CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Hey Guys,

I have a 20" Core2Duo iMac and need to get it hooked up to our network. I'm not sure what the best way to go about this would be.

The network is setup with DSL modem in the house with a Netgear G rangemax router. My main PC is in the barn ~200' away from the router. I have a netgear wireless card in the PC and I get a pretty reliable connection. I believe the iMac has wireless N (right?) I also have a wireless N Airport extreme. What is my best chance at getting a good connection with this hardware?

Do I have to put the Airport extreme in the house wired into the Netgear router, or? Hopefully I will get a hard line run this spring so I don't have to mess with wireless but for the moment this is all I have to play with.

Any idea's, suggestions?

Thanks,

-Erik

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

Speaking in generalities until SC gets here (because I know NOTHING about Macs), I would assume you can do this two ways. 1)You can probably setup the airport extreme to act as an access point and thus just an extension of your existing wireless network. 2)You can probably set up the extreme as a bridge which basically turns a wireless device into a wired device.l Then your iMac can just connect to extreme either through its wirless connection (Access Point) or through an ethernet connection (bridge).

Obviously it will likely be a bit more complicated as that because things like this always are...but you get the picture?

Here is an FAQ I could find for the Airport Express...couldn't find one for the extreme but thought the only difference was the wirelses N vs wireless G.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1515

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Thanks Greg,

By "access point" do you mean using the Airport to pull in the wireless signal and then relay it to the iMac? If I could setup something like this it would be ideal. I also have a Netgear Rangemax WAP WPN802 that I bought to try and accomplish this but was never able to get this working. If anyone knows how to set this up I'd be happy to learn.

I also have a 4 port switch that I could use somewhere. Ideally I would like to have something to pull in the signal and then convert it to either hardwired or wireless so I have a better signal in the barn.

Thanks,

Erik

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:09 pm Post subject:

Erik,

Do you have the newish "mini pizza box" style Airport Extreme? If so, that's a nice appliance - same one I have. Wink

If your PC and iMac in the barn are in close proximity, I'd try setting it up in bridge mode like Greg said. That way, you can create your own little lan in your barn - sounds like that's what you want, anyway. The Netgear on the house and the Airport Extreme should link up at G speed, although at that distance, I don't think you'll get anywhere near the 54mpbs theoretical limit.

Apple's configuration software uses normal english everybody understands, so you don't have to be a network engineer to know which options to select. Instead of "Infrastructure mode", Apple says "Create a wireless network". Instead of "Ad-hoc Mode", the software says "Extend a wireless network".

Just connect the iMac to the Airport via cat-5, and launch Airport Utility. I'd recommend doing it under OS X, as I've had some issues configuring Airport under Windows at the inlaws. Not sure if it was the Apple software, or the generally flakey XP Windows wireless config, but configuration on OS X is a piece of cake and nearly bulletproof. The only thing you may have to do get started is a hardware reset on the Airport to clear the previous config, since I think you got it used and may not know the config password. Follow the directions in the setup guide from there.

Here's the page w/all the Airport documentation:
http://support.apple.com/manuals/#airport

If you really want to get out in the weeds, read the doc called "Designing AirPort Networks".

SC

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

SC,

Yes, it is the "mini pizza box" style.

So what you're saying is get the Airport to link up with the Netgear in the house and then wire the iMac, and PC into the Airport.

I'll mess with it a bit. I'll post back if I get it working or run into any other problems.

Thanks

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:19 pm Post subject:

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Well I have a temporary solution. I couldn't get the Airport Extreme to connect to our network (I'm guessing out of range) so I used the bridge mode on my Windows 7 PC to bridge my wireless connection with my LAN ports. now I'm running out of the HTPC and into the iMac. It works fine as long as the main PC is online.

Erik

I think I'll just run a cable and be done with this mess.

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

ecrabb · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:38 pm Post subject:

I would definitely go wired over that kind of distance. In fact, I'm not surprised the AirPort wouldn't connect at ~200 feet - that's a LONG distance for omnidirectional antennas. Crapshoot is putting mildly. But, I'm absolutely blown away that a PCI WiFi card is any more usable.

SC

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567