home: mac and pc sharing cable DSL, filesharing

[lerkfish]

I'm new to trying to make a small network.

what I want to do is take my existing G4, a soon to be purchased PC with a an ethernet lan board, a road runner DSL modem, and connect all so that both machines (which will reside on the same desk) can simulataneously connect via the single connection, as well as file share between them.

In the bare skimming I've done just on sales sites, it almost appears I can accomplish this by:
buying a dsl router like this one (http://www.ecompshopper.com/ugcabinsharg.html)

am I right? or should I pursue another solution?

[Craig R. Arko]

What you need to do, is get a router that supports NAT (network address translation). The router will be assigned a real static IP address on the WAN side by the ISP.

It will also have a bogus static IP address, like 10.0.0.1, on the LAN side. You'd then set up your workstations as 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3, and so on with 10.0.0.1 as the router address. Then you can connect statically between workstations for file sharing while using NAT to surf.

It appears the box you're looking at will do this. Make sure that your ISP will support it, though.

PS - I thought RoadRunner was cable, not DSL. Do they do DSL in your area?

[lerkfish]

sorry, my bad. yes, road runner is cable only. I was mentally combining my previous dsl service as I was typing.

Does that mean this solution wont' work with cable modem?

edited to add: sorry, reread the specs, it WILL work with cable apparently.

[mervTormel]

beware:

recent article on macfixit (me thinks) regarding ISP's trying to hunt down and torpedo these kinds of NAT'd installations because they're so easy to implement and represent a loss of potential clients to ISPs.

i don't know how successful they can be at finding these NAT'd installations, but if it's in your terms, you're liable to their conditions, most likely loss of service with little warning, which can be a real hiney binder if yer co-dependent :D

hopefully, the consumer has some power here, because it's one of the easy ways of have a secure, managable, always on, casual connection.

lerkfish, check out the wealth of poop at

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

[lerkfish]

hmmm...but what if the connections are NOT simulataneous? wouldn't that resolve it?
I'll check with my ISP regardless.
last thing I want to do is do this illegally.

[lerkfish]

this is what it says on my providers website.
--------------------------

LANs on Road Runner
The standard Road Runner Residential Service is designed for single-computer configurations. However, you are able to connect multiple computers to a single cable modem with the use of a hub. Such local area network (LAN) configurations are your responsibility to install and support.

Note: LAN configurations and hubs could decrease the performance of your Road Runner service, especially if multiple computers/users are using the service simultaneously.


----------------------------

this appears to be saying its alright to make a LAN, you just can't ask them for tech support.

[mervTormel]

you're good to go!

you have explicit permission to run as many NAT'd IPs as your router can handle, usually >250

BTW, you don't want their help, as it's usually a script, like "rebuild your desktop"

getcher help here, free help, fresh help!

[lerkfish]

hehe..well, I just might need your help when I get the pc and start trying to set it up.

btw: your personal message inbox is full.

[mervTormel]

re: btw: your personal message inbox is full

yeah, i just fixed that right up; please resend. didn't know i was allotted such a pittance :D

re: pc? er, uh, well, sure, i guess i could give you a few cycles (yurk)

tis really purty easy, pc included. i have a node who's a pc. it plugged in and it worked as expected (here, anyhow).

[lerkfish]

Originally posted by Craig R. Arko
What you need to do, is get a router that supports NAT (network address translation). The router will be assigned a real static IP address on the WAN side by the ISP.

It will also have a bogus static IP address, like 10.0.0.1, on the LAN side. You'd then set up your workstations as 10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.3, and so on with 10.0.0.1 as the router address. Then you can connect statically between workstations for file sharing while using NAT to surf.


ok, craig, how do I set up the workstations with those addresses? I bought a linksys dsl router, and the instruction booklet is as sparse as the OSX pamphlet :D