Network challenge (Mac)

[spegb]

OK this is going to be a doosy. I bring this before you guys because you seem to be the brightest, friendliest group I know of.

This is not my issue, it is my dad's. He has a mac running OS X that is connected to a DSL line. He wants to hook my mom's OS 9 mac to it to share the printer. (don't ask about the different OS set-up.. my mom is stubborn and my dad is cheap )

My dad bought into the homeplug networking (use your house's electical wiring to create a network) and for what ever reason cannot get the 2 to completely "see" each other. The OS X machine can see the plug that the OS 9 machine uses, but nothing else. the OS 9 machine can't see anything. The mac installation of the drivers (for both machines) was also very difficult and not well documented according to my dad.

So soes he need to set something in the networking preferences? Appletalk? PPPoE? They don't have a router, just a 4 port hub.

I know there are solutions that are easier (wireless), but like I said my dad is cheap and he is not comfortable with the lack of security he feels they have.

So if you think there is a way to cobble a solution together I can provide as much additional info as you need.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I think for OS 9 you'll need to setup appletalk.

Check the firewall on the OS X machine, it might be blocking anything relating to the printer. Although, I think appletalk should get around this... Not sure. I've never used appletalk.

 

[spegb]

Right now I think the bigger problem is the homeplug/powerline software. I don't think it is POSSIBLE to intall it on OS 9. and there is NO documentation as to how to do it.

I tried to download the ver. 1.1 (OS X) from SMC's website and OS X was unable to read the file. This is really nice support for the Mac's I see.

Does anyone have any experience with SMC Networks Powerline ethernet adapters?

 

[n0cmonkey]

The two I checked out on SMC's website don't appear to have Mac OS X drivers. Heck, they didn't give me any drivers for any OS I chose.

The manual claims to support both OS X and OS 9. Did he get the USB or ethernet version? Can the machines ping each other?

 

[spegb]

OK, the firewall is down... always had been... hmmm :Q
He is using ethernet and we cannot get the machines to ping each other.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Make sure the network settings are correct. They both have IPs, subnet masks (put them on the same subnet), etc.