Good to see you at least have the MacBook online via wireless; and as I
reiterated in sometimes increasingly sloppy and tired manner, if you have
the Airport selected (and can select one) you can add the item to the menu
bar. I was able to attend to one of my AEBS wireless bases from ethernet
only administration; also had use of dialup connection within the computer
administering that base station. I set the preferences differently of course
for accessing the internet from the ethernet only machine (of course, it
also had a factory 56k v90 internal modem in my B&W G3 tower, which
was not in use because I didn't want only one computer to access the net
but wanted at least two. And my experimenting started with OS 9.2.2 and
then added 10.2.8. Still am using the AEBS three years later and since
all my machines now can use dialup, ethernet, and Airport, at times I have
all of these items checkboxed to show up in them in the Network Status
panel. I can change my AEBS settings from the Ethernet in a tower,
and turn it off without pulling the plug. But right now, when I look into my
iMacG4 which administers my wireless network (via ethernet or airport)
I have so many options and can administer them on the fly.
So, at least on several points, depending on how you access the network
you are creating, you have options. And by plugging a simple USB wi-fi
adapter into the desktop computer you have, you can also access that.
Short of turning off the machine I'm writing on to see what it'd do with
less of my three online options, in each configuration, I won't readily
double-check some of my immediate choices to see what options may
also apply to your situation. I checked some of them out on the portable
because it has no 56k modem settings nor ethernet; but I see the choices
in there when I activated them, and they appeared probably because the
hardware exists even when it isn't activated (and no wires attached.)
Since I sold both the original iBook and PowerMac computers I had set
up my first wireless AEBS network with, I no longer have an ethernet-
only access online also administering the AEBS; but I can change to it
in the Network preferences panel almost instantly. I change to/from that
due to wireless phone 2.4GHz interference that overwhelms the same
frequency also used by the AEBS; but the through-port for ethernet still
allows me to use the AEBS as a wired router with the wi-fi temporarily
down. I have other phones, and the older 900MHz ones do not affect
the AEBS wireless network.
I mention all of this to say there are and will be variables and as your
system grows, you will find out some interesting details and workarounds
that will make complex discussions out of what would be a simpler matter!
In part, Duane is 99.9% correct; but I did address some of those issues
along with the other points I was trying to make. Too late to address all
that in an edit; in other forums, I have gone back and removed 200+ of
my posts and let others do all the answering. [I don't have access here.]
He can handle the details. I'm done. Good luck, btw.
