Airport & pcs

P

porthacking

Registered
Hi Everyone...

I am new to Mac...

We have an XP system and two G4 PowerPC 500mHz systems.
We have one printer, and one cable modem. We need all computers to have access to this and we would like to set up a network.

None of the computers have a wireless network card installed. Does it matter what I install in the XP system?
The two Macs: I am not sure if they are Airport EXTREME Ready. How do I find out if they accept EXTREME or only accept the lesser?

If I use Airport Express with the Modem and Printer will all computers have access?

To have a wireless network running with three computers (two mac and one PC) does it suffice to just install the network cards or do I need something extra?

If it is a hassle to have the cross platform network can I Network the Macs but still have all three using the Modem?

If all three computers were networked, is it possible to burn wirelessly across the Network from the PC (ie burn files on the Mac from the burner in the PC). If so, would AirPort do the Job if EXTREME can't be installed in the Macs?

As one of the Macs will have sensitive material on it, what security measures would I take 1) to stop viruses from spreading through the network (remembering it may be crass platform) 2) to stop users on the other computers accessing the software and files on the other computer?

Thanks.


Scott
 
What version of the Mac OS are you running? You should upgrade to OS X 10.3 Panther, it supports Windows systems very well and will make this exercise easy.

The G4's you have do not come Airport Extreme (802.11b/g) ready out of the box, they have built in antenna and card slot for Airport (802.11b). However, you can buy a 3rd party 802.11g PCI card for the Mac's from a company such as Belkin (min OS X 10.2.7). Same for the XP machine - any Wi-Fi certified 802.11g card will do.

We have a small network of two XP machines and one Mac (OS X 10.3.4) using an Airport Express base station. It works excellent and took only minutes to set up. The machines all share a USB printer and internet connection. Just follow the directions in the Airport Express manual. You can configure the Express base station with either the Mac's or Windows XP machine - it ships with software for both.

Tips for Networking Mac OS X and Windows XP:

Windows

1. On your XP machine you need to password protect your user account (go to control panel>users). OS X seems to NEED a user name and password to access another computer.
2. You need to enable you XP machine for networking - simply run the 'set up a home or small office network' wizard on the XP machine (control panel>network). Name your XP machine and network (for example WINXP for machine and OFFICE for network)
3. Select the folders you wish to share on the XP machine and enable sharing by right clicking and selecting 'sharing and security'.

Mac OS X

1. Open System Preferences and select sharing, click on services and name your machine then check 'Personal File sharing' and 'Windows file sharing'.
2. I believe this will share all your Mac's folders with XP users, you can also drag folders you wish to share to the Public folder on OS X (same as Shared folder on XP).


To access an XP machine from Mac OS X:

1. Open the Finder
2. Select NETWORK from the upper left corner
3. A folder labeled OFFICE (or whatever you named your windows network) should appear - double click it.
4. Inside this folder should be an icon labeled WINXP (or whatever you named your XP machine) - double click it.
5. A dialogue box will appear - enter XP machine user name and password (you can save in OS X keychain for future use) - then the SMB mount box will pop-up, select the folder you wish and click OK.
6. This will 'mount' the shared folder in your finder and on your desktop as an icon named whatever you file/folder was labeled.
7. To eject (disconnect) a file share either log off, right-click and select 'eject' or drag the shared folder icon to the trash (don't worry - nothing will be deleted).

PS - the other Mac should also show up under either LOCAL or WORKGROUP in the finder under NETWORK.

To access a Mac from Windows XP:

1. Go to 'my network places' and click 'view workgroup computers'
2. You may have to click up one level at this point to view available networks. One network will be named MSOFFICE and the other WORKGROUP - the Mac's will be under WORKGROUP.
3. Enter the Mac user name and password.
4. You can then place shortcuts on your desktop for both Mac's

OR

An easier way is to copy the IP address OS X provides for each Mac on a network for Windows users.

1. Go to you Mac and select system preferences>sharing. Then highlight WINDOWS SHARING under services. Look down at the bottom of the window, just below PRINTER SHARING and you will see this >>>"Windows users can access your computer at \\10.0.1.X\User" this IP address is just an example - your's may vary. Then simply type the supplied address into the windows explorer's address bar (if you don't have the address bar visable under XP go to MY COMPUTER and in the upper left, select view>toolbars>address bar). Type in the Mac's user name and password and away you go.

You can set folder/file permissions in both Windows and OS X, that is let users just read or let them be able to read and write to the shared folder/files. In OS X it is under GET INFO and in Windows it is set under file sharing/security.

To keep sensitive files/folders secure on a Mac, open system preferences and select sharing, then deselect Windows file sharing and personal file sharing (I think any folders placed in the Mac PUBLIC folder will still be shared between Mac's - not sure only have one Mac for now). This will lock everyone out of this Mac - but the Mac can still share the printer and internet connection.

Also, good idea to get security/virus software, especially for the Windows XP box.

Anyway - hope this helps. I am fairly new with OS X (June 2004) and this has worked great for us, no problems. Keeping in mind it is a small self contained network - not too complicated.
 
The Airport Express base station uses DCHP for up to 10 wireless clients and supports standrd network security such as WPA, WEP, NAT and Mac filtering.

If your sensitive files are not too sensitive, the requirement of a user name and password to access them may be sufficient. However, if you need more security you could always encrypt the files.

These sites may be of use for your endeavor:

Airport Express
Support

Mac&Windows Networking
 
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