Hi guys,

I have a computer that is getting wireless internet and i want to connect a Mac Powerbook G4 to that computer with a crossover cable. Is this possible? When i try connect it says it has limited or no connectivity.

The other thing i was wondering is, can i connect with airport to a netgear wireless router or do i need an airport base station to receive wireless internet?

hi there

there should be no problem by using different wireless routers, same by using different hubs and switches.

for a crossconnect (heterogen network) the best choice is TCP/IP, but i never tryed to connect a powerbook an a windows or linux workstation.

you can try to find some information on tomshardware.com, maybe they can help

mfg maxx

The problem with the limited connection could be a problem with the IP configuration in the machines. As ive never used a mac ill describe what to do on a windows and say what parts you should do on the mac also though i cant tell you exactly how to do it on a mac!

First thing is to check the IP addresses of both machines, in windows open up the command prompt by ging to the start menu then "run" and type "cmd" and press enter, when the black command prompt box comes up type:



and press enter, you should now see something similar to this image (click to see) Image

Now the numbers will be different, leave the windows machine now and do a similar thing on the mac if possible, you cna also find this information from the network settings menu i think, probably under something like "advanced" or "support" Im nt sure which but it will probably be under/linked with "TCP/IP configuration" too. What you are looking for is information on the IP address (expressed as xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) the subnet mask (usually expressed as something like 255.255.xxx.xxx) and the default gateway (also expressed as xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) ONce you have this information compare it to the information currently displayed on the windows machine.

The "subnet mask" number s should be exactly the same, and the IP addresses should be similar, let me explain



If the ip addresses dont follow the above trends then that could be a problem, if this is the case then we need to change the addresses. In windows go to the control panel and then into networking and select the LAN/ethernet connection then double click on "tcp/ip" in the box and you should see the settings here, for now set the ip address to "192.168.1.2" and the subnet mask to "255.255.0.0". On the mac machine find the settings for tcp/ip also and set the ip address to "192.168.1.3" and the subnet mask to the same as above. You might need to restart both machines now. Once rebooted check the connection. One way is to go back into command prompt in windows and type "ping 192.168.1.3" and see what happens, if all goes well yull get a message at the end saying something like "success rate xx%" and it will tell you how many packets were returned, hopefully it says 4 then everything should work.

If that's not the problem then im not sure what to say! that was the issue with my two windows machines at one point.

When you have connected the 2 PC's with a cross cable.
You need to setup an IP adress for both PC's manual since you have no DHCP server.

If you want an internet connection on the MAC, you need to install some extra software on your windows PC.
(ICS might work but no sure since the other PC is a MAC).
The best range for the ip adresses is in the range 192.168.xx.xx
Make sure that both network interfaces on the windows PC are in a different lan segment.

For ex . wireless : 192.168.1.xxx
crosscable : 192.168.100.xxx
The subnetmask can be setup as 255.255.255.0

For the xxx you can choose anything between 1 and 254 (255 is used for broadcast).

Also if you want an internet connection you will need to set up the default gateway IP address as the machine with the internet connection. EG if the windows machine's ip is 123.123.123.1 and that is the machine with the internet connection then on the other machine, the mac, the "default gateway" address should be 123.123.123.1. Same goes for the other way around.

@kdr AS ive never networked a mac is this what you was referring to with the ICS and instaling software? If so then i assume, and i could be wrong, that no extra software would be required as the mac machine would use the windows one as the gateway and windows would handle it the same if it were windows or mac or linux or anything else? We will see i guess! Which reminds me i really should get some linux ISO's for this machine...*wanders off into oblivion*

If you choose IP adresses for your private LAN , you should use always Private adresses.
Otherwise the adress range you use can't be reached on the internet, since they are routed to your local LAN.

The private adresses are :
10.xx.xx.xx (Class A : default network mask : 255.0.0.0)
172.[16-32].xx.xx (Class B : default network mask : 255.255.0.0)
192.168.[0..254].xx (Class C: default network mask : 255.255.255.0)

Normaly a Class C adress should be enough , since you can connect almost 240 computers.

If you have a firewall with 2 zone's (green and Orange) you can use 2 class C ranges.

Private adresses are never routed over the internet so they are directly reachable over the internet.

If he has an extra computer (maybe an older one) , he can always configure this as linux router.
Some pakkets are available for this like : freesco , IPCOP , smoothwall , ...
They are more safe and quicker then Microsoft ICS.

This post has been edited by kdr_98: Jan 5 2007, 02:38 PM