jamescwarren said:
Also, how can I connect my mac's together as a network. Both my machines are running Mac OS X 10.4.4 if that helps. Just a bit of help really because every time I go to: Go (apple menu)> connect to server and then when I enter my other computers IP address, it just says: connecting to server and then it comes up with a window saying AFP connection status. None of my computers are actually SERVERS so if i'm doing something wrong please tell me and what can I do to create a network?
The answer to your question depends on how you are connecting your 2 Macs together. I should note at this time that I don't have 2 Macs but have connected Macs to PCs at home and at work and I believe the theory should be the same.
There are 2 primary ways to network your computers and a third if you have wireless network adapters on both computers. I'll deal with the 2 primary methods.
The simplest method is to have your computers both linked to the same router, wireless or wired (I use a wireless Airport router and both computers connect wirelessly to it). Both computers should be set to receive an IP Address from the router using DHCP, assuming that the router can assign them (I've not heard of one that doesn't). What you should end up with is that both computers have an IP Address in the form
http://www.xxx.yyy.zzz, where w, x and y is the same for both computers. For example, my router assigns IP addresses that begin 10.0.1 and each computer has its own final number, such as 10.0.1.2. The Router indicated in the Network preferences for the network adapter that you are using (e.g. AirPort or Built-in Ethernet) should be the same for both computers (e.g. 10.0.1.1) unless you are connecting to a large network with many routers. In this setup a network connection can be established by the means that you state (Go > Connect to Server > and typing in afp:// and the IP address of the other computer) assuming that the target computer has Personal File Sharing enabled. Since one of my computers is a Windows computer I have to use Windows Sharing and smb:// instead of afp:// but the effect should be the same.
The other way of connecting 2 computers, and the way that I suspect you might be trying, is by connecting them together directly using an Ethernet cable. This does not work UNLESS your cable is a cross-wired cable. I have such a cable as it came with either a router or modem that I bought in the dim and distant past but the important thing to note is that a normal network cable will not work and you will need to buy a cross-wired cable, probably from a specialist dealer. Assuming that you have such a cable to hand (or have rushed out and bought one), networking can be performed in much the same way as for when you have a router except that you will need to do some manual configuration yourself. Here's how...
1. Connect both computers together using your cross-wired Ethernet cable.
2. In the Network settings of the Built-in Ethernet adapter on both computers you will need manually assign an IP Address, Subnet Mask and Router. The IP Address can be pretty set to anything but standards are nice so set the IP Address of Computer 1 to 192.168.0.1 and the IP Address of Computer 2 to 192.168.0.2. The Subnet Mask of both computers should be set to 255.255.255.0. Set the Router of Computer 1 to the IP Address of Computer 2, e.g. 192.168.0.2. Set the Router of Computer 2 to the IP Address of Computer 1, e.g. 192.168.0.1.
3. Save your settings and repeat the Go > Connect to Server process from "normal" networking.
This has always worked for me in the past. Best of luck.
