Quick AirPort Wireless answer needed!

[mklos]

Someone told me that if you have 2 Macs running Panther with each with its own wireless card then you don't need a base station. You can use one of them as a software base station and share the internet and files around. Is this true? Has anyone ever heard of this?

A quick thanks!

 

[mactastic]

Yes this is true.

 

[stoid]

I think that earlier versions of Mac OS X could do it too. It's in Internet Sharing in the Sharing Preferences Preference Pane.

 

[mklos]

And I can not only share the internet but also access files too?

 

[stoid]

Yes, it's all in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. You can even share files with Windows PCs!

 

[mklos]

Cool now I gotta go buy an AirPort Extreme Card for my iMac! Thanks for all of your help!

 

[mactastic]

Cool now I gotta go buy an AirPort Extreme Card for my iMac! Thanks for all of your help!

I don't think it's the best solution though... a cheap woreless router would be a much better use of your money IMHO.

 

[stoid]

I don't think it's the best solution though... a cheap woreless router would be a much better use of your money IMHO.

Well the AE card is about $100 and that not much different than most 802.11g routers.

Advantage: One less box and plug to debug if something goes wrong.

Disadvantage: Shut down the iMac, internet goes bye-bye.

 

[mklos]

I don't think it's the best solution though... a cheap woreless router would be a much better use of your money IMHO.

Well I'd need to find a wireless base station that has a modem on it or else its useless to me because I'm on dial-up. I kinda like the idea because as said previously I don't more boxes with cords as I have enough **** as it is. As long as this truly works then its the best solution for me! I don't want to spend money for an AirPort Extreme Card and then buy a base station. If that was the case then I wouldn't of even asked this question.

 

[mklos]

Well the AE card is about $100 and that not much different than most 802.11g routers.

Advantage: One less box and plug to debug if something goes wrong.

Disadvantage: Shut down the iMac, internet goes bye-bye.

My iMac gets turned on when I get up and doesn't get shut off until I go to bed so that wouldn't be a problem. I even have my iMac on a Backups battery in case the power goes out.

I just want to be able to go out on the porch and get on the internet or go out in the garage and get on the internet. As long as I can see my iMac with the wireless then I think I would be able to use Apple Remote Desktop to see the iMac screen and do what I need if needed. If I can share files then I should be able to do this.

 

[mactastic]

Well I'd need to find a wireless base station that has a modem on it or else its useless to me because I'm on dial-up. I kinda like the idea because as said previously I don't more boxes with cords as I have enough **** as it is. As long as this truly works then its the best solution for me! I don't want to spend money for an AirPort Extreme Card and then buy a base station. If that was the case then I wouldn't of even asked this question.

Ok, fair enough. I just didn't want you to take my comments about it being possible to mean it's the best alternative.

 

[numediaman]

Dial up, huh? Well, getting rid of that is where you need to spend the money, right? Go with cable and a wireless router and you'll be in Internet heaven compared to what you have.

But for now your solution with the two macs will work -- but you'll have to be patient.

 

[mklos]

Dial up, huh? Well, getting rid of that is where you need to spend the money, right? Go with cable and a wireless router and you'll be in Internet heaven compared to what you have.

But for now your solution with the two macs will work -- but you'll have to be patient.

I live out in the sticks and there isn't any solution besides satellite internet. And that is wwaayyyy overpriced. Its $700 just to have it setup and then another $60 to $70 per month for the service. So thats out of the question. So I'm basically stuck with dialup that is extremely slow with only a 24k connection max. I have underground copper phone lines that probably aren't going to be updated to fiber optic for some time.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

I live out in the sticks and there isn't any solution besides satellite internet. And that is wwaayyyy overpriced. Its $700 just to have it setup and then another $60 to $70 per month for the service. So thats out of the question. So I'm basically stuck with dialup that is extremely slow with only a 24k connection max. I have underground copper phone lines that probably aren't going to be updated to fiber optic for some time.

i'm sorry.

that being said...a base station is complete overkill for your, and most people's usage. a base station can support up to 50 different user's at once...this is designed for school's, businesses, etc. The home user usually has no more than two or three computers (unless they have serious issues) which are better off being linked via AE cards (unless you require an "always on" connection, which is kind of moot since you could just leave the computer on). The only situation i know of where a home user would require a base station, would be if their only computer is a laptop and they want wireless.

BASE STATIONS ARE OVERKILL IN YOUR HOME!

 

[siliconjones]

I did the software base station thing for quite a while. My problem with it was in my home the range was not close to the range with my WAP. I used to have no signal in my living room which is about 35 feet away down a hallway. With my WAP. I have 92% percent signal at my front door which is about 60 feet away.

Plus, I had to let everyone in my home with wireless know that I was restarting. I also had problems with time to live and the advertisement period.

I would not get the apple base station. I have a netgear G-router that I use as a access point only, my gateway is a hi-end business model also made by netgear.

I have friends who've had luck with buffalo. AFAIK the buffalo stuff is essentially the same internals as apple stuff. A friend of mine hacked his base station and attached the buffalo omnidirectional antenna. I stuck with netgear because I had the netgear gateway for business purposes.

In all, the SWBS was a good band-aid while in a money crunch but usability and performance was suffering tremebdously.

As always, sorry for the long post.