generally, a mac can have as many ethernet cards/ports as you wish. it's common to use an older mac with 2 ethernet cards or a built in ethernet and a card as a hardware firewall, usually under *nix in this case but even in the various versions of the mac os you can have more than one, you just have to tell appletalk, tcp/ip etc. which one to use. you can connect 2 macs directly without a hub. in this case you use a cross over cable between an ethernet card in the tower and the notebook, assuming you don't also want the modem connected at the same time. if you do want the modem connected as well, then you do need a router/switch, and one that includes a firewall is a very, very good idea on a cable modem. most people on cable modems who have checked their firewall logs report 3 or 4 incursion attempts a day. true, they are usually looking for a pc, but macs have vulnerabilities as well if the potential intruder knows what they are doing. then again, i'm biased against cable modems in general because of the near total lack of security/privacy on most such systems, it's very easy on most of them for someone to monitor all of the traffic in their neighborhood at least, you're basically on a big lan with other people near by. but many people are very happy with their cable modems.
as far as fire wire, you may be able to boot the tower into "target" mode, which makes it's drives available to another machine via fire wire but beyond that the tower just sits there. KurtWAppling wrote: > > Hi all, Im not sure how to phrase this but here goes, I have a G4 350 2Xagp > tower,my ethernet socket on the mother board burned out,and am now connected > to cable modem with a PCI ethernet card,,I would like to get an apple > notebook computer,how can I connect the two together to exchange info > between them? can a tower work with two ethernet cards? can they connect > through firewire? is this where an ethernt hub be used? Ive never connected > two machines together before and do not know where to begin, both machines > will be used in the same room, thankyou very much for your help and advice -------- -- "Promise me, promise me this day, promise me now..." he asked. "Even as they strike you down, you will remember: humanity is not our enemy. The only thing worthy of you is compassion...Hatred will never let you face the beast in human beings. One day, when you face the beast alone, with your courage intact, your eyes kind...out of your smile will bloom a flower. and...on the long, rough road, the sun and the moon will continue to shine." Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
