30 Apr
2002
30 Apr
'02
4 p.m.
What's the "right" way to add networking
to the MAC?
Just add the card
I'm not inclined to buy
into standard Ethernet, since I've got 100Mbps and am looking to move to the
bleeding edge for educational purposes. Is there any >10Gbps stuff one can
add? How about just the 100 Mbps?
There are 10, 100, and 1000 cards available, but the 1000s are only for
the newer PCI based Macs. That isn't to say you can't lay your hands on
the Mac cheap (a 7200 can be had for nearly free)... but the giga card is
likely to cost you far more than the Mac did.
You can get 100 cards for NuBus... Farallon made one... but they are a
little tough to come by. If you are looking to get a Mac and not use the
630, then get a PCI based Mac... 10/100 cards can be bought for those
easy (and some of your off the shelf brands support the Mac... like SMC
sells one of their cards and offers Mac drivers on their web site).
I don't know of anything faster than a 10Mb for the LC slot in your
630... at that point, you are better off getting a cheap 10/100 switch
and just use the 10Mb card.
I'm also looking for a recommendation for a decent
but not too rare or
expensive 56K dialup modem that's also fax-capable.
Just about any external modem will work with a Mac. Take your pick... all
the major brands work fine.
I've noticed that there's software out there
for doing
long-distance jibberjabber between computers on the internet. If I equip one
of these babies with that and send it to my S.O's sister in Portland, they
can
yack without running up the long distance bills. That's easily going to pay
for an older MAC in a week or so.
Find a cheap Power PC mac (these can be had almost for free these days
for low end ones). Make sure it is a PCI one (check apple.com's hardware
specs to see which ones)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>