It's much easier than setting up one computer to be a gateway, and you won't have to keep that computer on all the time.

Mike

[Nate Smith]

Originally posted by Mike Soukup


Instead of getting a hub, spend the extra $50-100 and get a router. It's much easier than setting up one computer to be a gateway, and you won't have to keep that computer on all the time.

Mike

That will work for a dedicated connection...if you're dealing with a good ol' modem connection, you'll have to set up the gateway...Win98's ICS config wizard does most of the work for you, and that way, you don't have to worry about getting multiple IPs from your ISP, whether you've got a modem or a cable/dsl/other direct connection

[Mike Soukup]

Originally posted by Nate Smith


That will work for a dedicated connection...if you're dealing with a good ol' modem connection, you'll have to set up the gateway...Win98's ICS config wizard does most of the work for you, and that way, you don't have to worry about getting multiple IPs from your ISP, whether you've got a modem or a cable/dsl/other direct connection

It sounds like Carolyn has a cable modem. Fortunately I've never used ICS, since I've had ethernet (at school) or cable modem (at home). With a router, you don't need multiple IPs, it creates a private subnet and all the computers use the router as their gateway.

Summary: for a cable modem/dsl, the best choice is a router. For a modem, the best choice is ICS.

Mike

[jcorbets]

For a home or small office network with a continuous internet connection, a router is definately the way to go. For ease-of-use, I would reccomend a router with a built-in hub, such as Netgear's RT 314. You can find more information on their products at www.netgear.com (http://www.netgear.com).
The router will allow the internet connection from the cable modem to be shared across multiple computers running any operating system with network capabilities, including Windows 98, Me, 2000, MacOS, Linux, Irix, etc. Furthermore, only the computer that you would like to use the internet with will need to be on, whereas using software like Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) would require all of the computers to be on.

Jeff C.

[Matt Reiland]

Its cheaper than you think.

Go to Best Buy, get a Linksys or Dlink (or other) router specific for sharing a Broadband connection. This option requires that your connection goes from Cable/DSL to ethernet. Many new ISP's are using Cable/DSL to USB to make the installation easier. Like the others said it appears as a single IP to the ISP and you have your own private network on the other side. Some added benifits, Possible printer server built in, 100 Base-T switch hub, DHCP server to automatically assign IP's and other settings, even tha ability to autoswitch to modem if the Cable/DSL line goes down, all for between 90 and about 175 dollars. Technology like this used to be at leat a grand. I run it in my house and I can say the performance is pretty impressive. Keep in mind I don't think you can have multiple players to an online game through any of the solutions above since they all appear as a single IP to the network. Hope it works for you.

[Carolyn Duncan]

This sounds really great, Matt, except I don't get it all. When it comes to computer stuff I know ver little about the specifics. I know about all the basic stuff but not the real bulk. I'm still working on getting this thing going and have gotten someone to come over and help, he says he knows how to hook it up but I'm still nervous about it. Some of the gurus I know make fun of me because I know more about cars than computers, even thought I use computers all the time.

[Matt Reiland]

I forgot to mention that a hardware solution, Router, may also provide you with a Firewall. This is ESPECIALLY important for a computer that has a connection up at all times like yours, since 'hackers' have plenty of time to find it. The firewall can check to make sure that when you are surfing for something only information you asked for from the internet comes back, not some one trying to use your computer for other reasons. In case any of the other parts are confusing, you shouldn't have much trouble. I don't have much experience on the MAC's but for PC's running Win 98, ME, or 2000 everthing is pretty much there to set up a home network, share files and even printers.

[Carolyn Duncan]

Yeah, I know about fire walls. I'm learning about PC's more because I'm always on one, usually I'm on the Mac. Windows 98 is what I've got and it's real diff. from OS.

[mike o'leary]

go macs!

[Carolyn Duncan]

Yes! I'm not the only Mac user! Burn the PCs! Bon fire anyone?

[Clark Gilbert]

Here it is......


:D

[Carolyn Duncan]

I don't like you anymore, Clark.
*smack*
I love my Mac!
Stop getting my help thread off topic!

[mike o'leary]

thats the first bad avatar ive seen come from you clark...

[Kyle Fenton]

Carolyn Duncan, Thank god you love the Mac, it is a good system.

Oh and Clark Gilbert I would give you the middle finger and cus at you, but in the spirit of FIRST I will not do that.

Oh by the way Carolyn you will probably need a software solution called Dave or Double Talk. I know there are other solutions. But I will get back to you on that. I will look at my catalogs and see what other solutions they are. I know in Mac OS 10.1 that it has a special sharing technique that tricks the windows machine likes it is another windows machine.

These software solutions let you share the internet together, printers (including PC-only ones), and many other perphiables.

Let me do some looking and I will get back to you with more options.

[Clark Gilbert]

I have a couple avatars for that Kyle...but also in the spirit of FIRST i will never even think of posting them here...:)

[Kyle Fenton]

Ok look,

Like I said to a lot of people your opinions are your opinions. Lets just leave it at that.

[Carolyn Duncan]

Thanks Kyle! It's good to have velp from the Mac side too. Not that the other help is less it's just that I need help with both systems because they are so diff. You know what I mean. Anyways, OS 9 has translaters but I can never get them to work when I need them, only when it's convenient for the computer. I'll keep reading too.
GO MACS! hmm... maybe I'll add that to my sig.
*BOOOS clark*

[David Kelly]

i've always refered mac's as "Mac 'N Trash". they are ugly, and i don't like them. PC for ME!!!!!!

[Carolyn Duncan]

David, your the next one to get a nickname. One that will go with A1A...

[David Kelly]

Originally posted by Carolyn Duncan
David, your the next one to get a nickname. One that will go with A1A...

what's it gonna be?!?!:confused:

[Carolyn Duncan]

Hmmm... PC road kill sounds good to me.

[mike o'leary]

nah...cuz pc road kill is a good thing.

[Nate Smith]

Carolyn,
Getting back to what you were trying to do, if I remember correctly, you were just trying to share the internet between the two machines. I've only done this with a dialup connection, but it should work the same for a cable connection.

First, put 2 network cards in the PC, I know it seems like overkill, but there's a reason for doing this.

Then, hook your cable modem to one of the PC network cards, and get it all working from there.

Then, right-click on Network Neighborhood, and select the network adaptor that your cable modem is connected to from the list. Click on Properties. On one of the tabs, there should be an option for Internet Connection Sharing. Turn connection sharing ON, and select the OTHER network adaptor as the one to use for sharing. What you're basically doing here is saying, "if anyone from connection B tries getting on the internet, use the connection that you already have on connection A."

Then, connect the Mac and PC together with the open network cards on each, and either a "crossover" cable, or two standard LAN cables and a hub.

Finally, ICS on Windows requires that you change a few settings on your Mac. Go into the TCP/IP control panel, make sure Ethernet is selected, and select Automatic (via DHCP). This tells the Mac to get its IP address and other information through its Ethernet connection, and since ICS is running over on the Windows machine, it will give the Mac this information when it asks for it.

DISCLAIMER: Some of this information may not be in quite the same location as I have just said. I'm running a different version of Windows (XP Pro RC1) and a different version of Mac OS (7.5.3) than you are, so I can't check to make sure I'm pointing you in the exact right direction. Check the help files(Windows) or Apple Guide(Mac) if you can't find something that you're looking for. But, I can say that by using the updated version of the ICS feature that's in XP, and the older TCP/IP(Open Transport) that's in Mac OS 7.5.3 seemed to cooperate with each other.

Hope this helps!

[Carolyn Duncan]

Nate, this sounds like something for me to try tomorrow afternoon. If it works I will owe you big time and you will be wonderful. I'll let you know how this works. And I'll settle up debts at nats.