Hubs, routers, bridges etc help!

[KITT]

Can anyone tell me what we need in our office to allow our eMac to connect to our Windows network?

We currently have a Linksys WAG-54g wireless broadband router which sits upstairs and serves all 10 or so Windows PCs which each have a wireless card in them.

Now the eMac is downstairs and already has a built-in network card with RJ-45 connector. I know we can buy an Airport Extream card, but was wondering if there's a cheaper option of buying a wireless bridge/hub/router than can sit downstairs and be able to communicate with the router upstairs with a cable linking it to the eMac's RJ-45 network card.

So what would I need? And is will the eMac be able to "see" all the Windows computers?

thanks

[Whoozit]

I know that my BIL's Mac with built-in Airport can connect with no problems to my wireless access point and straight out on broadband. We've never tried connecting to other computers, though.

[plotloss]

If you go back a couple of pages this was asked recently by someone.

In that thread theres a link to an article that explains the whys and wherefores...

[KITT]

plotloss said:

If you go back a couple of pages this was asked recently by someone. In that thread theres a link to an article that explains the whys and wherefores...

Found it here: www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/11/19/mac_pc.html

However, I'd still like to know whether I need a bridge, hub, router etc. to connect the Mac to the wireless network using the Mac's internal network card

[anonymous-user]

If your wireless router has wired ports (as most do) then all you need is a normal network cable to connect between the Mac and the router - both use the Ethernet protocol and will be fine.

However, you could also fit the airport card as you said and it will connect in the same way, just without having to route the cable between the Mac and router.

[KITT]

LexSport said:

If your wireless router has wired ports (as most do) then all you need is a normal network cable to connect between the Mac and the router - both use the Ethernet protocol and will be fine. However, you could also fit the airport card as you said and it will connect in the same way, just without having to route the cable between the Mac and router.

Sorry I should have been more clear, the wireless router does have wired ports on the back but it's upstairs and the Mac is downstairs so running a cable isn't an option. Hence what bit of hardware is needed downstairs if I don't use an airport card?

[ATG]

Can't see why you'd need a router, bridge or anything like that. The Mac is going to be on the same subnet as the PCs isn't it? All you need is a way to get the Mac to communicate with the wireless router. You could either get a new wireless network card for the Mac, or you can buy a dooberry that plugs into the exisiting network card via its RJ45 ethernet port and broadcasts to the wireless router.

[KITT]

ATG said:

...or you can buy a dooberry that plugs into the exisiting network card via its RJ45 ethernet port and broadcasts to the wireless router.

This is what I've gathered, but there's so many different names for various dooberries I'm not sure which one to get? Hub/router/switch/bridge etc....

[anonymous-user]

Right, well it's a wireless bridge you need.

I think this should do the job. Linksys do a 11B hub, but don't appear to do one badged as such for 11G. This is just a bridge by another name from what I can tell.

[malman]

What lexsport ^^^^ said but you can also use another wap54g as a wireless client/wireless bridge to a wireless network allowing the wired devices access to the wireless. I mention this just in case they charge a premium for the game adapter version as the wap54g are pretty cheap these days.

[Whoozit]

An airport card would take up the least desk space and be more portable. Is there any way of adding one on, rather than having the mac wired into a bridge?