Wireless connection questions

[youngestchild]

I want to connect my iMac to my iBook but that's all i have. No AE or third party router.... can it be done?

I have the net and an external harddrive attached to the iMac. I have a printer and some powered speakers connected to the iBook. I'd like to be able to stream music and send print jobs to the iBook from the iMac. I'd also like to connect to the internet and access external harddrive, that are connected to the iMac, from the iBook.


little help?
thanks.

 

[mad jew]

Try this. It's called an ad hoc connection, or a computer-to-computer connection.

 

[youngestchild]

Hey thanks, yeah I have tried that... that didn't seem to work. I couldn't get internet on the iBook from the iMacs connection.

 

[mad jew]

Ahh sorry, that's only half the story. After you've made the connection you'll need to set one of the machines up to share its internet via AirPort using the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Obviously the machine you set up this way needs to be actually connected to the internet already.

 

[youngestchild]

wow... i really can't get this to work... so when i have the little icon to say computer-to-computer network on the imac with all the sharing preferences i want ticked (net, print, itunes)... then i connect the ibook to the same c-to-c network... where do i find the other computer?? i've looked but i can't see anything. any help would be good, thanks.

 

[aussie_geek]

here's how!!

wow... i really can't get this to work... so when i have the little icon to say computer-to-computer network on the imac with all the sharing preferences i want ticked (net, print, itunes)... then i connect the ibook to the same c-to-c network... where do i find the other computer?? i've looked but i can't see anything. any help would be good, thanks.

mad jew is right in saying for you to enable all your printer / file sharing / itunes etc but you must enable personal web sharing on your imac. - but there is more.

you are not actually creating a computer to computer network. all you are doing is telling the imac to route the internet to be shared on its airport card. it is called a wireless access point. computer to computer networks are used to transfer files only.

starting from scratch , what you need to do is:

put the ethernet cable from your modem into the imac and ensure you are on the net.

on the imac , go to system preferences and click sharing. click on the " internet" pane. make sure that it is set to share your internet connection from ethernet to computers using airport. DO NOT CLICK ON START or APPLY YET.

click on airport options. a pane will drop down giving you the name of the network - the default is " AirPort Network " - it is case sensitive also. Use this name or change it to something else (i'd change it).

definitely consider using wep encryption as a security measure so that anyone cannot just hijack your network. so after you have configured all your settings in that pane - write them down on paper. ie - network name and password. click ok and the pane will close. now you are back at the sharing pane. click start then click apply.

now to the ibook.
in your airport menu , click on it and you should see your network name in there click on it and enter a password if you have to. if you don't see it (you should - i have just done this on my macbook pro and powerbook ) click "other". a window appears asking you to enter the network name - enter the name you have written down. if you have chosen a password, click on the wireless security menu and select wep password. enter it. click ok.

voila!!

also with the printer - why don't you connect it to the imac - use it as a print hub instead of it being on the ibook.


good luck,

aussie_geek

 

[youngestchild]

aussie_geek.... thanks for yr response. I have a problem and i'm not sure why... on the imac (with net connection) i'm at the sys pre / sharing / internet window... having done everything else you've said i click on the START button (there is no apply button though?) ... if i click out of this internet window and then go back to it internet sharing has switched back to off. do you know why?