Wireless Internet question: Can a PC and MAC share? (1 Viewer)

[Dean_Jonesy]

I have a Gateway desktop and my roommate just bought a sweet Apple G4 lap top. I currently have Road Runner high speed. Is there a way to share my Road Runner? He has an Airport for his laptop, but I don't have anything for my PC. Thanks for your help.

 

[DonRoeber]

Sure. If you use a router, you'll have no problems. If you get one with a wireless AP built in, then he can sit on the couch and surf. I've got two PCs, three Macs, a printer and a Tivo all using my network at home. The backbone of it is a Netgear router, which is connected to my cable modem.

Don't try to use either companies version of internet sharing though, they're only compatable with OSes from the same company.

 

[Erik*R]

Easy way is to get a wireless router.

RR modem connects to back of router instead of the back of your PC like it is now.

then you can hook the router WIRED to the back of your pc and the Mac can connect wirelessly to the router

if you both download a LOT at the same time you will notice a slowdown but otherwise no problem you are sharing a connection.

have fun

 

[Dean_Jonesy]

Thank you so much!!! I knew I came to the right place!!

 

[Mike Sogge]

Not true. I've shared the wireless connection my PowerBook G4 has with a friends PC laptop numerous times. Works fine. All the OS does is assign an 169.x.x.x style IP to the shared computer. The computers don't need to be running the same OS.

 

[Cees Alons]

That's what I would say too.

The "gateway" PC runs what's known as a NAT (Network Address Translator) and a bridge. All incoming IP-packets (from the LAN) on one NIC are packed anew and send to the Internet NIC. All incoming packets from the Internet NIC are unpacked and send to the LAN. Because this is IP-protocol, it's independent of the OS on the PC (they just have to implement it properly).

I use this for years already (since 2000) and it works like a charm. First I had a third-party NAT and then used the Internet Sharing Service (as it happened, Microsoft bought the NAT I was using before).

Cees