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Miniryu · Feb 23, 2002, 05:56 PM

My friend is giving me her old Tengerine iBook for free! I'm estatic because I have wanted a book for hella long but did not have enough money to afford one of the new iBooks. Anywho, what is the best way to fileshare and to keep my iMac synced with my iBook? Will this be possible for cheap?

Captain Obvious · Feb 23, 2002, 11:38 PM

Originally posted by Miniryu:
My friend is giving me her old Tengerine iBook for free! I'm estatic because I have wanted a book for hella long but did not have enough money to afford one of the new iBooks. Anywho, what is the best way to fileshare and to keep my iMac synced with my iBook? Will this be possible for cheap?

How much data do you have to sync? To start out with I'd just get a straight through Ethernet cable and turn on Appletalk and just transfer files over to the iBook.
But then if you just need to update documents or databases I'd email them to yourself, use your iTools space or go back to that Ethernet cable.

Miniryu · Feb 25, 2002, 06:17 AM

Nah, it's gonna take a straight Ethernet connection to get all of the stuff transfered that I want to transfer. Are you sure it will work just using Appletalk? Don't I need a network hub or something?

adamschneider · Feb 25, 2002, 11:38 AM

I wouldn't recommend a crossover cable; you have to switch on AppleTalk in the two computers simultaneously, and it's just a pain. Much easier to get a cheap network hub and use plain old Ethernet patch cables.

Arkham_c · Feb 25, 2002, 04:09 PM

Just bear in mind you don't have to get an Apple-specific hub. Any ethernet hub will work. You can pick up a generic 10/100 hub for around $15. If you lived near me, I have a box full of 'em in the basement

[ 02-25-2002: Message edited by: Arkham_c ]

MacWebb · Feb 25, 2002, 04:17 PM

My favorite of all is Firewire target mode. Much faster than ethernet. Just start up your iBook while holding down the "t" key. You iBook hard drive will mount on your desktop. Move the files you want at super speed. I actually use this method to make use of my desktop peripherals while at home (using laptop apps and data). When I travel, I have all of the same apps and data just running from the ibook. I then use the desktop as a nightly backup.

kevin

gbvaughan · Feb 25, 2002, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by MacWebb:
My favorite of all is Firewire target mode. Much faster than ethernet. Just start up your iBook while holding down the "t" key. You iBook hard drive will mount on your desktop. Move the files you want at super speed. I actually use this method to make use of my desktop peripherals while at home (using laptop apps and data). When I travel, I have all of the same apps and data just running from the ibook. I then use the desktop as a nightly backup.

kevin

Can you explain that a little more? This sounds like I could connect my powerbook and G4 via a firewire cable. Huh?

Thanks,
gbvaughan

agentz · Feb 25, 2002, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by MacWebb:
My favorite of all is Firewire target mode. Much faster than ethernet. Just start up your iBook while holding down the "t" key. You iBook hard drive will mount on your desktop. Move the files you want at super speed. I actually use this method to make use of my desktop peripherals while at home (using laptop apps and data). When I travel, I have all of the same apps and data just running from the ibook. I then use the desktop as a nightly backup.

kevin

One slight problem, he said tangerine iBook - these babies don't have FireWire.

I'd go for the ethernet hub option myself, seems to be the most reliable for me.

However, I think miniryu could be looking for some form of auto-sync software to allow data to remain cosistent on the two machines without a lot of messing around copying files manually and whatnot.

Kinda like My Briefcase in Windows I suppose. Does anyone know of such a software solution for the Mac? Something that I could have say a large Excel spreadsheet on my desktop machine, and my iBook but they'd both always have the most recent version without me having to think about which one I edited last...

funkboy · Feb 25, 2002, 08:47 PM

I tried out SwitchBack and was quite impressed with it - completely straightforward and easy to use. Works better and more reliably than OS 9's File Sync.

However, shouldn't a feature like this be pretty standard on an operating system? I hope OS X.2 or .5 has something like this in it...

Max8319 · Feb 26, 2002, 12:56 AM

an ipod would work. it sure did for me. i'm not sure if that ibook has a firewire port. if you can get your hand on an ipod, that is definately what i would do

seanyepez · Feb 26, 2002, 03:38 AM

Originally posted by Max8319:
an ipod would work. it sure did for me. i'm not sure if that ibook has a firewire port. if you can get your hand on an ipod, that is definately what i would do

Tangerine iBooks don't have FireWire.

I think you should use an Ethernet network of some sort to keep the machines synchronized. They're common, and they're cheap. You can't use a crossover cable if you have a broadband connection because it will use up your only free network port. However, if you're a dial-up user, you might be in luck!

If your iMac supports AirPort, you could network them via that, too. The iBook could wirelessly browse the Internet and network with that setup as well. You would need to equip both of the machines with AirPort cards, though.

Miniryu · Feb 26, 2002, 03:41 AM

This sounded too good to be true, until I remembered that the tangerine iBooks do not have Firewire. They didn't even have digital video until the white version came out. While I will be forced to buy a network hub for now, I now have more of an incentive to save for one of the NEW iBooks!

And I would consider $15 cheap. Is there any other instruction or stuff I should know about using a non-mac hub? I should be able to find oune at Best Buy, correct?

[ 02-26-2002: Message edited by: Miniryu ]

gacuna · Feb 26, 2002, 09:21 PM

well there are two ways to go about this, you can get a crossover ethernet cable and well all laptops have the Folder Sync or something like that and well yeah u can use that method.

there is also something called firewire disk mode which u should look into if both ur computers have firewire ports, i am not sure if this is enabled on the older ibooks, but u can start ur ibook up connected to the imac with a firewire cable by pressing t during startup on the ibook u can mount the ibook as if it is a firewire harddisk.

hope this helps.

Miniryu · Feb 27, 2002, 04:20 AM

Yeah, the firewire disk option is not really available to me since the early iBook does not have a damn firewire port. Too bad cuz that would have been the easiers weay.

I purchased an ethernet hub today for $30 today at Best Buy (I thought they should have had something cheap). It has 4 ports and looks like it's a good one. I will probably use it to play my brother Unreal when he visits, etc. Does ayone think it was a mistake buying this thing? I can still get my money back.

seanyepez · Feb 27, 2002, 04:32 AM

Where do you live in the Bay Area? I can help you set it up if you live close to Pleasanton.

It wasn't a mistake to buy the hub. You'll find it quite useful in the future to connect, transfer files, and play games to, from, or with other people.

Miniryu · Feb 28, 2002, 03:34 AM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
Where do you live in the Bay Area? I can help you set it up if you live close to Pleasanton.

Crud. I live in Oakley out in the East Bay. Its a long way out. Thanks for your help anyway. What do I need to know if I don't plan to do a wall mount? I was hoping I could just keep it on the desk like a USB hub.

seanyepez · Feb 28, 2002, 03:48 AM

You don't have to mount it on the wall. It's just a matter of keeping everything connected with good signal. AirPort base stations tend to provide better signal horizontally (assuming it's sitting on a table).

Miniryu · Mar 1, 2002, 03:34 AM

I used the Hub today- works like a charm. Now I just need a dedicated line and I can hook bother computers to the internet.