Greetings!
I'm a long-time Mac user (I previously owned 512k Mac back in the early days, then a PowerMac 8500), but I've never been what call a *power* user, so I have what may be some very basic questions regarding my new Macs, migrating to Snow Leopard, and setting up a very simple wireless network.
After 10 years my PowerMac G4 500 (AGP) is finally about to enter retirement, and I'm set to replace it with the combination of a new iMac and MacBook (which I hope to basically mirror each other) and a 2TB Time Capsule to serve as the hub of this wee wireless network.
I *think* the migration from the G4 to the iMac should be straightforward -- (although I discovered last night that I'll need an Firewire 800 to 400 adapter to get the two machines to talk to each other); hopefully I'll be able to get this squared away this evening.
Step two, I presume, would be to set up the Time Capsule and create a wireless network, which I could then use to set up the MacBook.
So, questions are as follows:
1) Should I expect to run into problems using Migration Assistant to transfer data from the G4 to both the iMac *and* the MacBook?
2) How complicated do I need to make the network? Basically the iMac and the MacBook will each have 2 users. In addition to file synching (GarageBand, iPhoto, NeoOffice, etc.), I would like to have each user's preferences, Mail accounts, and Safari bookmarks synch to each other. It looks like there are a number of ways to do this -- Dropbox, ChronoSync, ShareTool, etc. -- though I'd rather not spend the $100/year for a MobileMe account, but is this even necessary?
2a) Is it possible to use the MacBook to run applications off the iMac via the network, or will I need to install a separate copy of each application (e.g., NeoOffice) for each machine?
3) I currently use SuperDuper! to backup my G4 to an 80GB external HD each week; I purchased a 2TB Time Capsule, which I presume I can use for incremental Time Machine backups for both the iMac and the MacBook. I also presume it's recommended that I should get a new, larger HD so that I can backup the iMac, rather than use the Time Capsule for both SD! *and* Time Machine? (I'm assuming that I'll keep the iMac and MacBook synched so that a SD! backup of the MacBook would be redundant.) I also presume it's not a problem to have Time Machine on both the iMac and the MacBook backing up to a single Time Capsule.
4) Silly newbie wifi network question: If I have the iMac set to "wake for network activity", I presume I can log on to the network from the MacBook regardless of where I am as long as I have a wifi connection -- e.g., from a hotel room in Cleveland -- right? Would something like ShareTool help at all?
I think that's it for the moment; I appreciate any advice you all are able to provide!
Cheers,
Tim
I'm a long-time Mac user (I previously owned 512k Mac back in the early days, then a PowerMac 8500), but I've never been what call a *power* user, so I have what may be some very basic questions regarding my new Macs, migrating to Snow Leopard, and setting up a very simple wireless network.
After 10 years my PowerMac G4 500 (AGP) is finally about to enter retirement, and I'm set to replace it with the combination of a new iMac and MacBook (which I hope to basically mirror each other) and a 2TB Time Capsule to serve as the hub of this wee wireless network.
I *think* the migration from the G4 to the iMac should be straightforward -- (although I discovered last night that I'll need an Firewire 800 to 400 adapter to get the two machines to talk to each other); hopefully I'll be able to get this squared away this evening.
Step two, I presume, would be to set up the Time Capsule and create a wireless network, which I could then use to set up the MacBook.
So, questions are as follows:
1) Should I expect to run into problems using Migration Assistant to transfer data from the G4 to both the iMac *and* the MacBook?
2) How complicated do I need to make the network? Basically the iMac and the MacBook will each have 2 users. In addition to file synching (GarageBand, iPhoto, NeoOffice, etc.), I would like to have each user's preferences, Mail accounts, and Safari bookmarks synch to each other. It looks like there are a number of ways to do this -- Dropbox, ChronoSync, ShareTool, etc. -- though I'd rather not spend the $100/year for a MobileMe account, but is this even necessary?
2a) Is it possible to use the MacBook to run applications off the iMac via the network, or will I need to install a separate copy of each application (e.g., NeoOffice) for each machine?
3) I currently use SuperDuper! to backup my G4 to an 80GB external HD each week; I purchased a 2TB Time Capsule, which I presume I can use for incremental Time Machine backups for both the iMac and the MacBook. I also presume it's recommended that I should get a new, larger HD so that I can backup the iMac, rather than use the Time Capsule for both SD! *and* Time Machine? (I'm assuming that I'll keep the iMac and MacBook synched so that a SD! backup of the MacBook would be redundant.) I also presume it's not a problem to have Time Machine on both the iMac and the MacBook backing up to a single Time Capsule.
4) Silly newbie wifi network question: If I have the iMac set to "wake for network activity", I presume I can log on to the network from the MacBook regardless of where I am as long as I have a wifi connection -- e.g., from a hotel room in Cleveland -- right? Would something like ShareTool help at all?
I think that's it for the moment; I appreciate any advice you all are able to provide!
Cheers,
Tim