[ZSS]

Hi. I have a B/W desktop runing OS X 2.6 and a Wallstreet running OS X 1.5. My wife has a PC running NT. I would like to connect them all so that they can share an internet connection, but am not sure how.

I have a cable modem connected to the B/W desktop via ethernet. A second ethernet card is available to connect it to a network. I have a D-link ethernet hub.

Do I need a router, or does OSX 2.6 do that automaticly? Does the desktop need to be set up in some certain way to be used as a server? Can anyone tell me how to configure these machines or at least point me to a resource that can help?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
ZSS

[ghporter]

Do yourself a favor and get a cable/DSL router. With a little shopping, you can find one for less than $50. It will give you a lot more flexibility, give each computer a lot more bandwidth than if you share using a hub, and otherwise neaten everything.

The cable modem goes to the WAN port on the router, and all the computers get connected to LAN ports-everything with straight through ethernet cables.

Since most, if not all, current cable/DSL routers use a browser-based configuration scheme, setting things up initially is very easy.

All the computers should be set to receive automatic IP addresses (using the DHCP server in the router), and the router itself is all the cable modem sees, so you're isolated from the Internet for security and privacy.

[l008com]

Alternately, you can do it using all the components you have. Plug the G3 into the cable modem, configure it however you normally do to get it on the internet. Then plug ethernet card #2 into the hub. Then go to your System Prefs and go to Sharing, then click on the Internet tab and click the check box that corresponds to the second ethernet card. Then click start. Then simply plug all other computers into the hub you have and set each to get their internet automatically, aka via DHCP. Bandwidth really isn't an issues if you're only sharing internet. And most people call switches hubs anyway, so if your hub really is a switch your golden. Now obviously, if the G3 if off, no one else has internet. I use this technique to share over AirPort. And the one catch that I have yet to solve without 3rd party software is that you have to manually turn on internet sharing like this every time you turn on or reboot the G3.

Now if you wanna get dirty you can set some unix options to make the software router always on, and you can set up port mapping sand stuff but thats a pain. Another option is using the shareware program BrickHouse. Its $25, cheaper than a hardware router. Plus, while many people have had their hardware routers work fine, I've heard many many stories of people having trouble with their. Personally I've had nothing but trouble with hardware routers and nothing but success with software ones.

[ghporter]

Originally posted by l008com:
Alternately, you can do it using all the components you have. Plug the G3 into the cable modem...

No complaints about your suggestion, 1008com, just an observation... If ZSS uses this configuration you suggest, his G3 will have to stay on any time he wants to surf with any of the other computers. This is one reason I recommend inexpensive routers-they can be on 24/7 without any hassle, they use minimal electricity, generate minimal heat, and don't require starting before you start using any of your computers.

[bojangles]

Then simply plug all other computers into the hub you have and set each to get their internet automatically, aka via DHCP.

Every once in a while I come back to this project, and it sounds like with this, I’m close to the solution. Unfortunately, nothing I’ve tried has succeeded. Despite 20 years as an Apple user, I’m a SOHO newbie.

I have three Macs currently networked:
1) Our main machine, a beige G3 running 10.2.6, connects to the Internet via 56K serial modem.
2) A Umax C600 running 9.1, networked via a cheap 10Base-T hub.
3) A Power Mac 5400 running 8.6, networked via the same hub.

On the Umax and the 5400, I’ve the TCP/IP control panel set to Ethernet/Configure Manually. I’ve given each one an Administrator account, and neither one has any trouble seeing the G3’s hard drives and using them as if they were local.

The problem: I have never been able to get either one to see the web.

What am I missing (besides broadband, which we can’t afford right now)?