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General discussion

How do you do Airport?

Apr 15, 2007 4:10AM PDT

I plan on buying my MBP soon, but I only have one printer with two computers. What excatly do I need to get Airport going. Do I need the base station or just the Airport Express Base. I have wireless internet (DSL I think) and would like to not have to plug and unplug my printer when I need to print things. Thanks

Discussion is locked

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You have several questions in this...
Apr 15, 2007 5:17AM PDT

Need clarification..

One printer: What kind? Need manufacturer and model. Is it shared by several computers today? How?

Airport is 802.11 just wifi. So to "get Airport going" you would merely turn that option on in the Mac and find the base station - as you would with any other computer to use the wireless connection. (I hope you have already secured that wireless connection - if not, do that before adding any more computers and get whatever trojans, viruses and any other spyware/malware off any computers on that network before adding any computers - Macintosh or otherwise.)

If your printer is a print-only USB (and not ethernet) device, there are USB-to-wifi and USB to ethernet adapters available. If your printer is a multifunction, USB-based, printer/scanner/copier/fax, you will have problems sharing that over any network.

Worst case: If your printer is a print-only USB (and not ethernet) device, there are manual USB switches available... The printer stays connected all the time, so do all the computers... but you need to push the button for the corresponding computer to connect to the printer... I use one of those today to connect a Canon MP780 and share between two Macs and a HP laptop...

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I Know
Apr 15, 2007 8:27AM PDT

I know I have amyn questions. I'm new to this Mac thing, so I'm trying to learn as much about it as possible. It's an HP Deskjet F380 all in one. Printer-scanner-copier. It's hooked up to my PC. My parents have a HP Office Jet 6210 all in one. printer-faxer-copier-scanner. And yes I do have a few problems. I'm trying to learn all I can about Macs, as I like to learn new things. I understand alot of it from reading things on the internet already. I just ask about what I don't really understand. Thanks

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Questions are good - that is what the forum
Apr 15, 2007 11:06PM PDT

is for.

Now we know what printer it is - as previously indicated, if it is a USB all-in-one, sharing it in the traditional networked (ethernet) sense could be a problem.

I suggest you go the manual USB switch route if this is the printer which needs to be shared.

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Another one of your problems
Apr 15, 2007 6:57AM PDT

is not knowing how you are connected to the Internet. DSL comes in to the house on a phone line and Cable comes in on the Cable TV line.
This then goes to a Modem, which could be wireless, and from there to your computer(s).
Do your two computers connect to the internet at the same time?

Airport Express is designed for the smaller home network and is not designed to extend your existing, Non-Apple, wireless network.

Does your existing modem have a wireless capability or do you have a wireless router connected to the modem?

P