[Langdon]

I was just curious if anyone who installed Panther or Jag on a beige Mac with xpostfacto or Sonnet was able to use the AAUI + Ethernet Transceiver to work. I plan on getting an old Mac up and running as a station but I would need the use of two ethernet ports on the computer.. one for a hardwired printer and one to connect a wireless bridge on.

I know its possible on a G4 tower but I am not sure if it can happen with a legacy machine. So if this can be done without buying a new NIC I'd rather know now.

[tooki]

On no Mac have you ever been able to use the motherboard 10BaseT port AND the AAUI port simultaneously: you can use only one or the other. (The 10BaseT port is basically just a transceiver attached internally to the same AAUI port; the only Apple machines that ship with multiple ethernet ports are servers.)

If you need two ethernet ports, you'll have to add a PCI ethernet card. Get a simple Realtek 8139-based card. Any such card (even if sold for PCs!) will work in Panther with no extra drivers.

tooki

[-Q-]

What he said.

I dumped a $10 PC NIC into my beige and OS X recognized it w/out any problems. Just make sure you get the card with the aforementioned specs.

[Langdon]

So then adding a PCI cetwork card will allow me to use both the internal ethernet and the new NIC at the same time?

[tooki]

Getting the OS to use the port you want could be tricky.

Why can't the printer just be connected to the same network as everything else?

tooki

[Langdon]

Originally posted by tooki:
Getting the OS to use the port you want could be tricky.

Why can't the printer just be connected to the same network as everything else?

Because the printer will not be hard connected to the router by choice. It needs to be next to this particular computer which will be connected to braodband via 802. Currently I have another computer doing this. But the wireless for it is built in Airport and the printer is connected to the etherne port. It works fine through print to IP in Panther. But the fact that I want to do this with a legacy machine that needs an external wireless device that needs to occupy an ethernet port will make it necessary to have another free ethernet port for the printer, which was only supported by PCs until Printgimp came along.

I could use a USB wireless device but I really don't consider them reliable.

[ginoledesma]

Or you could do yourself the favor by buying a cheap print server. There are many you can choose from, like wireless (D-Link DI-311P or D-Link DI-311U) or wired (D-Link DP-300U or D-Link DP-301P). These are cheaper in the long run, and more convenient, since you needn't worry about keeping a dedicated Mac up just for print services, not to mention not having to worry about compatibility with Mac/Windows/Linux/etc.

These are far more reliable than Mac/PC print servers in that they are "install and forget." They just work, are unobtrusive, don't crash, or the like. One of our cheap-o print servers here has been sharing an HP LaserJet 4 for 3 years now with nary a hiccup.

[Langdon]

Very cool but I think its an unneeded expense.
It is more practical for an office environment or for a home but not for my needs. Still in college so I move around yearly. The other computer in our apartment has a printer and the laptops me and my room mates own are not used to print from really. This computer/printer in question is not really going to be used as a print server. Compatibility is always going to be an issue since this is not a postscript printer. The printer has a Jetdirect card so as long as its connected to a Mac running Panther with Printgimp it is fine. I know it can be just plugged into the router but I want it in my room. The computer's purpose is to use as a secondary machine for surfing and printing stuff out for class instead of plugging the printer in and out of my laptop.
It is why I am trying to convert an old Powermac via expostfacto rather than buying a newer machine.