Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

rbaxter · Mar 4, 2003, 08:51 PM

presently have 3 pcs at home with wireless linksys router - what do I need to do to go wireless with my g4 400 operating on 10.2 ?

aaanorton · Mar 4, 2003, 09:13 PM

An Airport card or an ethernet cable.

rbaxter · Mar 5, 2003, 12:07 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
An Airport card or an ethernet cable.

I called apple and the tech said he did not think that airport would work unless linksys could provide the drivers for a mac machine? I call linksys and they only provide pc support and software

aaanorton · Mar 5, 2003, 12:47 PM

Well, the wired side of the router will work with a Mac for sure. Just plug in a CAT 5 cable and go. I thought I read here about people using these with Airport as well (GHPorter where are you?). AppleTalk will not work, but that is less of an issue now. If you really want wireless to the G4, get an Airport card and try it. If it doesn't work, you can sell the Linksys and get a Netgear wireless router for < $70 (I've seen them as low as $49).

ghporter · Mar 5, 2003, 02:59 PM

Any wireless (802.11b) device will work with AirPort. {canned statement}AirPort is Apple's trade name for their implementation of the IEEE 802.11b standard, therefore any and all 802.11b equipment will work fine with AirPort equipment.{/canned statement} There is one caveat; setting up WEP with different vendors' equipment can be a hassle because of inconsistent terminology in the instructions not problems in the technology.

The only platform specific issue with Linksys products is that some of them use a configuration program, always written for PCs. The number of such products is falling steadily, as more and more come out with browser-based configuration utilities. Your Linksys wireless router (a BEFW11S4?) should be accessible via your browser. To do this, set your computer to get an automatic IP address (that's called DHCP), then turn it off. Plug it into the router and turn on the router, then your computer (this ensures that you'll get an address from the router, and thus be able to connect to it). Open your browser and enter 192.168.1.1 in the address window, and connect-you'll get the setup pages for the router-they're all just like in the book.