I just got a G4/400 to replace my very long-in-the-tooth 6400/180. I love the G4 but want to keep the Performa as a second machine, for my wife and daughter mainly.
I definitely want to network the two machines. We have dual channel ISDN and I will eventually run a gateway on the G4 so we can both be online at once. Also, an ethernet card is cheaper than adapters to connect serial printer, SCSI scanner, etc. to the G4.

I need an ethernet card for the 6400. Will a standard PeeCee PCI ethernet card work, or do I need a Mac version? Is it just a driver issue and does the Mac even need a driver for the card?

[This message has been edited by digitalcowboy (edited 01-19-2000).]

[This message has been edited by digitalcowboy (edited 01-19-2000).]

Get Farallon's 10/100 PCI card... it goes for $50 from Outpost.com and works great. You want 100-Base T, since that's what your G4 has. It'll greatly speed up network file transfers.

Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely take a strong look at the Farallon card based on your recommendation... if it comes to that. And I will definitely do 100baseT.

My real question, though, is do I need a *Mac* card. I already spent more on the G4 than I can really afford -] so I'm trying to do the network thing as cheap as possible. I can get a "PC" 10/100 ethernet PCI card for a song (like, less than $20 -- maybe free!). I just want to know if it will work. PCI and Ethernet are both pretty strict industry standards...

[This message has been edited by digitalcowboy (edited 01-20-2000).]

Ethernet cards only work with the proper driver. You can get an Asante Fast Ethernet PCI card from outpost.com for about $40.

I recommend going that route rather than trying to mess around with PC cards.

If you are planning on more expansion for the 6400, it also has a Comm Slot which you can put an ethernet card in and save your precious PCI slots....

My recommendation would be to run the gateway on the 6400 and keep your G4 clean.
I personally run my gateway on an old IIci and it works perfectly.


drewman


[This message has been edited by drewman (edited 01-21-2000).]

digitalcowboy,

in addition to drewman's recommendations:

The Comm Slot II (I think it is this type) of the 6400 will take a special ethernet card, not a pretty standard PCI one. Most of these Comm slot cards, if not all, are just 10 Mbit, not 100 Mbit as on the G4. Thus you would reduce network speed. Also expect such a card to be more expensive than a PCI model.

Walter.

I did mention the Comm Slot II option. Farallon sells the EtherRX 10/100 card currently. Outpost.com has it for $80.
I used one in a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh and it worked perfectly.

drewman

Thanks, drewman, for the information on 10/100 Comm Slot II cards. I had never heard about them before.

Walter.

I was wondering if using a pci ethernet card in my 6500/300, and a crossover? cable I could network the 6500 with my new iMac? Will it work, and what is the cheapest card to get?

Adam

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'I shall be like that
tree, I shall die at the
top.' - Jonathan Swif

I have a Asante PCI card in my Preforma 6400/180 46 megs of ram and it works fine under OS 8.1 (Couldn't get it to work with system 7 though)

System Profiler reports that the Comm Slot II 10BT ethernet card is a PCI card. As far as I can tell from reading, the CSII standard is pretty close to PCI, but proprietary. I can attest that I get incredible throughput fro m my CS II card.