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Capt Crunch
New Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:35 pm Post subject: Mac Mini as a router and print server for PC, good idea? |
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Right now I've got a Time Capsule with a printer connected to it. My macbook and my wife's old Toshiba laptop both can connect to the internet and print easily and reliably.
For various reasons I'd like to get rid of the Time Capsule, plug my cable modem and printer directly into the Mini and have it share both internet and the printer. Can this be done as easily as it was to set up the Time Capsule? Will it be reliable?
I'm not too worried about range since I live in an apartment. |
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devo
Veteran Member
Joined: 23 Jan 2005
Posts: 5274
Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject: Re: Mac Mini as a router and print server for PC, good idea? |
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[quote="Capt Crunch"] Can this be done as easily as it was to set up the Time Capsule? Will it be reliable?[quote]
It's easy to set up. You just need to go into Sharing and turn on Internet Sharing. Then select share from Ethernet to Airport. It should also be reliable. That being said, I would lower your expectations about performance and signal strength. It's not going to be as good as your TC. It's also going to take a little work setting up the printer. I'm curious about something. Why do you want to get rid of the TC? |
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Capt Crunch
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Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Re: Mac Mini as a router and print server for PC, good idea? |
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[quote="devo"][quote="Capt Crunch"] Can this be done as easily as it was to set up the Time Capsule? Will it be reliable? | Quote: |
It's easy to set up. You just need to go into Sharing and turn on Internet Sharing. Then select share from Ethernet to Airport. It should also be reliable. That being said, I would lower your expectations about performance and signal strength. It's not going to be as good as your TC. It's also going to take a little work setting up the printer. I'm curious about something. Why do you want to get rid of the TC? |
I'm using the mac mini as n HTPC and have no input connected to the computer. When the computer goes to sleep, it disconnects from the TC, where all my movies are stored. As a result, Front Row can't see it and I have to disconnect my mouse from my laptop, connect it to the mini, manually navigate to the TC in the finder to "automatically" connect, then go back to Front Row. Very annoying.
I think that a firewire harddrive will fix the problem, but to fund it I need to get rid of the TC. I'd get a router but after having a bad experience with a cheap router I was toying with the idea of using the mini as a router since my place is only a 1 bedroom apt and all the computers are in the same room. |
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Cypher
Veteran Member
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 2910
Location: North West - UK
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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I think the problem is the mini going to sleep rather than the TC. You could turn off the mini sleeping or you may be able to do it with applescript to automatically re-establish the connection to the TC.
_________________
Phil
Mac Mini 2.53GHz - iMac 2.0Ghz - Macbook Pro 2.4GHz - iPad 1 32GB 3G
6TB Netgear Ready NAS NV+ - 6TB Drobo S |
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mojofrojo
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Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 93
Location: maryland
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I pretty much use my old PPC mini for this reason nowadays. That and file storage. I dont have the scratch for mobile me so I just VPN back to it when I'm on the road. |
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