Old Macintosh Classic on a network?

With a Mac of that vintage you need to use the LocalTalk ports, which can be the Printer or the Modem ports. You'll also need a LocalTalk to Ethernet adapter.

Start this project by reading this page:

http://www.euronet.nl/users/mvdk/osx.html

You'll need to adapt the directions to the fact that they are for OS X 10.1 instead of 10.4.8, and much has changed.

I share files between my Mac Classic running System 7.1 and my PowerBook running 10.4.8 with a USB floppy drive connected to the PowerBook. It is by far the easiest way to move files back and forth.

Mac Plus System 6.0.8 on a HD20

This page on this great site addresses the options for connecting AppleTalk/LocalTalk networks to AppleTalk-over-Ethernet networks.

3-Macs page on Connecting AppleTalk/LocalTalk to AppleTalk-over-Ethernet networks

Do not limit yourself to this one page -- there are links on the site for software set-up and information on methods used in other situations.

Farallon was bought by Proxim, which has lost interest in Farallon products. The Farallon EtherMac iPrint LT is readily available on the used market for about US$25, sometimes much less if you shop hard. A similar product from Asante, AsanteTalk, is still available new, but costs nearly US$100.

Note that a product like the iPrint and possibly the Asante device will not pass TCP/IP packets and does not function as a router, so using such a device will not allow the Classic to get on the internet simply because it is attached to an ethernet network. For that you need a hardware or software router that will properly pass the TCP/IP packets from the internet to the LocalTalk network.

You also may use a SCSI/EN-Adapter to connect to Ethernet.
You may look here:
http://www.lowendmac.com/rivera/05/1129.html
It's from the URL posted from Joshua Barker(System 6 heaven).

You said in your original post, "...so my [other Macs] can see it."

Unfortunately, the feature we all take for granted today, know at the time as "Personal File Sharing" was not introduced until System 7. You can use the Classic to look at other Macs running 7 through 10.3, but unless you move the Classic up to 7 or later, you cannot have later Macs look back at the files located on the Classic.

Mac OS X 10.4 is a separate case. It is no longer willing to use AppleTalk to view directories or get files from other Macs. It will share using whatever protocol comes in, including AppleTalk, but you have to "push" files from the older Mac onto the 10.4 Mac to accomplish sharing.

My experience with a Classic II (OS_7.01 + "Tune Up") was, that I could connect my G3 to Classic but I coildn't access the G3 from the Classic. I was told, that the Classic II cannot read the G3 HFS+ harddisk format (?!?).

Recomended OS for the Classic: 7.1 with System Update v3.0.
However 6.07 is more speedy for the 68000. As far as I remember there was a separate (sold?) filesharing extension for system 6.07 availabe.

Good Luck!

Intel iMac Mac OS X (10.4.6) (iMac DV 400), Classic II, Wintel XP Notebook(s)

Joe from Hamburg_

I was told, that the Classic II cannot read the G3 HFS+ harddisk format (?!?).

That is not accurate. The details of whether the files are stored as HFS or HFS+ or any other file system are completely removed -- you get pure data independent of how it was stored. You should have been able to share those files. There must have been another problem.

Macs can share files from about 7.5.3 all the way through to 10.3 without too much trouble. There is generally no need to match OS numbers to have it work. You can readily extend that down to system 7 with some more work, and you can share files from a newer Mac back into System 6, and up to 10.4 from an older Mac. Setting it up can be a bit complicated, but once you have set it up it works well.