networking without airport

[lord shin]

I have an emac and a 1st gen imac I have started thinking about networking the two after getting cable internet service. I have been told by salesmen that I should use the airport for doing such a task, but the airport just seems to be way to expensive to me. Is some other way that I can network my macs without the airport? Maybe something wireless?

and also, how do i route the cable modem to both macs?

I would really apreciate your help.

 

[mad jew]

The best bet is to have a wired router with two ethernet ports delivering the 'net to both Macs. What sort of modem do you have? Quite a few modems now have routers inbuilt. It may just be a matter of plugging both Macs into the modem/router.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I have an emac and a 1st gen imac I have started thinking about networking the two after getting cable internet service. I have been told by salesmen that I should use the airport for doing such a task, but the airport just seems to be way to expensive to me. Is some other way that I can network my macs without the airport? Maybe something wireless?

and also, how do i route the cable modem to both macs?

I would really apreciate your help.

Idiot salesmen. You don't need wireless for 2 desktop machines...

You can use a Cable/DSL Router/Gateway. Asante makes a nice little 4 port one for about $35. Netgear, Linksys, DLink, SMC, all of them have products inthe $30 - $90 range. Cable modem goes in one end of the router, you have 4 Ethernet ports for up to 4 Macs, PCs or network printers, attached with normal Ethernet cabling. Set the Macs to "Get settings automatically" (DHCP) from the router, and Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, and you're networking, shaeing the Cable internet and filesharing between macs. Also get an elementary hardware firewall in the bargain, to keep your Mac network and the public network separate.

The only issue you may run into is when your ISP has to provision the network specifically for the address of the router (more usual with DSL providers than Cable providers, IME). That problem can be fixed with one call.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com