Question about my current home network and new mac

hello everyone,

i currently have a wireless home network between the 3 pc's in my house and just recently got a new mac. the network is what provides all my computers with internet and now with the new mac i need help finding out how i can also put it on my home net work if possible.

so my question is can i hook up my mac to my pc network( from linksys) or do i have to dish out the money and get the airport system? and also, are there any other options for a network?

thanks in advance,
Victor

You should be able to just turn on the wireless on the Mac, and if you dont have any special requirements (mac address filtering or something) you shouldnt have a problem connecting.

what do you mean by turn on the wireless?

im kinda new at this lol

If you Mac is Airport equiped (most likely is) than, use the Network System Preferences to configure you Airport card for your existing Linksys wireless network. Depending on your own configuration which I would hope you are aware of, you'll need to do just the same to the Mac.

ie

SSID (if not broadcast) = Network Name
Encryption type = WEP or WPA

The wireless communication is based on standards, although the terminology may be the most confusing. Just use the force,...or the manual.

ok,

thanks ill try that than

thanx again for your help...

Which Mac did you buy? Model? CPU?

it was given to me by my uncle (he is a graphic artist and had an extra computer)

i knowits a G4 and thats about it.....

it is a desktop, not a laptop i dont know if that makes a difference

If it's older it may not have an Airport card. You might need to get one via eBay if the tower has the airport kit installed. Otherwise you might just consider running a wire to it.

Another question, what OS is installed? Click on the Apple in the bar on the top of the screen to the left side and on about this mac. Need to know if it's OSX or not. Also it will tell you the CPU and Memory if it's OSX.

its OSX v 10.4.3
Model: Power Mac 3,1
CPU: Power PC G4

Doing some searching it sounds like it's a G4 Graphite Tower. Is it a Tower case and Gray in color? If it's that machine and you want to go wireless, you can get a used Airport card and connect wirelessly that way. That machine if I have the right machine in mind did not come stock with the Airport card installed. You can also hook it up directly to the router with a Cat-5 cable for now.

Again click on the Apple and this time click on More Info and see if there is an Airport card in the list just in case someone installed one.

yes it is grey, and i did some searching and under airport, it says that there is nothing found...

so is there a card i can get?

V.Alonso said:

yes it is grey, and i did some searching and under airport, it says that there is nothing found...

so is there a card i can get?

Click to expand...

The old Airport card. Apple does not make them any longer but you can find one on Ebay and just plug it in. I hope your G4 Tower is not the first one apple made as there was no Airport slot in that machine. When you click on the apple it does not say the speed of the G4? All my machines do.

The Airport cards are not cheep but will work. I can find you one if you want.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=Airport+Card

Dang, they still are quite expensive!! I want to be sure what machine you have before I get you to buy a card to be sure it will work.

Look in back of your tower. Look for the Speaker and Input jacks. Are those two jacks side by side toward the bottom of the panel or vertically one on top of the other? That will tell me if it's the older or newer G4 Tower.

This URL will help you figure out which you have.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58418

they are one on top of the other

V.Alonso said:

they are one on top of the other

Click to expand...

Cool. That would mean you have an PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics. That machine will take the Airport Card. If you do buy one be sure it's the older Airport and NOT the Airport Extreme.