Airport advice needed

[am1971]

Hi,

I have two Macs. One a G5 dual 2.5 running Tiger and a G4 450 running 10.2.8

They're in different rooms in the house. On the G5 I have an ADSL connection with a 3Com router. I want to get the G4 online as well but there's no way I can run a cable, it's too far. Obviously I need Airport or something but I have no clue about it.

If somebody could advise me on what hardware etc I need to get to make this possible I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[mad jew]

Easy option:

You'll need wireless cards in each Mac (AirPort cards, regular for the 450 and Extreme for the G5, good luck with the former, they're hard to find) and a base station like the Express from Apple or something cheaper from Linksys. It's just a matter of putting the cards into the respective Macs and then plugging the modem cable into the base station, chucking in a few passwords and there you go.

Hard option, but cheaper:

Just get the two AirPort cards I mentioned and try to set up an ad hoc network. This is way too tricky and hard to set up but I can find you instructions if you dare.

 

[am1971]

Easy option:

You'll need wireless cards in each Mac (AirPort cards, regular for the 450 and Extreme for the G5, good luck with the former, they're hard to find) and a base station like the Express from Apple or something cheaper from Linksys. It's just a matter of putting the cards into the respective Macs and then plugging the modem cable into the base station, chucking in a few passwords and there you go.

Ok, I'm going to go with the easy option. Just to clarify, my needs are as follows:

One Airport base station
1 Airport card for the G5
1 Airport card for the G4

Is that right? Why is the Airport card hard to get for the G4?

 

[strider42]

Is that right? Why is the Airport card hard to get for the G4?

Because apple stopped making it a long time ago.

But several places still stock it. LAcomputercompany.com had them last time I checked.

I'll also add that you don't necessarily need an airport base station. Third party 802.11b or 802.11g routers will work just fine and be substantially cheaper. Airport extreme base stations have some extra features (working with airtunes, regular phone modem, etc), but many don't need the extra features.

 

[am1971]

Because apple stopped making it a long time ago.

But several places still stock it. LAcomputercompany.com had them last time I checked.

I'll also add that you don't necessarily need an airport base station. Third party 802.11b or 802.11g routers will work just fine and be substantially cheaper. Airport extreme base stations have some extra features (working with airtunes, regular phone modem, etc), but many don't need the extra features.

Ok, so the two cards and any compatible wireless router would do the job just as well?

 

[strider42]

Ok, so the two cards and any compatible wireless router would do the job just as well?

Shouldn't be any problem. shop around for routers. Places like dealnews.com can find some great deals sometimes. And as Mad Jew said, airport express is an option as well (not as familiar with it myself however).

I'll also mention to that if you didn't want an airport card, you could also use an external wireless bridge, preferably an ethernet based one like the linksys wet11. Since your computers can take airport, you probably want to go that way. But if you had a compute without airport capability (like my old iMac), you could use a wireless bridge and work with that instead.

 

[am1971]

I'll also mention to that if you didn't want an airport card, you could also use an external wireless bridge, preferably an ethernet based one like the linksys wet11. Since your computers can take airport, you probably want to go that way. But if you had a compute without airport capability (like my old iMac), you could use a wireless bridge and work with that instead.

Ok, that's way too complex for me but thanks a lot, and to you mad jew, for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate it.

 

[mad jew]

Ok, I'm going to go with the easy option. Just to clarify, my needs are as follows:

One Airport base station
1 Airport card for the G5
1 Airport card for the G4

Is that right? Why is the Airport card hard to get for the G4?

Clarifying:

1 AirPort Extreme card for G5 - can be bought from an AppleStore new
1 AirPort card (not Extreme) for G4 that would probably be best bought from eBay second hand. You won't get a new one.