On Jul 6, 2011, at 10:34 AM, Tom wrote: > Thanks to everybody; you're teaching me a lot about networking. It > appears that I've had a LAN for a couple of years now without knowing > about it. I thought this was just a fancy DSL modem that could > wirelessly allow another computer in the house to surf the Net.
As I think Bruce pointed out, pretty much anytime you have two computers connected together to the Internet you have a LAN. > > I got out my "Mac OS-X Leopard Missing Manual" by David Pogue to see > what he says about wireless networking, and the book told me how to > turn on file sharing, and lo and behold, these two Macs can see each > other's files. And the Mac in the next room can print on the printer > attached to the first one. Wish I'd known that a long time ago, > because countless times we've brought documents over on a flash drive > from the second computer to the first one in order to print them, when > all we had to do (had we known) was turn on printer sharing and print > the docs directly. Sheesh. Ignorance is bliss, and stupid too. I've been doing this (file sharing at least) since 1989 when I set up my IIsi & Mac Plus using LocalTalk. > > If the second computer hadn't thrown up a message saying that it > wouldn't run Final Cut because the first computer was already running > it, I never would have known that they were networked. (About that, by > the way, I bought this early version of Final Cut Studio off Ebay a > few years ago, and I figure I should be able to run it on any Mac I > have in my own home. Guess Apple has other ideas. Anyway, the point is > moot: Apple just discontinued Final Cut Studio, so it's obsolete now). If it FCS works it's not obsolete. You should be able to use the software on both machines, just as long as it's only running on one at a time. When you quit the app on one machine it no longer announces itself on the network so the other machine won't see it and won't complain about it. > > Now I'm wondering about security for this LAN. We live out in the > country, and the nearest neighbor's house is hundreds of feet away, so > I doubt anyone is eavesdropping on our network. But if there are > firewalls and passwords, I'll attend to them, once I learn how (back > to Pogue). > > Bruce, I don't understand how I might 'open the "modem" with a > browser' to learn more about it. If you explain that I'll give it a > try. I'm running both Safari and Firefox, but I don't see anything in > their menus related to modems. Open System Preferences / Network, click on Airport or Ethernet as appropriate (which ever is "Connected"), then Click on "Advanced...", then the "TCP/IP" Tab. Copy the number after "Router:" (usually 192.168.xxx.xxx or 10.xxx.xxx.xxx) into the address box in Safari, etc. and press return. This should open a web page from the router / modem. Most likely you'll need to enter a username and password. For many devices you can find the default entries for these at the manufacturers web site. If it was set up by someone (the DSL installer) you may have trouble finding it. You can probably reset it (also from the manf. website) to the defaults but doing so will reset all the router settings which may render it inoperative. Clark Martin Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting "I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway" -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
