[Rand]

I have a well-networked setup: router, switch with a few servers, one old G3, and a new 1.25MD G4, and an old iBook. I would like to airport the iBook and make it wireless.

Is it necessary to get a basestation, or will I get the same functionality if I just put a card in the G4 (which is always on & networked) to use it as my hub, and one in the iBook? I save $100, do I lose anything more than the physical hub?

The G4 has Gig Ethernet, so I'm not worried about taxing it's pipe, and the iBook wouldn't be having extreme network loads.


thanks for your help
-Rand

[ghporter]

You can get an AirPort card for the G4 and run Software Base Station on it to connect your iBook wirelessly. You need an AirPort card for both the iBook and the G4 (and the adapter for the G4, if I recall correctly), plus Software Base Station.

Even though your G4 is always on, you may want to look into a wireless access point instead of an AirPort card and Software Base Station. They are becoming quite affordable-you can find good ones for around the cost of a single AirPort card-they are nearly all designed to be configured via your web browser, and they allow for isolating functions. Using your G4 as a base takes up computer resources and runs the risk of causing problems with whatever you're doing with the G4.

You just plug the access point into the switch, connect to it with your browser and make a few settings, and you're in business. This isolates any problem with wireless connectivity to the access point and its configuration, rather than (with Software Base Station) wondering if there's a problem with the software, other software on the computer, emanations from Mars... you get the picture.