Foo - Mac geeks, I need some assistance

I got my daughter (the PC killer) a used iMac this weekend, and need to connect it to our wireless network. Will a regular ethernet bridge work, or do I have to get some Mac thingy that costs more than the computer?

Thanks,

Brian

The easiest way if it's new enough is to find yourself a used Airport card specific to that model. But if you have a spare wireless router, yes, connecting it to that router via an Ethernet cable should work. TCP/IP doesn't change when you use a Mac, so whatever you could do to connect it if it were a PC, it should work with a Mac.

Macs network pretty well.

One of my ancient ones running OS 9 is doing pretty much what you described so that it can operate far from the wired network while it runs my webcam. It's connected Mac-->Router-->Bridge (then transmitted through the air to the house network).

Hmmm. Not sure I made myself clear. The router is downstairs, the iMac is upstairs. I'm not planning on running a mile of cable. I just plug the bridge into the NIC on the iMac, and the bridge will pick up the signal from the router, correct?

Should, Brian, after all unless you live in a huge compound, there shouldn't be any issues on range, unless your house has a lot of wiring or metal between the floors.

Heck, I can pick up and use Panera's router 1/2 a mile away if I need to.

If you are looking for a wifi card or nic, then you will need an Airport card as jscen mentioned.

If you are looking to add a regular ethernet bridge or switch to your network, then yes any ethernet switch will work, but does not make sense. It would be too technical to expain the function and location of a switch and your home network is probably not in need of one.

Hmmm. Not sure I made myself clear. The router is downstairs, the iMac is upstairs. I'm not planning on running a mile of cable. I just plug the bridge into the NIC on the iMac, and the bridge will pick up the signal from the router, correct?

yep.

I just have an extra router in between because I'm a geek and want to plug other things into the wireless there, too.

Hmmm. Not sure I made myself clear. The router is downstairs, the iMac is upstairs. I'm not planning on running a mile of cable. I just plug the bridge into the NIC on the iMac, and the bridge will pick up the signal from the router, correct?


As long as the access point (router) and wifi bridge are compatible and connected it will work fine.

You can use a USB wifi card - a search of the OS X forums will reveal that the D-link ones have flaky OS X drivers. You can find used airport cards - if you can find a dead iBook, you can pop the keyboard out and pull the airport card in a few seconds.

Get a Linksys WRT54GL and flash it with the dd-wrt firmware. Use the dd-wrt wiki page to set it up as a wireless bridge, then place the new router next to the iMac in whatever room you choose, connect the iMac to the new router with ethernet cable and let the WRT54GL connect wirelessly to the network. There is an added bonus that you now have 4 extra ethernet ports upstairs, one of which could be dedicated to say a network printer. I've done it plenty of times and its hell easy (works 100% with mac's & PC's of all flavours)

My $0.02

Unless it is a super old iMac, it should have a wireless card built in. Is it a G4, G5, or MacIntel??

You may just have to turn it on. I am unsure of how computer literate/illerate you are. What Operating system are you running?

I was helping Brian with ID'ing it. It's a tangerine G3 iMac, 333Mhz. I'm pretty sure that model didn't have a slot for an Airport card.

Sorry to off-topify Brians thread, but I didnt think this
Mac related question warranted a new one.......

Is there such a thing as a 'signal sucker', or unit/card that can
intensify the WiFi signal going into my new MacBook ??
Its a Linksys card right now.

T.I.A. :)

Here's the info that's missing: the iMac doesn't have a wireless card built-in, that's why the OP asked his question. And the answer is YES a wireless bridge (access point) will work perfectly. It CANNOT be a wireless WiFi card. The bridge/access-point is a dumb media-converter and all communications and TCP/IP protocols are done by the built-in ethernet card on the iMac.

Brian, your bridge should work as pointed out but if you need assistance on other Mac/PC issues such as printing over the network, check out iFelix. http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/airport.html

Lowendmac.com is a great place for info. on older Macs.

The instructions are so easy even a caveman could do it.
http://www.bennadel.com/resources/uploads/geico_on_coldfusion.jpg

it all depends on the model. if its a G3 iMac as mentioned above, it won't have Airport built in, and good luck finding a card if it has a slot for one. i haven't played around with one of those in a long time, and i didn't try to get wireless when i did.

feel free to send me a PM if you need help though and i can look around at my other online hang out spot, or head over there yourself and ask, its a great place for help: forums.macrumors.com

You may just have to turn it on. I am unsure of how computer literate/illerate you are. What Operating system are you running?

Shhhh. I do support for some of the largest medical centers and universities in the country. But it's mostly dealing with SQL database issues.

I think I just need to get a bridge now.

Thanks,

Brian