There is probably a simple answer to this question, but a couple of hours scouring computer bookshops failed to turn up the answer, so here we go. I have a Pentium 75 running Windows 95 with CD-ROM, sound card, modem, colour inkjet printer and dot-matrix printer. My daughter is joining a private school which requires her to have an Apple Macintosh 190CS notebook computer. I would like to run some wiring directly to her bedroom to enable her to access the printers, the modem and ideally the CD-ROM. Is this possible? What additional hardware/software do I require? How do I set the two systems up?
- Kim Benito de Valle
Unfortunately there is no simple answer to your problem. It may be possible to produce the solution that you desire but it will be both technically complex and expensive.
Firstly, why is it difficult? There is the high cost of physically networking the two computers together. At least $400 dollars. Then there is the cost of buying software such as Windows NT Server to be installed in place of Windows 95 or a product that would allow your Windows 95 computer to talk to a Macintosh. Also from what I know it would in fact be impossible to share the printers that you have with a Macintosh. You would need to purchase a PostScript laser printer to easily share printers. Lastly, sharing modems between a PC and a Macintosh would require fairly specialised software. This sort of software only becomes economical when you have a number of computers.
Before you give up in despair some partial, not-too-neat solutions are possible. Remember your daughter has a notebook and so she can move it to where the printers and modems are. To use the dot-matrix and inkjet printers you can purchase a package called Powerprint. This includes a cable and drivers for the printers. If you are planning to purchase a laser printer you should consider buying a PostScript printer. Also available are laser printers which have both a PC connector and a Macintosh connector and are capable of automatically switching between the two.
For the modem you can purchase an adaptor cable to convert the Macintosh serial connection to the PC serial connection. The modem can be used with either. For the CD-ROM your only option is to purchase an external SCSI CD-ROM. If you purchased printers, modem and CD-ROM separately for your daughter I believe it would still cost less that attempting the network solution.
A bit of general advice for parents planning to buy a home computer primarily for their children's education and are tossing up between a PC and a Macintosh. Find out what the school your child goes to uses in their classrooms. Unless you have specific reasons not to (eg bringing work home) consider buying the same type of computer the school uses.
- Roy Chambers
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Category: Win95, Networking, Macintosh
Issue: Mar 1997
Pages: 172
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