The Mixed-Platform Home Network

Home Office Computing,  Oct, 1999  by Amee Abel

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Want to share connections, files, and printers between your Windows and Mac machines? Here's how to get your computers to cooperate

WE FELL FOR IT TOO. LIKE THE TIME the kids brought a puppy into our cat-centric home--it was so cute, we just had to keep it. Suddenly, you've got a cute and colorful iMac living in your otherwise Windows PC household. You're not alone: Today an estimated 15 million households in the United States have two computers, according to New York-based Jupiter Communications, which expects the figure to grow by 30 percent annually. Although the study isn't broken out by computing platform, Apple's research shows that 13 percent of iMac buyers have previously owned a Windows PC.

Different scenarios may account for how that "other" computer arrived in your home. Maybe your employer's platform of choice isn't yours, so you find yourself toting your company notebook PC into your Mac-based home office every night. It could be a his-and-hers thing: You and your spouse each had your own system before marriage and neither is willing to convert. Or perhaps those sub-$500 PC offerings are too much for even diehard Mac fans to resist.

Whatever the reason for the increasing number of mixed-system homes, the interest in networking them is understandably growing, too. Although it's been possible to share printers--and to a lesser extent, files--on crossplatform corporate LANs for years, vendors such as Farallon have begun turning their attention to the home networking market. Their initial focus, however, is on Internet connection sharing, with file and printer sharing taking a back seat.

That's not to say you can't set up a cross-platform network to share files or printers between Macs and PCs. You can--but at press time, there was still no magic-bullet, cross-platform networking kit that makes simple work of sharing an Internet connection, files, and printers. For now, you'll still have to rely on corporate-style, third-party software products to complete the picture. Even if you're technically savvy, prepare to spend hours reading manuals, troubleshooting installations, and calling tech support. But if you're game, we'll show you how to build a full-fledged, cross-platform home network, as well as offer you a peek at several next-generation products that might be worth waiting for (see the sidebar, "The Best is Yet to Come?").

In planning a PC-to-Mac network, you'll find the hardware and software components break out neatly. The hardware installation is similar to building any network: Each computer requires a network interface card (NIC), wires to connect the NICs together, and driver software to make the computer aware of the NIC. The software installation, in turn, involves activating the networking features of both operating systems (Windows and Mac OS) and installing third-party programs for Internet connection, file, and printer sharing.

The Hardware Half

Of the five home networking technologies--USB, radio frequency, Ethernet, AC power line, and home phone line--only Ethernet and phone line offer Macintosh support for cross-platform configurations. Network hardware manufacturers such as Farallon (www. farallon.com, 800-613-4954), Diamond Multimedia (www.diamondmm.com, 800-468-5846), ADS Technologies (www.usbhost.com, 800-888-5244), and LinkSys (www.linksys.com, 800-LINKSYS) offer valuable assistance for selecting parts. But before you buy anything, you need to understand how these networks fit together.

Ethernet The darling of the corporate office, Ethernet offers the most versatility for building a cross-platform network simply by virtue of its many product offerings. But you won't find off-the-shelf, cross-platform networking kits: Expect to purchase the hardware parts piecemeal.

Expandability and speed make Ethernet a good choice. Individual computers are connected in star-shaped groups radiating from a wiring hub, a small box with RJ-45 connectors that ensures your files and requests are sent to the right device. Adding computers and peripherals to an Ethernet network is a simple matter of plugging in a second hub when the first is filled. (You can connect two computers without a hub, however.)

Ethernet comes in two varieties, 10Mbps Ethernet and 100Mbps Fast Ethernet. Your best bet is to buy a kit with a 10/100 hub, so you can use a mix of 10Mbps and 100Mbps NICs. Today's Macs (iMacs and G3s) have 10/100 equipment built-in; for your PCs, consider kits such as LinkSys' Fast Ethernet 10/100 Network in a Box ($139), or similar offerings from 3Com or NetGear. Note that on a mixed 10/100 network, the faster equipment slows down to accommodate its slower cousins.

There are two downsides to Ethernet: stringing wires and cracking open the case. For wiring, you'll want to bay Category 5 cables that can handle Fast Ethernet speeds. To install the PCI Ethernet NIC card, you'll need to open your computer, make sure you avoid static electricity, and use a screwdriver to attach the card to the motherboard. (For details, see the Home Study section in The Networked Home, September 1999.) On a laptop computer, you simply plug a network adapter into a PC Card slot.