[Grayback]

Hi. I'm new to this forum and macs in general. I'm a long-time windows user, though I did experiment with macs in college. I've been a DSL subscriber for about 2 years when I acquired a great PB/292 now running os 9.2.2. For the little I paid, it s a great machine. No dead pixels, the DVD drive works (though I guess I still need a decoder card) and provided it's just been recharged, the battery lasts over an hour and a half. I would like to be able to hook it up to my DSL modem though. I knew I was expecting too much when I plugged into the 10baseT port the same plug that normally goes to my Dell's 10/100 NIC. I couldn't get the PB to see the modem (a Westell Wirespeed), nor could I get the modem to see the powerbook (the "ethernet" light didn't...light up that is). I was expecting a problem, but is there a solution? Should the ethernet port work, and maybe this is a sign of damage? Should I just put a 10/100 card in the PCMCIA slot? Will any 10/100 card do? Will any card work under OS 9? Is there any other question I'm missing? Your productive suggestions are appreciated in advance. Please bear in mind that I'm new to macs, and no expert on ethernet - I ask for your mercy?

Gray

[ibook_steve]

It's been ages since I did OS 9 networking, but you need to go to the TCP/IP control panel (apple menu -> control panels) and enable DHCP to get an IP address from the DSL. Either that or you have to configure PPPoE. That depends on how your DSL works. But the TCP/IP control panel is the key.

Steve

[Grayback]

Steve, thanks for the reply. I'm assuming that otherwise, there's no issue then with using the 10base-T port, then, right. Also, since I'm new to configuring my connection manually, can you point me to some FAQ or tutorial about setting up the TCP/IP connector? I found it onthe control panel, and I found the ip addresses on the connections properties window on my PC - so I'm assuming that one of the IP addresses is the numer I need (the properties window has client & server ID's).

again, thanks for your reply

[analogika]

There are no PPPoE drivers in OS 9. You need to install either MacPoEt or Enternet, neither of which is available anymore AFAIK - though you can find them if you scrounge around.

In addition, you need a modem script for your DSL modem, of which I have no idea how to generate or glean one - possibly, there are generic scripts that will work.

Then you need to configure the following system control panels:

Modem
TCP/IP
Remote Access
MacPoEt/EnterNet

This is one of many, many areas where OS X did away with a LOT of mess and made the Mac a Mac again.

Depending upon what your time is worth, it's probably more effective to buy a cheap router, configure that using either Netscape on Mac OS 9 (might not work for configuring many newer routers, though, as it's six years old) or a different machine, and hook up your Mac to that - just set TCP/IP to "DHCP", and you should be ready to roll.

[Thraxes]

I'd also just suggest getting a router. They're cheap and you can run the PB and the Dell both on the same network at the same time.

[Grayback]

Problem solved, I found macpoet and installed it. A shred of trial and error followed and I am now responding back while typing on my PB.

Originally Posted by analogika 

There are no PPPoE drivers in OS 9. You need to install either MacPoEt or Enternet, neither of which is available anymore AFAIK - though you can find them if you scrounge around.

I must have scrounged around enough, because I found macpoet.

In addition, you need a modem script for your DSL modem, of which I have no idea how to generate or glean one - possibly, there are generic scripts that will work.

Macpoet came with all the info I needed. Once I knew to plug the ethernet in before boot-up, I realized that I had solved just about all of my problems. The MacPoet readme had all the settings, except for DNS, which I got from my desktop. I hear that OSX has PPPoE native, though I've rebooted several times and macpoet is so automatic that it might as well be native.

Thanks to everybody who responded.

PPS, while it's off topic, sorta, I just want to say that I wanted my PB to be online ready because it's otherwise such a sweet machine. I charged it up last night and it held its charge all day. For a wintel notebook of about comparable age, I don't see that happening.

[analogika]