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chabig · Dec 4, 2003, 11:56 PM

I haven't been able to figure this out. I have a Powermac 7600 in a room by itself. I also have a spare Airport Base Station. Can I run an ethernet cable from the 7600 to the base station and setup the base station to connect to my Airport network?

I don't think it's possible. The base station is designed to connect to a wired network and serve it to a wireless network. Can it work the other way around?

Chris

ghporter · Dec 6, 2003, 09:36 AM

I don't think so. The way the ABS is designed makes it either a bridge or a NAT router. The bridge mode is not built to serve a client (you'll note that the original ABS could not be used as a roaming base...), and the NAT router function is certainly not built to act as a client.

There are apparently ways to hack the firmware of the original ABS to make it do some "nonstandard" things, but I don't think even that would give you what you want.

chabig · Dec 6, 2003, 11:22 PM

Thanks. I figured it out. The answer is no, but Linksys sells a device that does this exactly. It's called the WET11.

Chris

ghporter · Dec 7, 2003, 09:02 AM

Linksys makes a 802.11g version, too, but I haven't heard as much good about it yet as the WET11. There's also a "wireless game adapter" that is smaller and less conspicuous-it's also a "B" device.

Once Linksys got the market going, other manufacturers got on the bandwagon, so now there's some price competition-that's good for all of us.

Good luck with your new setup.

chabig · Dec 7, 2003, 10:18 AM

Yes. You're right. They do make the 802.11g versions. But I read a lot of reviews that said the radio in it is not very good. So I saved some money by going with the 802.11b product. And that should be fine since mainly I'm just using it as to connect to the cable modem, which only runs about 1.5Mbps anyway.

And about the game adapter...I really couldn't figure out the difference between the game adapter and the WET11. They seem to do the same basic function (bridging) yet the WET11 can then act as a DHCP server on the wired side while the game adapter seems to support just one connected device. So the game adapter seems less capable, yet more expensive.

Chris

ghporter · Dec 7, 2003, 12:14 PM

I haven't seen a lot good about most 802.11g implementations. Either the radio is flaky, the negotiation logic is weird, or WEP is just plain whacko. I also haven't seen a need to transfer tons of files wirelessly; I can sit there and watch the file move in my living room, or watch it move at least twice as fast using a cable in my office. I really think that the "G" concept is still in search of a real-world mission.

And you're 100% right about the Linksys game adapter; less capable, more expensive. I only mentioned it because I saw one at a pretty good price at BestBuy last weekend; I think it was about $70 after rebates. The lowest I've seen a WET11 has been about $85.

mousehouse · Dec 9, 2003, 08:46 AM

the Airport base can do it, but only if you have the "Extreme" version. at the time that i bought it, it was the only basestation that could play Access Point and Client at the same time. you would be using the WDS (wireless distribution system) in this case!