[amanda12804]

I currently have a windows xp in the faimly room and hoping to buy an imac g3 osx for my room. The xp is currently connected to a modem no problem, i know that in order to share the internet i need to buy a router. Then there is all this talk about airport cards and bases. My friend has 2 macs and she has a router modem and an airport base is that a necessity? I am on a low budget, so if you could help me out on how to connect my 2 computers wirelessly or not for cheap it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced

[VegasACF]

Originally Posted by amanda12804

I currently have a windows xp in the faimly room and hoping to buy an imac g3 osx for my room. The xp is currently connected to a modem no problem, i know that in order to share the internet i need to buy a router. Then there is all this talk about airport cards and bases. My friend has 2 macs and she has a router modem and an airport base is that a necessity? I am on a low budget, so if you could help me out on how to connect my 2 computers wirelessly or not for cheap it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced

I've got an Asanté FriendlyNET FR1104-G Cable/DSL 802.11g Wirless Firewall Router that is connected by wire to two Macs (a newish one and a museum piece) and two Windows machines (an older laptop and a newer desktop). It also connects wirelessly to my 15" PowerBook G4. It cost less than $80.00 (U.S.). I had to buy a few ethernet cables, so that pushed the total a bit over $100.00. You need not purchase Apple hardware to connect wirelessly. The Airport uses the 802.11g standard, so anything that complies with that will work.

The Macs were a breeze. I connected the hardwired Macs to the router and they immediately saw the network and were online in a matter of a minute. The PowerBook (which ships with an Airport Extreme card in it) saw the network immediately and, after entering the user name and password that I had set up on the router, it was up and running, too. The Windows machines were not quite so easy to set up, but with a little bit of wrangling I got them on there, too.

As for wireless cards and the like, I don't think you're going to be able to get a card into an iMac G3. I don't think they support such devices. There may be some sort of external device you could connect to act as a substitute, but I'm unaware of it. If you have not yet purchased the iMac you might consider purchasing an iBook or PowerBook that either has the capability of hosting the card internally or has PCMCIA slots into which you can insert a Mac-compatible wireless card.

Hope this is of some use to you.

[amanda12804]

Yes it was of help thank you, but i also have some other questions how can you tell whether your computer has the capability to connect wirelessly. It would be more convienent to hook my imac g3 wired and my windows xp wirelessly. If this helps at all my computer is an emachines model t2385.

[VegasACF]

I'm probably not the best person to ask about specific Windows hardware. But I feel confident that someone here will be able to help you.

In general a laptop with PCMCIA slot(s) will be able to support wireless cards. But I'm not too familiar with emachines models. Sorry!

[linskyjack]

Originally Posted by amanda12804

Yes it was of help thank you, but i also have some other questions how can you tell whether your computer has the capability to connect wirelessly. It would be more convienent to hook my imac g3 wired and my windows xp wirelessly. If this helps at all my computer is an emachines model t2385.

In that case, you will need router that supports both wireless and wired. All the major mfgrs make them--we like the Linksys. Your MAC will need the airport card, and your pc will need a wireless card (chances are it isn't built in--but that is possible. To check, right click MY Computer, select Properties, and expand Network Adapters---If you dont see the wireless card there then you will have to buy one. You can get either an external USB powered wireles (my son uses a Linksys) or a card that should pop into any available slot in your computer.

[brendandonhu]

When you say connected through a modem, is that dialup or broadband (cable/DSL)?

[amanda12804]

cable

[brendandonhu]

Ah, ok. Any wireless router should work for you then

[amanda12804]

I have finally recieved everything needed for my computer to work online, thank you. My imac g3 is currently running osx 10.0.4 and as i was trying to download aim it said that i needed to update. I find it hard to believe that no one who has osx 10.0.4 cant run aim. Im not to familiar with macs so im not sure what needs to be done to download things off the internet. Also how can i get itunes,ical,safari,imovie,iphoto, etc.? Thanks