# Connect Mac to Linux System



## zionsrogue (Jul 15, 2007)

I have an intel mac mini connected to my wireless router. Router has ip address 192.168.0.1 and my mac mini has ip address 192.168.0.100

I also have an old Linux system running Slackware Linux. I need to connect my mac mini and the linux system through ethernet. I've tried multiple solutions but I cannot get the two to communicate. Help anyone?


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## Kees Buijs (Jul 16, 2007)

zionsrogue said:


> I have an intel mac mini connected to my wireless router. Router has ip address 192.168.0.1 and my mac mini has ip address 192.168.0.100
> 
> I also have an old Linux system running Slackware Linux. I need to connect my mac mini and the linux system through ethernet. I've tried multiple solutions but I cannot get the two to communicate. Help anyone?



Does the linux machine gets an ip number for the router and what is that. Can you ping the linux machine from the mac mini ? Who is going to be the server and is it setup properly to be so.


Good luck, Kees


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jul 16, 2007)

zionsrogue said:


> I've tried multiple solutions but I cannot get the two to communicate.


Also, getting them to "communicate" is quite vague... are you trying to create an SSH connection from one computer to the other?  Share files over some protocol (samba, nfs, etc.)?  How exactly are you trying to get them to "communicate?"  There isn't one, universal, "communicate" option -- it depends on what you're trying to share between computers.


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## nixgeek (Jul 16, 2007)

First of all, are you getting an IP address?  In Slackware (not sure which version you're running), usually most configs are done as root through the pkgtool command.  In there, there should be an option for configuring the NIC with either a static IP address or DHCP.  You can also enable/disable services from pkgtool.  If it's not already installed, you can install Netatalk which is an open source implementation of AppleTalk and they can share with one another.  You can also install Samba and configure the smb.conf file in /etc/samba.

Remember that Slackware requires you to make the necessary changes to the config files.  Slackware tries to adhere to a pure "vanilla" installation of everything it has and is simple in the sense that there aren't any other tools deviating from the way the app developer intended it to be used or configured.  It's just straightforward in that sense that it's a pure UNIX-like environment.


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## zionsrogue (Jul 18, 2007)

The overall goal is this: I need to hook up my old Linux system to my mac via a cross over cable. Once connected I need the mac the Linux machine needs to be accessible to all other systems on my network, not just the mac that it is connected to.

After some research I believe I can solve my issue through osx, but I've ran into a roadblock. My mac mini connects to my network via wireless. I need to connect my Linux machine and Mac via a crossover cable. (The linux system is an old IBM and I don't have a spare wireless card to get it setup on the network) The mac and the Linux system can "communicate" (send pings back and forth) but only when the ethernet port on the mac has an ip address. I cannot have one ip address for my wireless and another ip address for the ethernet - osx simply wouldn't allow it.


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## ergo proxy (Jul 30, 2007)

Hi, 
Ok, so you are trying to get your Linux box to access other systems on your
network via your Mac.

It would be easier to just connect your Linux box  to the  the router.
I think most wireless routers today are also switches and should have
at least 4 Ethernet ports for wired connections. 

Then, you can configure samba or whatever else on the Linux box to
share resources.


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## zionsrogue (Jul 30, 2007)

Your right, it would be much easier to connect my Linux box to the router. Unfortunately my Linux box is in a different room than the router. The router is in the basement and I need the linux box in my work office - hence running the ethernet cable through the mac and then transmitting wirelessly to the rest of the network.


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## ora (Jul 31, 2007)

zion, this is going to complicate things a lot, i really would recommend finding a cheap wireless card if you possibly can.


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## Qion (Jul 31, 2007)

It's possible that turning on internet sharing from the Mac Mini would allow the Linux machine to access the internet, and at the same time make access between the two machines a bit easier. 

Go to System Preferences: Network: Sharing. Make sure that the Mac Mini is sharing the connection from Airport to "Computers Using: Ethernet". 

No idea how it'll work with a Linux machine, but it's worth a wing anyway. 

Like Ora said, the easiest thing to do is to buy a wireless card.


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## Kees Buijs (Aug 1, 2007)

zionsrogue said:


> Your right, it would be much easier to connect my Linux box to the router. Unfortunately my Linux box is in a different room than the router. The router is in the basement and I need the linux box in my work office - hence running the ethernet cable through the mac and then transmitting wirelessly to the rest of the network.



You should be able to give the wifi card a dynamic address and the network card a static. They are completely independent (i have used wifi for internet while being hooked up to an internal network by cable), similar to what you want effectively.

Otherwise use a router in the room, it will take care of ip-number assignment.


Good luck, Kees


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