Connecting a G4 tower to a wireless network

[hoop]

Hi,

I was hoping somebody here could help me with a little problem I have. My boss has an old G4 tower that she wishes to use as an Internet browser machine, which is upstairs in her house. Downstairs there's a Netgear wireless router and an airpot base station, which all the Mac Books connect to without a problem, even upstairs.

The problem is getting the G4 online wirelessly. I've connected a Belkin wireless adapter to the ethernet port, but after that... I don't know what to do. I'm not really a networky person. I've tried following the instructions that come with the operating system - OS9.2, but I just can't get it talking.

If anybody could help me, I'd be massively appreciative. Not much I know, but it's all I can offer!

Cheers.

 

[apple_iBoy]

Can you give some details about this wireless adapter you've hooked up to the G4's ethernet port? Is it a router-type device? If so, you might need to set it up to act as a "wireless bridge." I have a couple Belkin brand routers in my house set up in this sort of configuration -- one is attached to the cable modem, and the other is set up as the wireless bridge to rebroadcast the signal further into the apartment. If this is indeed the kind of setup you're trying to achieve, there are some instructions in the Belkin product guide, or here: http://www.belkin.com/support/download/downloaddetails.asp?lang=1&download=1103. I got it working okay, but seems like it can be a little hairy to set up sometimes.

All thing considered, if it ends up being too complicated to figure out the setup you're trying to use now, you might want to invest a little money in a PCI wireless card that has a Broadcom chip. I just spent $35 to buy a PCI wireless card for a G4 tower. A lot of off the shelf PCI cards won't work correctly with a Mac, but the ones with a Broadcom chip (like the Buffalo Technology AirStation) will trick the G4 into thinking it has an real Airport card inside (plus, it works at 802.11g speed). I didn't even have to install any drivers.

The specific card I bought is a Buffalo Technology card (model WLI2-PCI-G54S). I ordered it from Circuit City. http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Buffalo-Technology-125HSM-Desktop-PCI-Adapter-WLI2-PCI-G54S/sem/rpsm/oid/128193/catOid/-12981/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

[hoop]

Hi,

Yeah it looks just like a router to me. Setting it up as a bridge sounds as if I should have something other than an ethernet card in the G4 though?

Just to confirm that I'm doing the right thing (in theory) here, I would have:

Router--cable--Airport base sation---wireless---Adapter as bridge--cable--G4 (straight into the ethernet port)
?

Sorry for the noobie questions, in my past experience I've just switched networks on and they've worked. Curse of the OSX generation maybe?

Thanks for the help, too.

 

[apple_iBoy]

Just to confirm that I'm doing the right thing (in theory) here, I would have:

Router--cable--Airport base sation---wireless---Adapter as bridge--cable--G4 (straight into the ethernet port)
?

You got it -- ideally that would be how it works.

Two things though -- not all Belkin routers will function in "wireless bridge" mode. You'd have to check for you particular model.

Also, I've never done it using a mix of Belkin+Apple. Both my routers are Belkin. Assuming this would work, you'll need to configure the Belkin router (probably by browsing to 192.168.2.1 on your G4) to "call out" the IP address of the Airport base station. You'll find some instructions on that in the Belkin support page I linked up above.

 

[apple_iBoy]

Downstairs there's a Netgear wireless router and an airpot base station, which all the Mac Books connect to without a problem, even upstairs.

Just outta curiosity, why is their even an Airport base station in this equation? Does the wireless Netgear router not have enough range -- or is it possibly a non-wireless router?

It would definitely be nice if all this different equipment played nicely together, but often it doesn't. If adding this 3rd router doesn't work out, I'd seriously consider buying the PCI card (only from a manufacturer using the Broadcom chipset though). It would simplify things a lot.

 

[hoop]

Thanks for the help! You've given me confidence that with enough fiddling, I may be able to get this thing working. If not, I'll have to swallow my pride (I've learned not to assure people on things you're not 100% on yourself, at least) and go for the card.

As for your curiosity - it isn't my set-up - it's my boss's, who isn't very computer-savvy. I get the impression that she bought a load of stuff and then called in an engineer, who wasn't so much interested in giving advice as just getting the network working with the equipment that was provided.

 

[hoop]

Just to say that I got this working in the end. Took 5 hours, but...

Thanks apple_iBoy.