linking apple mac computers

[POD]

Hi  







i need help !! i've never used mac computers before, the English department have purchased 3(for moving image) and they have been asking me what would the costing be to link them together share files etc  :?  



how could i go about this ?whats the best way to do it ?



EOD

[Si]

hmm, it depends on the location of each machine.  If they are all in the same room, a wireless router would probably be the cheapest and quickest way to go, if they are in seperate rooms you will probably have to go wired, which will cost a lot more.  I would assume £500 + to install the necessary wiring.  You could set up one as a server or just go peer to peer (which is probably the easiest way).  



If you have free space on your legacy network you could try connecting in to that instead and running a Linux server as the Linux server will quite happily deal with Apple network traffic (even a windows based system will - but if you are using RM network legacy system I'm not sure if it will work or not).  



Regardless, you are going to need some sort of router (wired, wireless, or legacy) and some method of connecting the machines ( wired or wi-fi).  The actual software set-up Im not so sure of, but knowing Apple, its probably 20 times more easy to do than a M$ system.



I hope this helps.

[POD]

the 3 machines are all at the same location



cheers[/list]

[ballsricky]

wireless will not work for you as moving image files are very large, especially if they are in the editing stage.



i would suggest that you purchase a small gigabit switch and just have them running peer to peer.  



http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/57361/art/netgear/mini-switch-ethernet-giga.html



as far as i am aware most new apple computers have giga ethernet cards built in.



With the wiring it depends on how far apart they are, or maybe you could put them all beside each other then just use patch cables into a small switch like the one in the link.



As Si said, setup is easy.  Just give each a static ip and away you go.



I set up 40 e-macs, g5 server etc for the same thing, though not peer to peer.  nightmare at the start but i got to really like them by the time i was finished.

[ballsricky]

i meant to also say that i wouldnt bother with setting up a server of any kind.  not worth your while for only 3 machines.

[POD]

i'm going to go peer to peer i know someone that has a gigabit switch going to borrow it and see how i get on before purchasing it, the machines  are all positioned together so it will be handy enough, i'l keep u posted





useful sites ------ >



http://www.techsoup.org

http://techrepublic.com.com





thanks for the help / advise