Stupid Mac question

flyersfan31

flyersfan31

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Freiburgfan31
So, I'm verrrrrrrrry interested in the new Mac. Don't even know the name, just know it has a huge screen and friendly user interface. I haven't used a mac since the olden times. I had a 512k Mac (not the Fat Mac, since didn't have the double-sided floppy drive.) One iteration past the original 128k doorstop Mac. At any rate, my knowledge is clearly out of date.

Here's the question.

Can a Mac coexist on a home wireless network using a Linksys wireless router with PCs? I told you it was stupid. Pretty basic. I assume a router is a router, but it's worth knowing before I go down this road.
 
flyersfan31 said:
So, I'm verrrrrrrrry interested in the new Mac. Don't even know the name, just know it has a huge screen and friendly user interface. I haven't used a mac since the olden times. I had a 512k Mac (not the Fat Mac, since didn't have the double-sided floppy drive.) One iteration past the original 128k doorstop Mac. At any rate, my knowledge is clearly out of date.

Here's the question.

Can a Mac coexist on a home wireless network using a Linksys wireless router with PCs? I told you it was stupid. Pretty basic. I assume a router is a router, but it's worth knowing before I go down this road.
Click to expand...
Yes.

The new MACs all have wired and wireless ethernet in them and are compliant with 802.1, 802.3, and 802.11
 
Yes it can. Simple question, simple answer :)
 
Ethernet is happy everywhere these days. RJ45 cables are not quite a dime a dozen. And most routers/firewalls recognize the cables so you don't even need the straight-thru cable (can't tell you how many I've had to make in the past).

And may I suggest that Mac and MAC refer to two different items? (ok, so I'm a geek). "Mac" is the defacto nickname for Apple Macintosh computer. MAC refers to the "Media Access Control" and is the physical address of just about every piece of equipment that talks to the network. For example, the MAC address of the ethernet card on my Mac is 00:0d:93:ff:fe:3f:5a:f8

But the IP address on the network is something completely different.

Right now I have 1 Mac, 1 iPod Touch, 1 Windows XP all on the network. DSL modem <-> wireless router/firewall <-> all the computers

Just about every computer in the store these days (regardless of logo) only need the ethernet cable and you're up and running. Most of them automatically recognize network. You may need to decide DHCP or something else and get the IP address(s) from your ISP.

Aint TLAs great?
 
And the new Mac is the iMac - comes in 3 sizes for the monitor. Fully integrated, great system if you don't need to add stuff.
 
murphey said:
And the new Mac is the iMac - comes in 3 sizes for the monitor. Fully integrated, great system if you don't need to add stuff.
Click to expand...

Which I don't.

I'm kinda going full circle. Went Mac (not MAC!) at almost the beginning, back when the competition consisted of DEC Rainbow and "clones." Fell for the PC, more due to work than anything else, for the last 20 yrs. Now, I'm seriously considering the move back. It'll be interesting to see how the neighborhood has changed!!!!

Thanks all!!!!!
 
Mac and Windows have co-existed at my house since Mac System 7.1 and Windows NT 4.0 Server and workstations; now running numerous OS/X 10.6 (depending on how many of the kids are home) and 2-3 XP Pro laptops/desktops; a mix of hardwired and wireless connections, now on a Netgear Switch and WAP.
 
murphey said:
And may I suggest that Mac and MAC refer to two different items? (ok, so I'm a geek). "Mac" is the defacto nickname for Apple Macintosh computer. MAC refers to the "Media Access Control" and is the physical address of just about every piece of equipment that talks to the network. For example, the MAC address of the ethernet card on my Mac is 00:0d:93:ff:fe:3f:5a:f8
Click to expand...
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

BTW the Media Access Control Address you speak of is but one part of the 'MAC Layer', which is the 2nd layer of of the 7 layer OSI stack. It is the interface between the physical layer (radio) and the Link Layer. Together with the payer 1 Physical layer this makes a standard that the IEEE publishes. In IEEE 802 the MAC layer also has an additional duty to assist in handoffs between technologies such as 802.3 to 802.11 or 802.11 to 802.16. That part of the 802 world is called 802.21 support. Here is a nice paper that was published in the spring of 2008 on the subject. http://www.comsoc.org/e-news/2008/free/eastwood.pdf

Since no one was speaking of the MAC layer I am sure no one but yourself had confused the subject being about the computers made by Apple.
 
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murphey said:
Ethernet is happy everywhere these days. RJ45 cables are not quite a dime a dozen. And most routers/firewalls recognize the cables so you don't even need the straight-thru cable (can't tell you how many I've had to make in the past).
Click to expand...

What are these "cables" of which you speak? ;) :D

And may I suggest that Mac and MAC refer to two different items? (ok, so I'm a geek). "Mac" is the defacto nickname for Apple Macintosh computer. MAC refers to the "Media Access Control" and is the physical address of just about every piece of equipment that talks to the network. For example, the MAC address of the ethernet card on my Mac is 00:0d:93:ff:fe:3f:5a:f8
Click to expand...

Thank you. I don't know why some people always call them "MAC" since "Mac" has NEVER been capitalized officially. I guess maybe it's because when the Mac came out, everyone was still on DOS and everything there was IN CAPS... or not. ;)
 
flyersfan31 said:
Fell for the PC, more due to work than anything else, for the last 20 yrs. Now, I'm seriously considering the move back. It'll be interesting to see how the neighborhood has changed!!!!

Thanks all!!!!!
Click to expand...

You won't recognize it.. the new iMac OS is so far from the Apple IIc as to be in a different world. :yesnod:
 
I usually avoid working on Macs because I don't know them very well (the last Apple machine I used regularly was the Apple IIe), and I have this pesky ethical rule that I should know at least as much about something as the client does before taking his or her money.

Networking, however, especially setting up "mixed" networks, is one of the few things I regularly do on Macs. Like most other Mac-related tasks I've attempted, it's very easy and intuitive as long as you don't think too hard.

I'm often amused by my younger relatives (as in elementary-school age) who are able to move between Windows, Mac, and more recently, Ubuntu, without missing a beat. They seem to be pretty existentialist about it, accepting each system for what it is and instantly adapting. They don't waste time thinking about the differences between the systems; they just go with the flow.

-Rich
 
flyingcheesehead said:
What are these "cables" of which you speak? ;) :D



Thank you. I don't know why some people always call them "MAC" since "Mac" has NEVER been capitalized officially. I guess maybe it's because when the Mac came out, everyone was still on DOS and everything there was IN CAPS... or not. ;)
Click to expand...
Not quite. in 1984 there were a lot of VIC-20s, Commodore 64, Commodore PETs, TI-99, TRS-80, Atari, Timex Sinclair 1000 and various S-100 systems as well as DOS. Apple was just one of many. The Mac was futuristic, with a user interface borrowed from Xerox PARC. After everything was loaded, the original Macs had 16k free memory, about the same as the Timex-Sinclair-1000 with expansion memory.
 
flyersfan31 said:
So, I'm verrrrrrrrry interested in the new Mac. Don't even know the name, just know it has a huge screen and friendly user interface. I haven't used a mac since the olden times. I had a 512k Mac (not the Fat Mac, since didn't have the double-sided floppy drive.) One iteration past the original 128k doorstop Mac. At any rate, my knowledge is clearly out of date.

Here's the question.

Can a Mac coexist on a home wireless network using a Linksys wireless router with PCs? I told you it was stupid. Pretty basic. I assume a router is a router, but it's worth knowing before I go down this road.
Click to expand...
I believe that what you had was, in fact, the Fat Mac (Mac 512K) which included the original 400k (one-sided) disk drive. The Mac with the 800K 2-sided drive was the (extended) Mac 512Ke, which was also known affectionately as the "Fat Mac."

I was a developer/dealer in those days and as soon as they came out always called any Mac 512 a "Fat Mac" as opposed to the re-named original "Skinny Mac" with 128K.
 
Ahh, so indeed, I had a fat Mac. It didn't feel very fat, when another guy in my dorm got a real Fat Mac with the double sided drive!!! My friend who was in the first class at Drexel University who was required to buy a 128k Mac felt even more inferior.

It's nice to know they play so well with Microsoft these days.
 
gprellwitz said:
Hey now, it's at LEAST as close as Windows 7 is to CP/M!:rofl:
Click to expand...

I loved CPM. The function call cheatsheet could be a single 8 1/2 by 11
sheet of paper.
 
I'd forgotten that single vs. double-sided floppy drives ever even existed. Ahh... memories.
 
I think I still have a notch nibbler laying around somewhere ...
 
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