Low End Mac Networking

Mac owners are a pretty lucky bunch - networking has been part of the computer's design and operating system since the mid-1980s.

Macs work with AppleTalk, TCP/IP, IPX, Token Ring, and other protocols. Best of all, much of this is transparent to the user. Once you've configured your PPP, TCP/IP, or other network connection, you can pretty much ignore it. And since all networking calls are a standard part of the system, everything from browsers and business applications to games can take advantage of the network.

Until the iMac, all Macs provided a high speed serial port for LocalTalk, and most 68040-based Macs and later models have ethernet ports (10Base-T, AAUI, or both).

Why Network?

If you have two or more Macs, the easiest way to transfer files is with a network. System 7 and later allow sharing files, so any Mac can become a personal file server. Just wire things together, turn on sharing, and log on from the other machine.

Of course, there's a lot more to wiring thing together than that, which is the focus of the Mac Networking section on Low End Mac.

Index

LocalTalk and Ethernet
Bridging LocalTalk and Ethernet
Older Macs as file servers, MacUSB, 9/10/99

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