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Simon · 03:20 AM

OK, I have an 1GHz iMac. It's running Jaguar 24/7 in my house. It's connected to the net over a 512Kbps cable connection.

I am planing on buying a 12" PowerBook with an AP Extreme card.

I thought it would be nice to get a second AP Extreme card for the iMac. Now since the iMac is always on I figured I wouldn't need an AP Extreme Base Station (no printer sharing needed either) and could save some money.

Now, is it really as easy as
a) pop APX card in PowerBook
b) pop APX card in iMac
c) select internet sharing in the iMac's system prefs
d) select APX as the network connection in the PowerBook's system prefs.

Am I missing something here? Is it that easy?

All I want is to be able to connect to the net from my PowerBook at home without any cables. Will it work this way? Any experience with such a setup?

Does the Software Base Station do some kind of NAT? Will my PowerBook get an IP I can connect to from the outside world via SSH for example?

I'd appreciate any info or help from people who have already done this. Thanks in advance.

[Edit: The cable connection is 512Kbps not 512 Mbps of course]

aaanorton · May 27, 2003, 01:13 PM

Assuming you have an AE comptible iMac, yes you could do that. I'll let someone else tell you about SSH, cuz that's not my thing. I'd imagine you'd have to do some port mapping, which isn't difficult.
However, I'd highly reccomend you NOT doing it this way. Instead of the 2nd AE card for the iMac, just pick up a cheap 802.11b router. My current favorite is the Netgear MR814. You can get one from buy.com for fifty bucks. Then you'll never have to worry about the iMac being on and awake and you'll get the added security of another device (the router) infront of your computer.

Simon · May 27, 2003, 01:41 PM

Aaanorton, thanks for your help.

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Assuming you have an AE comptible iMac, yes you could do that. I'll let someone else tell you about SSH, cuz that's not my thing. I'd imagine you'd have to do some port mapping, which isn't difficult.

Well, I believe I know enough about SSH.

My actual question was more something like does APX with a Software Base Station do NAT or does it just act like a bridge between wired and wireless networks? It's important to know if it does NAT, since some ISPs don't give you as many IPs as you'd like. Without NAT or a router of some kind you're stuck in that case.

However, I'd highly reccomend you NOT doing it this way. Instead of the 2nd AE card for the iMac, just pick up a cheap 802.11b router. My current favorite is the Netgear MR814. You can get one from buy.com for fifty bucks. Then you'll never have to worry about the iMac being on and awake and you'll get the added security of another device (the router) infront of your computer.

Well, the iMac is on anyway 24/7 because it's a web and mail server. That's not the issue. And in Europe wirless routers are not as cheap as in the US. There's no such thing as a wireless router for 50 bucks where I live.

BTW, having the additional security of the router is something I'd actually rather avoid. Jaguar has a nice built-in easy-to-use firewall. I have seen different methods to set router firewalls (via web interface and via telnet) and I must say that none of them are only nearly as easy to learn and as seemless to configure like Jaguar's. If I don't really, really need the router, I'd rather not get it.

Timo · May 27, 2003, 01:58 PM

It's pretty easy, with a couple of caveats:

1. No AEx card for iMac, as I understand it: you need regular ole airport

2. The software base station is basically a switch in the "sharing" system pref panel. One downside is that you must turn on sharing everytime you reboot or log-in (although some folks at osxhints have written scripts for this)

3. I found a software base station interfered wtih my getting mail via entourage in classic. My solution was to switch to mail, but I'm not up on why it happened and it sounds like you already have a somewhat elaborate e.mail set up.

Can't answer the NAT question, but these suggest SBS is NAT:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...se+station+NAT

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...se+station+NAT

Simon · May 27, 2003, 02:02 PM

Timo, thanks for the advice.

It's really a bummer that sharing has to be turned on after every new login. Is there any rational (non-economic) reason for this? Maybe that will eventually get me to buy a base station.

Originally posted by Timo:
No AEx card for iMac, as I understand it: you need regular ole airport

Well, I have the new 1GHz 17" iMac which indeed has APX.

NDBounce · May 27, 2003, 11:10 PM

I don't have the new imac's or airport extreme, but let me give my 1 and a half cents worth.

I have (and have had since 99 or early 2000) a setup with a 350Mhz iMac running spftware base station. In general it runs well, but in classic, the monitor would sleep (dealing with a CRT not LCD imac) and occasionally (read often) the system would freeze, meaning that I would have to restart the iMac manually in order to get the network back up.

When I upgraded to OS X I hoped the stability of Unix would fix this problem. However, it seems the the system often gets stuck in a frozen mode pretty frequently (usually once a day) making a restart necessary.

For that reason, I would vote to buy the $50 D-Link or $80 Linksys before going the software base station route.

I will reiterate what others have said, however, that if you go the software base station route, it is pretty easy to set up (at least w/802.11b, I am not certain about G as I have never used it).

Peace,

O
B unce!

drcarl · Jun 2, 2003, 01:20 AM

From what others are saying, sounds like hardware is the way to go:

1. iMac doesn't have to be on 24-7
2. Extra security
3. No software conflicts
4. Additional ethernet ports could be used for additional computers or printers for your wired network

Pay the extra $$$ to do the job right and you won't have any regrets.

I'm curious... would a hardware base station have a greater range than using the iMac as a software base station? I understand that the iMac has a built-in antenna, which may make it just as good, however; if the iMac has less range, then that's another reason to go hardware.

Simon · Jun 2, 2003, 03:26 AM

Originally posted by drcarl:
From what others are saying, sounds like hardware is the way to go:

1. iMac doesn't have to be on 24-7
2. Extra security
3. No software conflicts
4. Additional ethernet ports could be used for additional computers or printers for your wired network

Pay the extra $$$ to do the job right and you won't have any regrets.

OK, OK, I have heard and understood it.

I will buy a base station. But my girlfriend is already objectiong to a 2500$ luxury article as she refers to it, so there is no way on earth I can add another peripheral to this purchase right from the start.

So in the beginning I will have to use the iMac as a software base station. Later on I will buy a hardware base station.

So please, for the love of all Mac users, would you please tell me if the software base station will work in the suggested manner. After all during a couple of weeks I will have to use it.

Thanks.