Hi, This is kind of an iPad question, nothing to do with gaming. But heck, you guys are my go-to community, so here it is... I don't have wi-fi at home and I don't want to pay for a second package. I can't connect to the Internet just by plugging the iPad into my iMac, right? What other ways would I be able to pass files or (especially) text from the iPad to my iMac? Potential buyer wonders whether iPad would be excusable purchase or merely a gaming machine... Thanks
Well you could get a mywi (advantage of being able to carry it with you but 3g charges) but for the price I'd personally just get a wireless router and attach it to your current modem. I'm using an old linksys wrt54g still you can probably find them really really cheaply these days and my wifi is incredibly stable last time I rebooted the router was probably about a year ago so I'm not exagerating about stability. I suppose another option is tethering it to a cell phone but again I just think a wireless router is the cheapest option.
You can easily create a wifi network from your mac. Just turn on internet sharing via Airport in System preferences.
Had no clue macs could do that sounds like it's very useful but I still like having the always there always on wifi router as I've a netbook, psp, xbox360, ipod, PC and no doubt future equipment that will use it. But it sounds like the mac alone may perfectly suit your needs for just file transferring and i've learnt something new myself.
I seem to remember trying that and not having much luck, or maybe just doing something wrong. So that really works, eh? I'd be able to do it with my iphone, on airport mode, too, i guess? I'll see if I can do that much before considering buying the ipad. And, thanks (other guy) for the recommendation about wireless routers. you're right, some of them do look cheap. For some reason, I didn't think it was as simple as hooking one up to my modem. thanks to both of you.
It'll work with your iPhone too. And yes, getting a cheap router is the best solution here simply because you wont need to keep your mac running just so you can get online on your iPad. But if you arent in the mood to shell out for a cheap router (or just too lazy to go buy one like me) the mac works as a pretty good router.
well, I'm trying to do it with my iphone as we speak. is there anything else, say, on my mac, that needs to be turned on? I've got my sharing set up exactly like you do in the picture, but when I go to my iphone's wi-fi, the phone doesn't see it. Am I missing a any steps?
okay - making some progress. Turned Airport on and "created network," named it, and got the iphone to see it. i think i'd gotten this far once before. i turned airport on my phone to off (because that's how I can test if the wi-fi is working, right?), and though my phone shows the radiating waves wi-fi sign, i get messages in safari saying "..not connected to the internet." one more thing - in case you're going to help me trouble-shoot this. in airport, I've got an orange, not a green, light. also, unlike you in your second picture, my imac shows not the radiating waves icon but a fan with a mac in the center.
i feel like i shouldn't have created a network. in the airport preferences, it says... AirPort has the self-assigned IP address ___.___.___.__ and will not be able to connect to the Internet.
There is no need to create a network. Click on the airport icon and disconnect that network. Now how is your mac connected to the internet? Ethernet? (you can cehck it in network prefrences if you are not sure). If it is ethernet, then it'll show you a green light against Ethernet there. Now make sure you select the same option in "share your connection from" menu. And check "Airport" in options for "To computers using". After that, click on the "Internet Sharing" option on the left there. The airport icon in the top bar should show up as it shows in my 2nd pic. TBH, I'm not sure how you can mess this one up. It took me 5 seconds to figure out how to create a wifi network when I first tried it
haha. geez. well, like I said, I've tried this before. I've probably screwed with something that was fine to begin with. I'll try following your steps here...
just bear with me here. I'm not sure where you're getting the "share your connection from" menu. nor "to computers using." is this all somewhere in system preferences / network?
Ya, go to system preferences, then click on "Sharing" and select "Internet Sharing" form the left column.
i see - okay, "share your connection from" is ethernet, and in "to computers using", airport is checked. sorry.
Now just click the checkbox in front of "Internet Sharing" and it should be working now. Are you seeing the same airport icon in top bar as it shows in my pic now?
i think I've got it the way it should be now. but my top bar just says... airportn ________ no network selected somepersoninmybuilding someperson someperson __________
in network, airport is On, but there's an orange, not green, light there. beside "network name," there's no network selected. my iphone doesn't see anything. anyway - thanks for trying to help me out here. I might be stuck. I really didn't think I could do this. I thought I even read somewhere that I couldn't. So I was surprised to hear you say you'd done it.
Click on "Airport Options" in the internet sharing preferences (you'll need to uncheck internet sharing before you can click on that). What do you have there as the network name? The same doesnt show up in Airport Status bar once you check "Internet Sharing"? btw, it'll really help you could just grab a couple of screenshots of both your prefrences and Airport menu (CMD+Shift+4 is the shortcut for screengrab in case u didnt know)
