Setting up a Mac Connection:

Alan Ryan · 26-08-2005, 09:13

I'm replacing my PC with a Mac next month. Is there any particular problem I should anticipate before establishing my cable connection with the internet on this equipment ?

Until I've familiarised myself with the new operating system, I'm not entirely sure what information I should have in hand to configure my internet connection in the Apple Menu/System Preferences/Network. Any suggestions please ?

punky · 26-08-2005, 09:20

Nope, should be straight forward.

Turn off your modem/STB and get your Mac up and running (leave registering to later). Turn that off. Then power on the modem/STB, wait til the lights have settled and then power on your Mac. If you are using OSX (Tiger, Panther, Jaguar, anything 10.x) you should be fine, it should automatically detect and sort it out.

EDIT:Once you turn your Mac on and detect the internet, if you have a STB you have to re-register at http://start.ntl. Once you you do that, (you have to do it within 5 mins of STB bootup), you have to restart to get your proper IP (not a 10.x.x.x one), otherwise your connection will die. I don't think you need to do this for modems.

Chris W · 26-08-2005, 09:33

what Punky has said is correct... almost...

To register the STB it is http://start.ntl/ the autoreg address is for adding email addresses

Just to clarify also that you must be using the ethernet connection with a mac, as the usb connection will not work.

Here's hoping you've got Tiger, cos some of the features are awesome

BarFly · 26-08-2005, 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris W

Just to clarify also that you must be using the ethernet connection with a mac, as the usb connection will not work.

if its the SMC EZ adapter it will work on OS X , just the drivers arent on the NTL disk...they can be found on SMC's website...just for future reference...but your better off running through nic...

Stuart · 26-08-2005, 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarFly

if its the SMC EZ adapter it will work on OS X , just the drivers arent on the NTL disk...they can be found on SMC's website...just for future reference...but your better off running through nic...

Especially when you consider that pretty much every Mac built since about 1996 has an Ethernet connection built in.

**Chris** · 26-08-2005, 11:18

As others have said, you will find it so easy, you'll wonder how you ever did without it.

Macs, and especially OS X, are very good at networking.

Alan Ryan · 26-08-2005, 12:03

Thanks for the feedback: it looks like I should be up and running in no time. I'm "studying" a Tiger manual that I bought yesterday, but it doesn't pay as much attention to setting up an Internet connection as I should like.

Stuart · 26-08-2005, 12:25

For a basic Internet Connection, the Mac should just pick up all the settings it needs from the network. Same with PCs if you connect via Ethernet. Basically, with Macs, I have found they tend to work well out of the box with very little fiddling (IIRC, Apple have used the phrase "It just works" in their advertising).

However, when you first start up the Mac it will ask you to set up things like email accounts, and it will try and get you to buy a .Mac subscription (these are nice, but rather expensive and not really necessary for the operation of the Mac).

kfridge · 26-08-2005, 12:35

I have a mac at home (as well as a pc) running through my cable modem. As Punky says, just set up the mac in the first instance (ignoring all the setting up of a .Mac account), switch off both mac and modem, turn on the Mac (wait for boot up), turn on the modem, wait for the lights to settle and voila! you should be on the internet...