[Dahak]

I had one computer and one printer originally. My connection to the Intrnet was and still is via modem dial-up. I finally bought computers for everybody in the family and set them up in their rooms. Now everyone in the family has there own account when dialing up. I want to set-up the computers to all be able to print to the same printer, share files over the network (One is a work machine and a home machine for me), and still be able to dial out.

I want to always be connected to the home LAN, but till be able to dial-up when needed without leaving the home LAN.

I cannot find a way to this. Any suggestions?? The computers are OS 9 and X.

[aaanorton]

Do you really mean that everybody has their own account? Or just their own email address? I only ask cuz if you're paying more than 40 bucks/month, you'd be better off going broadband, if available.
To connect all the comps in the house, you'll need a router or switch. Do any/all of these machines have Airport/802.11 cards? I think you should take a look at the Apple Airport Extreme base station (modem model) and a cheap switch. With those you would have a home LAN, and all the computers could dial out through the AEBS. Or you could connect once and the AEBS would share the connection with whoever needed it. This, of course, would be better with broadband, but would work just the same. Once you have a LAN, you could easily connect to and share between all the computers.

[Rainy Day]

Do you really mean that everybody has their own account? Or just their own email address? I only ask cuz if you're paying more than 40 bucks/month, you'd be better off going broadband, if available.

I want to add to aaanorton's comment here by saying that if you have a second phone line just for InterNet use, then broadband becomes an even better deal because you can drop that second phone line and apply that $20 or so a month to broadband. It'll probably cost you about what you're paying now, and maybe even a little less. It'll be a lot faster, and everybody in the house can use it at the same time, assuming you install a router. I recommend a firewall/broadband router combo, such as the SOHOware BroadGuard.

From the sounds of it, a DSL or Cable connection might be the way to go for you. Try it, you'll like it!

[Camelot]

Originally posted by Dahak:
The computers are OS 9 and X.

More importantly, what OS is the Mac dialling into your ISP running?

If your dialup machine is running Mac OS X, you can simply enable internet sharing in the Preferences and share the ethernet connection across the dialup link.

I agree with the others that broadband would be a much better experience, but I know that's not feasible in all situations.

[Dahak]

Just to clarify:

3 computers and 1 printer
Cannot have broadband because of location in the mountains.

Computer A & B:
OS 9.2

Computer C:
OSX (Version I don't know of the top of my head)


I want to have ALL 3 computers be able to access the printer from anywhere where there is drop to connect through. Obviously I need to create a LAN for the house. I do NOT want to use Appletalk.

However I also want the computers to be able to dial out. The connection is so bad that if more than one tried to dial out the network would almost literally stop. Note: 4 accounts for $15 (We signed-up a long time ago with a no price raise clause and unlimited bandwidth )

My problem is can find no way to have to multiple IP addresses. One would a a private IP for the LAN, but I then find myself unable to dial-out without leaving the LAN. Apparently I can't assign multiple IP's.

[Camelot]

Mac OS 9.x doesn't support multiple NICs/network connections for IP networks without additional software.

Mac OS X handles this with no problem - just enable both the modem and ethernet ports in the Network preferences and you're pretty much set.

If you can't upgrade the other machines to Mac OS X then you'll need something like IPNetRouter on each of the Mac OS 9.x Macs to enable multi-homing.

[John Strung]

Your solution might be the SMC 7004ABR router. Although this was designed as a cable/DSL router, it has a com port to attach a back up external modem so that you can automatically switch to a shared dial-up connection if your broadband goes down. However there is nothing to stop you from using it as a stand-alone dial-up router if you have only a dial-up connection.

Because it uses NAT, you would then still have private IP addresses on your LAN.

You should be able to get one for about $50, but you would still need an external PC style modem.