Easy Mac OS X Leopard

Part 12. Creating a Home Network

A network, whether it’s composed of physical cables or wireless, connects your computer with other computers so you can share files, play network games, and all use the same printers and Internet connection. The Internet, in fact, is simply a huge network comprising many smaller networks. With Mac OS X, setting up your own network in your home or office is easy.

Creating a network has two basic components. First, you need to make the connection by either hooking up your Macs (and Windows PCs, if you like) with Ethernet cables or installing AirPort cards and an AirPort base station so they can talk to each other wirelessly. Then, you need to tell your Mac how your network is set up so the system knows which connector ...