Mac + PC Networking

[reactor]

So basically i was thinking of picking up one of these mac minis for general/family/HTPC(eventually) use, but it would need, if possible, to be networked to my pc which has the printer. So question is how well do macs network with PCs and what exactly is needed? Do the network the same as PCs? I consider myself knowledgable in pc networking, but am clueless to the mac side, so someone who runs this kind of setup would be best. And I know i could easily google this but i want first hand experiances to be safe before i go put $500 into one.

 

[tRaptor]

What are you trying to do as far as the networking?

Basically, all you need is a router, with your PC(s) hooked via ethernet or wireless, and then the Mac Hooked via ethernet or wireless. If all you wana do is share files/printer then its easy as pie. You simply do what I stated above, and then on the mac you just goto "Connect to sever" in the "Go" menu, then you can either browse for the PC, or you can just type "smb://COMPUTER NAME" and click connect, then it will give you a list of the shares on the Windows Box that you can connect to.

AS far as sharing the printer, you need it shared out on the PC, and then use the "Printer Setup Utillity" on the mac (located in the Utillities folder, which is in the Applications folder)
In the printer utillity click ADD, from the dropdown menu select "windows printing" then from the 2nd drop down menu select the workgroup that the PC is in, and then browse for the printer. Its really simple.

Any more questions, post, or PM and i'll help you out.

 

[reactor]

Alright thanks for the info. Ive already got two PCs setup for filesharing and printer through my router so should be easy enough then. Thanks again.

 

[imported_Lucifer]

I have 2 Macs and 2 PC's on my network, and it works great.

 

[hopejr]

Just take note that Canon printers are a pain when it comes to trying to print to them through a Windows network from a mac, and it your printer is a canon multifunction centre, forget it and get another printer.

 

[halfadder]

Macs speak TCP/IP just like any other ethernet equipped device made since about 1990.

For file and printer sharing, Mac OS X can speak many different protocols, including SMB/SAMBA, which is the native Windows file sharing method. There is also ssh, ftp, afp, webdav, and a whole slew of other protocols that can be used. There is a little more information here, but you would have to search or browse the Support section of the Apple website for specifics. (There is also the Help menu on the Mac itself, too).
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/networking/

In my house I have several PCs and one Mac. All of these machines share the same network, the same networked printers, and can exchange files with each other.

 

[hopejr]

I have 3 PC's and 1 mac in my house. They all communicate perfectly and I have no problems. The only problem came with Canon printers and multifunction centres, hence my previous post. They don't really support mac properly (I asked a support guy on the phone and he told me that - losers).

 

[thraxes]

Originally posted by: hopejr
Just take note that Canon printers are a pain when it comes to trying to print to them through a Windows network from a mac, and it your printer is a canon multifunction centre, forget it and get another printer.

Very true... Canons mac drivers do not work with printers shared over the network, which sucks big time. HPs are pretty unproblematic so long as you don't have a DJ7xx series shared. There are some drivers out there but getting them to work requires a bit of Unix hacking.

Fileshares are very unproblematic though. note that the macs share system is not that flexible when configured via the GUI. For home use it is OK but if you want to do more you will have to edit the smb.conf file either by hand or get one of the many little tools out there that let you do it via GUI.

 

[hopejr]

smb.conf is found in /etc
I edited it to change my workgroup and computer description. I didn't bother adding shares (I used to on Linux, but haven't done it for so long that I forgot, but there are many how-tos on the net). I just use the share of my home directory (on by default when Windows Sharing is started in the Sharing pref panel) which is sufficient for me.