Joining a Mac and a PC, how?

May 15, 2007 6:01 PM

One modem, two computers-a Mac and a PC. How do I do this? Can it be done if the two computers are on separate floors of the house? Not so good with computers...

I looked through the archives but I'm not sufficiently computer savvy to know if this question has been answered previously. So I'm moving to Denver and will be moving in with my boyfriend who has Macs. I have a PC that I need to keep for school. We both want access to the internet and are thinking that we might have to split up the computers, one upstairs one down. Can I just go buy a regular old router and be done? He is in a contract with earthlink DSL and I know he pays extra for the Mac version of the modem. So, any advice in little words?

posted by yodelingisfun to technology (8 comments total)

What you're looking for is a wireless router. Generally any major brand wifi router (Linksys/Dlink/Netgear) will work fine with your mac and pc, assuming they both have wifi cards.
posted by rancidchickn at 6:07 PM on May 15, 2007

I doubt it (about the wifi thing), I know I don't and his computer is pretty old. So maybe what should we do if they are in the same room?
posted by yodelingisfun at 6:12 PM on May 15, 2007

Ethernet isn't a standard specific to PCs or Macs. If you are willing to run some wires, I think the cheapest router will work for you. If you want wireless, I am pretty sure a standard cheap wireless router will work with both PCs and Macs. This has always been my experience.
posted by sindark at 6:20 PM on May 15, 2007

The first thing you should do is have him call Earthlink and tell them to stop selling him shit he doesn't need. There is no need for a "Mac version" of a DSL modem. If it's a USB device, you need to get an Ethernet version which will work with any type of computer, no matter what the operating system.

Get rid of that extra fee, first. Then, pick a router that you'd like to use. If the computers are all within a wire's reach of where you'll be placing the router and DSL modem, you can simply get any router with a built-in switch, like this Linksys one.

If one or more of the computers are not going to be located where wires can be run between the router and the computer, then you'll need a wireless router, as mentioned already. In addition, you need to make sure your computers have wireless adapters. If you have a laptop, find out if it has one built in. If not, get something like this. If it's a desktop, it's very likely not built in, so get something like this.

Be sure to set proper passwords on anything you buy, and make use of the encryption technologies like WPA and WPA-2 if you go with the wireless options.
posted by odinsdream at 6:21 PM on May 15, 2007

Also note that if you go with the wireless router I mentioned, it also comes with a 4-port ethernet switch. This means you can do a combination of wireless and wired computers. So, if you have one computer right next to the DSL modem, you can plug it directly into the router (which in turn plugs into the DSL modem).

Then, the other computers in the house can use wireless links to the router.

Please - though - make certain he calls the company and cancels any kinds of fees for "extra computers" or "wireless setup" or "non-windows systems." These are just ridiculous ways of robbing you.
posted by odinsdream at 6:23 PM on May 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm surprised they charge extra for a "Mac version" of the modem. Sounds like a rip-off to me. Modems "modulate and demodulate" the same signals for any type of computer. (Sorry, threw in some big words ;)

Wireless is great to have because it gives you so much flexibilty. So one possibilty is you could get an external wi-fi card that plugs into a USB port for one of the computers, and a wireless router to sit next to the other computer.

But if you just want to put them in the same room, (or run a long cable through the floor,) you still need some sort of router to split the signal from the modem. You can also use a second network card on one of the computers and route through that to the other, but the configuration is harder.

How old is the old computer? Ten year old computers may not even have a network card. You need that or USB. There are other options, but hopefully you won't have to go there.

On preview, what odinsdream said.
posted by bitslayer at 6:39 PM on May 15, 2007

"These are just ridiculous ways of robbing you." Really?? Dang, yeah I know nothing about Macs and he is more a creative user than a tech sort. So basically once we get a router we can just plug in and go? That's so awesome! One less thing to stress about. Thanks
posted by yodelingisfun at 6:39 PM on May 15, 2007

You can plug in and go only if the modem has an ethernet port. This is nearly always the case, but there are some cable and DSL modems that have USB interfaces. Never accept these from your provider. Tell them you require one with an ethernet interface. The USB models only connect directly to a single PC, and usually it needs to run a newer version of Windows to talk to the modem.

These limitations exist for no good reason. (Unless you count locking the subscriber into using only one PC with Windows as a good reason.) You can simply get the ethernet version of the modem and connect it to not only any computer, but any router or other device you want.
posted by odinsdream at 7:25 PM on May 15, 2007