Need help networking imac, ibook and PS2

[flyfish29]

I need help.

Here is what I have:
DSL throgh Verizon
iMac
iBook
PS2
Ethernet cables
Network hub

I want to use the internet through not only the iMac, but occasionally an ibook and sometimes my PS2.

I don't want to disconnect the iMac from net ever.
I don't want to spend anything or much money on this.

What are my options.

To save some cash I could share a line between the iBook and the PS2.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Gee]

Some questions first!
How many ethernet ports in your network hub?
Do you have the ps2 network adaptor for the playstation?
Do the imac and laptop have ethernet ports?
Does your dsl vendor limit access to a set number of machines?
Hmmm. Probably some more things I should ask as well, but can't think of any...

 

[flyfish29]

Some questions first!
How many ethernet ports in your network hub?
Do you have the ps2 network adaptor for the playstation?
Do the imac and laptop have ethernet ports?
Does your dsl vendor limit access to a set number of machines?
Hmmm. Probably some more things I should ask as well, but can't think of any...

Plenty of ports and has power cable running to it.
yes, ps2 adaptor (was playing 2K5 football online last night in fact. Lost both my games though
Everything has ethernet
No, they don't limit I don't think. they talk about using a router to control traffic, but I heard that OSX can do this for another mac or computer instead of a router though but I don't know how.

Both machines running OSx Panther.
The PS2 and iBook will probably be in the same room

Ideally like to have all three hooked up, but can be flexible.
thanks

 

[seamuskrat]

This should be very easy.

All you really need is a powered Router with PPPoE. Get a LinkSys for about $30.00.

Connect the router to the DSL line. Use PPPoE so the router initiates the connection to the DSL and not the iMac.
Connect the hub to the router and hardwire all devices to the hub, or for slightly more money, get the LinkSys with 8 ports ($79.00) and skip your existing hub.

This will provide an always on DSL connection to each machine and the PS2.

I use the same config, but all wireless and it works just fine.

Using the Mac as the 'software' router, is not ideal for a few reasons. The PS 2 can act funny initiating a connection via the Mac. Plus, the Mac uses resources to manage network traffic, so if you are downloading on the iMac, surfing on the laptop and playing on the PS2 you may get severe lag.

Look for a low cost router like the LinkSys. It will serve your needs well and provide simpler DHCP config for the PS2 and laptop.

 

[flyfish29]

All you really need is a powered Router with PPPoE. Get a LinkSys for about $30.00.

Using the Mac as the 'software' router, is not ideal for a few reasons. The PS 2 can act funny initiating a connection via the Mac. Plus, the Mac uses resources to manage network traffic, so if you are downloading on the iMac, surfing on the laptop and playing on the PS2 you may get severe lag.

A few questions, I can't find a linksys router for anything under $45. Do you know something I don't know?

Since I might not play PS2 much online (my brother in-laws broke yesterday) I probably won't bother hooking up the PS2 to the net directly except when I play so dont' mind pulling the iMac connection and hooking up the ps2 directly to the dsl modem.

However, when my wife brings home the ibook she might want to surf along with me...nothing major and we don't care about a little slow down cause our dsl is lightening fast as we are blocks from the Verizon office. Anyway, how would I go about hooking up and running the mini network of two computers using one dsl line and only using the iMac's software instead of a router?

Thanks

 

[emw]

A few questions, I can't find a linksys router for anything under $45. Do you know something I don't know?

Since I might not play PS2 much online (my brother in-laws broke yesterday) I probably won't bother hooking up the PS2 to the net directly except when I play so dont' mind pulling the iMac connection and hooking up the ps2 directly to the dsl modem.

However, when my wife brings home the ibook she might want to surf along with me...nothing major and we don't care about a little slow down cause our dsl is lightening fast as we are blocks from the Verizon office. Anyway, how would I go about hooking up and running the mini network of two computers using one dsl line and only using the iMac's software instead of a router?

Thanks

One way or another you're probably going to have to buy something unless both your iMac and the iBook have Airport cards. If they do, then you can connect via Ethernet on your iMac and then share the connection via the Airport card (in the Sharing preference pane, go to Internet. Make sure both the Ethernet and Airport ports are active in Network preferences.)

Otherwise, $45 is about the lowest cost router you're going to find, except perhaps on eBay or on the clearance rack.

A hub won't do what you need to do - it just splits the incoming DSL connection, but since your ISP will only give you 1 IP address, you can't send 2 CPUs through it. The router will get 1 IP address and share it (like Internet sharing through OS X described above).

 

[seamuskrat]

In Panther you can share the internet. Go to sharing:internet and choose built in ethernet and share. The iBook should be able to connect via the hub.

I still suggest the router. Do a search at outpost.com, overstock,com and others. I can buy them at Fry's (part of outpost) for 20 or less .

A few questions, I can't find a linksys router for anything under $45. Do you know something I don't know?

Since I might not play PS2 much online (my brother in-laws broke yesterday) I probably won't bother hooking up the PS2 to the net directly except when I play so dont' mind pulling the iMac connection and hooking up the ps2 directly to the dsl modem.

However, when my wife brings home the ibook she might want to surf along with me...nothing major and we don't care about a little slow down cause our dsl is lightening fast as we are blocks from the Verizon office. Anyway, how would I go about hooking up and running the mini network of two computers using one dsl line and only using the iMac's software instead of a router?

Thanks

 

[flyfish29]

Wooo Hoooo!

Here is the latest. I was looking at my dsl modem and saw on the outside it has a picture by the ethernet plug in three comuters pictured with lines running between them. I looked at the front and it says it is a router dsl modem. Who Knew. So I just tried to hook up my hub from that and out of the hub my ps2 and iMac and they both worked without doing anything else but plugging them in. Both seemed to run fast, my ps2 had the highest ping/speed rating on espn football online so it was running plenty fast, and the iMac seemed pretty fast as well. Internet sharing is off by the way on the iMac.

Here are my questions:

Why didn't I need to do software stuff with the dsl router to make this work?

Verizon says I should call them and tell them I am setting up a home network for multiple computers...they say it doesn't cost anything, but do I need to do this still?

Am I vulnerable by not having much of a firewall set up? (I know I have set the OSx firewall on but that is it to my knowledge.)

Is there a good place to test the speed of my internet connection on the mac? I have a page from verizon and it reads off the charts fast and I don't know why?(I am only two blocks from the Verizon office)

The page reads: 64516.1KBits
8064.5KBytes is my speed and places it at the 10M and up section of the chart. It also says this though about speed test: If you're getting abnormaly high throughput results from Verizon's speedtest tool, it's likely that your ISP caches pages which are often requested. The original pages as sent from this server (www.ba-hss.com) have directives which tell this server as well as your browser NOT to cache the page. Though, most caching proxy servers ignore these directives by design.

thanks!

 

[seamuskrat]

The modem will hold your connection as initiated by your Mac until power is lost of internet connection is lost at which time you will need to use the Mac to reinitiate.

I see no technical reason why Verizon needs to be notified. Its your choise, if they ask it may be to monitor traffic and security or it may be to make sure you do not use more bandwidth.

A hardware firewall is always better, IMO, but OS X is rather safe. Just do not set up too many pass through ports (DMZ zones) to the PS2 for games, etc.

www.dslreports.com for speed tests.

 

[flyfish29]

A hardware firewall is always better, IMO, but OS X is rather safe. Just do not set up too many pass through ports (DMZ zones) to the PS2 for games, etc.

www.dslreports.com for speed tests.

Thanks for the info.

DMZ zones? I play two or three games online is all but all use the same internet connect setting through my verizon dsl. Is this what you mean?

This Westell DSL router Verizon gave me to hook up with- is there a way to make that a hardware firewall or I guess I should ask, is it a hardware firewall?

I did the speed tests. the download ranged from 1375 to 1435 Kbps. I got one rating that was 252 Kbps but I think it was just a busy test server from what I read online about it. The upload of course were much slower around 130 which I expected. Is this download speed a good connection through dsl?

 

[jeremy.king]

Is this download speed a good connection through dsl?

Most DSL connections are 1.5mbps or roughly 1500kbps. Since you are almost reaching that, I would say you have a very good connection. You didn't need to do any software setup because your machines were all probably setup to use DHCP and the modem/router usually defaults to giving out IP using DHCP.