Plain simple truth of the matter is that Apple designed their Airport
base stations and the Airport Express to work with your Mac. The
Airport Setup software is designed to set it up in just a few simple
steps that rarely even require referring to the enclosed
documentation. Whether you use an original Airport Card or an
Airport Extreme or for that matter a third party card, setup is a
truly simple thing to do. I do not have any experience with Linksys
or D-Link but I did make the mistake of buying a Netgear as my first
attempt at wireless networking.
I had all of my Macs equipped with Airport Extreme cards and one with
an original card. I took the Netgear wireless router out of the box
and read through the manual and everything seemed straight forward.
I got the first Mac connected but that's as far as I got. None of
the others would connect. Of course the Netgear instructions assumed
that I had PC's but it should still work the same as for the first
Mac....but no.
I called customer support and got a very unhelpful person at the
other end who told me that "you shouldn't be using this with a Mac in
the first place". After several attempts and failures, I said thank
you and hung up. I packed everything up and returned the router to
CompUSA where I bought it. I went over and got the Airport base
station that I should have gotten, brought it home and set it up
myself. All done in about 15 minutes without having to call anybody.
I've extended the reach of my signal (didn't really have to, but it
made me feel better) by buying 2 Airport Express and distributing
them around the other end of the house. Adding them to the network
was also simple and I didn't need to call any tech support line.
And, my network isn't a straight-forward Mac setup either, I'll
describe below (sorry for the length of this post, but I want to make
my point):
Cable modem to Airport Basestation Konica-Minolta Laser Network
Printer connected to base station
Mac #1 G5 Dual 2 gig with Airport Extreme Card--Location Office with
the basestation
Mac #2 G4 Dual 1 gig with Sonnet Aria Extreme PCI card (shows up as
an Airport card)--Location Office with the basestation
Mac #3 G3 Blue & White 450 mhz with Sonnet Aria Extreme PCI card--
Location Office with the basestation
Mac #4 G3 Blue & White 400 mhz connected to Airport Express via
ethernet--Location Kitchen, Airport Express also shares printer and
set of speakers
Mac #5 G4 iBook 1.3 gig 14 inch mostly used in Family room served by
another Airport Express which shares a printer and speakers--it can
roam anywhere in the house without losing it's connection
Computer # 6 Dell Insiron 9300 17 inch with Centrino processor
mostly used in Family room but can also roam anywhere in the house
without losing a connection
So, on my simple Wireless network, I have access to 1 laser printer
and 2 inkjet printers and 2 sets of speakers (1 is my home stereo
system, the other just a simple setup with a sub-woofer). All of the
Macs can share files, nobody ever drops off, unless they're asleep.
The PC plays nicely although we had to play around and tweak Norton a
bit. Plus the whole network is protected with WEP 128 encryption.
Tim
On Dec 23, 2005, at 1:40 AM, Caleb Cupples wrote:
That's what I was getting at. Plus, as far as my bespectacled eyes
can tell, the box says "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" on most,
if not all of their products. That's enough to make me look the
other way. No blue X = not buying...
Caleb
On Friday, Dec 23, 2005, at 00:12 America/Chicago, Laurent Daudelin
wrote:
on 23/12/05 00:52, themacuser at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Huh? Their routers all seem to have web-config and they're all
802.11, so I don't see how it can not be mac-friendly. I havent used
one yet though, so correct me if I am wrong.
As long as you don't need their support, you're fine. But if you
ever need
to call them and tell them that you're using it with a Macintosh,
they will
almost hang up on you.
FYI, Over the period of two years, I had 2 Linksys cable/dsl
routers. Both
stopped functioning without any apparent reasons. Right after the
warranty
ended up. I decided to go with D-Link and so far, after a little
bit over a
year, it's still running fine. They were all Ethernet routers, not
wireless,
though.
YMMV...
-Laurent.
--
--
G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished
Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on
Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html>
--> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to: <mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com>
To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
---------------------------------------------------------------
iPod Accessories for Less
at 1-800-iPOD.COM
Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal
www.1800ipod.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
Exterminate all rational thought.
--
G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives |
-- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html>
--> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to: <mailto:G-Books@mail.maclaunch.com>
To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
---------------------------------------------------------------
iPod Accessories for Less
at 1-800-iPOD.COM
Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal
www.1800ipod.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
