[nforcer]

I'm going to be building a small network between two comps to share an internet connection and files, and occasionally do some gaming. The two comps I am looking to network are desktop comps (flatpanel iMac/700 and a G4/350 sawtooth model) approximately 60 feet away from each other, with 4 walls in-between their direct "line of sight". The way I see it, I have 3 choices for doing this:

1) Make a really long crossover cable. Take it up through the attic, make a hole in my parent's bedroom wall. Pros: Cheap Cons: PITA, time consuming, ties the computers to the locations they are in.
2) Get two airport cards (not airport extreme cards, since neither comps are directly compatible with airport extreme :/), install one in each comp and set things up that way. Pros: Easy. Comp locations become irrelevant. Apple software and airport integration should mean less worries when updating the OS and making other software/hardware configurations. Cons: Expensive (~$160), probably will not reach maximum possible transfer speeds due to distance/building obstructions. Feels like kind of a rip off (if airport extreme would just have been more backwards compatible, I could have theoretically had up to 5 times the speed for only $40 more )
3) Give Apple the finger and try to use wireless tech from other companies. I'm not really sure what I should go for if I choose this option. I know there are other devices available that support 802.11g, and would be compatible with the 2 comps I have (probably by putting such a card in the iMac and an ethernet to wi-fi bridge on the g4 tower). From what I understand though, there would likely be some minor configuration work to do. But since I might be able to attain higher speeds and other benefits at a cost similar to that of Option 2, it seems to be something to look into.

Right now, option 2 is looking good just because it would simplest and it would get the job done. Can any airport users give me some input as to what speeds I should expect given the distance between the comps and obstructions in the way if I do go with an airport setup? (Ping times in games when playing in a wireless setup are also something of interest to me.)

Option 3 seems like it might offer substantial improvements over option 2 for a similar cost. Although I am mostly in the dark as to what I should be looking into at this point, and I'm uncertain about configuration issues that may arise.

And as for option 1, the more I think about the labor and attic spiders involved, the more I'm hating it.

Any other advice or suggestions would also be appreciated.

[Cipher13]

Cable. Definately.

4 walls... wireless... not good. It could be a poor signal, with a low speed... and AirPort is slow even at its best.

60 feet? No problem for ethernet, and no need for a crossover cable - the iMac should be autosensing.

It'll be faster, more reliable, and cheaper.

Yeah, systems are location-tied, but you can always move the wiring if you absolutely must... or just add more points.

[Camelot]

Option 3 isn't really an option at all. No one else makes internal cards for these machines, so you're limited to external options. These just add extra latency and slow things down even more, as well as adding to the cost. Nix this one, quick.

Option 2 offers you flexibility, as you're aware. I agree with Cipher that the connection speed will suffer at that distance with the 4 walls. I wouldn't expect more than 2 or maybe 3 bars on the strength meter, and no more than 2mpbs throughput. This may be sufficient for you, I don't know.
On the ping question, I can ping wireless devices in around 3-4ms, compared to sub 1ms on wired devices connected by via a switch. Still an insignificant lag compared to internet latencies.
(FWIW, AirPort Extreme probably wouldn't do much better - it only gets full speed at good signal levels/shorter distances.)

Option 1 will give you the max speed but at the pain of having to get into the attic.
If you go this way, though, I would NOT run a cable between the two rooms - run a cable to every room and run them to a central switch. In this way you oversome some of the physical limitations (at least you can move to another room), plus being able to say "Cat-5 wiring throughout" will add value to the house when your parents come to sell it (good way to persuade them to let you do it - and pay for it?)

An alternative that might be worth considering is a hybrid approach... run an AirPort Base Station connected via ethernet to one of the machines and connect the second machine wirelessly. This might let you overcome some of the distance limitation since you may be able to position the base station closer to the other machine, and the base station has a better signal strength than the internal cards.

[ghporter]

I haven't seen a lot of mention of powerline networking for Macs, but if the products are available, this would be a very good option. Since the network medium is the power wiring in the house, all you have to do is plug in and install the network adapters in your computers. The down side is whether or not you can find products that have MacOS drivers. That promises to be the biggest hassle of the whole project!

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
I haven't seen a lot of mention of powerline networking for Macs, but if the products are available, this would be a very good option. Since the network medium is the power wiring in the house, all you have to do is plug in and install the network adapters in your computers. The down side is whether or not you can find products that have MacOS drivers. That promises to be the biggest hassle of the whole project!

I haven't seen much mention of this at all... what're the specs like? Speeds?

I agree with what Camelot said, which is what I did.

I have a central switch (and a hub to which the switch cascades till I buy a bigger switch), and wiring running under the house to 6 places. The wiring runs through ABS piping and PVC hoses so as to keep water and other unwanted things out.

[nforcer]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
I haven't seen a lot of mention of powerline networking for Macs, but if the products are available, this would be a very good option. Since the network medium is the power wiring in the house, all you have to do is plug in and install the network adapters in your computers. The down side is whether or not you can find products that have MacOS drivers. That promises to be the biggest hassle of the whole project!

Thanks for introducing this idea to me. After doing some light research on it, like you said, drivers will probably be the biggest issue. Some devices claim to be completely plug and play (a couple of the USB adaptors) but I'm still kind of skeptical since some of the FAQs I read seemed to have conflicting information.

Performance wise, some reviews I read quoted around 5-6Mbps being typical (even though ~11-14 is maximum theoretical). Being as the prices of the devices are comparible to wireless cards, it seems like it would be a good alternative to airport for desktop comps in a non-network wired house such as my own.

[gbhgbh]

Also, if you use an Airport Base Station, you can attach an external antenna to boost the signal strength.
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index...ppleAirportMod
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Greg