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Any Way To Get Another Ethernet Port on the Cheap?

bobber205

bobber205

macrumors 68020
Original poster
For my new righ I want to build, I want it to have a net connection.

Currently my older pc has one by having my macbook share it's wireless connection to it. But I only have 1 ethernet port on my macbook. 😉


So what do I do? How can I get another shared connection to my new computer? I would hook them up to the router, but the router is in another room and my parents won't let me run an ethernet cord around the walls. 🙄

The cheapest possible solution appreciated!
The only thing I can think of is to buy an ethernet card for one of the computers and have the pc share to the other pc. But I don't want to do that if I don't have to.

EDIT:
Yay for Google. I would have sworn these don't exist, but it seems they do!
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Ethernet-Sp...-Into-Two_W0QQitemZ110125166871QQcmdZViewItem
Would that be sufficient?

Edit again:
*sigh* seems like internet sharing doesn't work on these.
 
bobber205 said:
That what I'll probably do.

It looks like the technology of a splitter doesn't allow what I want. 😉
Click to expand...

I still don't see which an ethernet switch won't work? Unless the internet sharing on the MacBook will only talk to a single other machine.

The switch would allow all three machines to be plugged in at the same time, each would have it's own address and all of them could talk to each other...
 
bobber205 said:
That what I'll probably do.

It looks like the technology of a splitter doesn't allow what I want. 😉
Click to expand...

yeah probably because of the IP addressing and such. if anything you could get one of these, and have an ethernet port on it too, use this machine to share the connection to your other PC, so you're MB is a bit more free to move around 😀
 
Ideally, to connect two networks via wireless, you'd use a wireless bridge to access the existing wireless router (that's in the other room.)

Some wireless bridges feature a built-in router w/4-5 Ethernet ports. Unfortunately the cheaper one usually don't. But adding a cheap router will achieve the same results.

Cheap wireless bridge = $30. Cheap router = $15.

Assuming that your notebook can connect via wireless, you really just need to connect your new computer to the wireless bridge (hooked into that computer's Ethernet port)... or add a wireless card. A decent bridge usually costs less than a decent wireless card tho'. 😉
 
Two or three years ago you could buy USB-ethernet adapters. I don't know if one of those would be any good for you (I never saw one with a Mac driver available, so have never tried one)?
 
localoid said:
Some wireless bridges feature a built-in router w/4-5 Ethernet ports. Unfortunately the cheaper one usually don't. But adding a cheap router will achieve the same results.

Cheap wireless bridge = $30. Cheap router = $15.
Click to expand...

I also think this line of thinking is the best -- you end up spending about the same amount of money, but you end up with something much more flexible in the end. 🙂
 
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