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mauimac · Mar 28, 2003, 11:41 PM

Aloha,
I have 3 Macs...an 8600, and an iBook & G4 which both have 9.2/OSX installed...just got a Dell 4500 so I could use some particular accounting and scuba computer hardware & software and my husband could play Microsoft's Flight Simulator games, and I'd like to network them. I got a US Robotics broadband router, haven't set it up yet, but was wondering if that's all I need in order to simply share files. Do I need something like DAVE or PC MacLan or is there a way to do this without dropping another $150? I haven't quite switched to OSX yet, still using 9.2. I would appreciate any advice you may have for me!
Thanks in advance!

Chimpmaster · Mar 29, 2003, 04:23 AM

In mac osx you certainly dont need 3rd party software to share your connection with a pc.

You just go into system preferences, sharing and turn on share internet connection via ethernet.

not sure about os9 sorry. Can anyone else comment?

You didnt necessarily need a router for what you are trying to do. An ethernet hub would have been sufficient.

However, routers are generally driver free. The idea is they provide an always on connection. You generally would only use the device in between the connection source and your network; if you daisy chain the other machines from your promary machine via the router, you will still need the primary machine on at all times to share the connection (which defeats the purpose of a router really).

So I envisage your network most probably being your cable or adsl connection connected to the router, with an ethernet hub connected to the router on the other side, with your clients connected to your hub.

Let us know how you go.

djjava · Mar 29, 2003, 10:16 AM

i have a pb17 connected via Airport, and my old PC connected to airport via cable. I can't get file sharing to work, or maybe I'm forgetting something. advice?

ghporter · Mar 29, 2003, 10:31 AM

The most difficult part in sharing files between PCs and Macs (other than file formats, etc.) is making sure that the PC has the files/folders/drives you're looking for shared in the first place. You probably need to set the shares on the PC for full access and make sure, to start anyway, that you leave any password setting blank.

mauimac · Mar 29, 2003, 03:23 PM

Thanks for the comments and suggestions so far, I appreciate it!

djjava · Mar 30, 2003, 11:25 AM

I've shared folder on my pc... then I go to my network folder on the PB, and nothing shows up... Damn PC...