Last updated 5/18/2005

Home Networking for Macintosh & Windows The Missing Manual

Home Networking for Macintosh & Windows The Missing Manual
Author: Scott Lowe
Publisher: Pogue Press/O'Reilly
260 pages ------ $24.95
ISBN 0-596-99558-X

Featuring more than 2 hours of video hosted by Deke McClelland

I must confess that I have read only the parts of Home Networking for Macintosh & Windows The Missing Manual that I was most interested in, and those I needed to know. I believe that is what the author expects you will do, and when you learn what you needed you will be happy with the book.

I was surprised at how easy it was to set up printer sharing following the instructions in the book.

(My wife did experiencing some delays, and extra work connecting to the printer on my computer, and sometimes only the first page printed. Following the book's advice and downloading the latest printer driver so both machines would be the same did not solve the problem. But, when I decided to put my printer on her Macintosh to share, with me as the remote user, I found that I could delete a couple of duplicate printers and all the problems seemed to vanish.)

Home Networking for Macintosh & Windows The Missing Manual begins with an overview of planning your home network, creating an Ethernet network, setting up a wireless network, and setting up a Powerline network. Then there are chapters on using the network with Windows computers, Macintosh computers, mixing Macintosh and Windows computer.

A chapter on fun and games with your network begins with using an Apple Airport Express and iTunes on a Macintosh or Windows machine. It also covers using network TiVo on a network and displaying your photos on your TV, adding network storage, and playing games on your network. Most of the instructions are the same or very similar for the Macintosh and Windows.

Another chapter covers using your network on the road with your host computer in your home or office, and your laptop as a remote computer. The instructions in this chapter are provided separately for Windows and Macintosh because they are more software dependent. On the Macintosh there is an easy way using File Sharing. Scott Lowe also provides simple instructions for using the Terminal and SSH or Secure Shell to kill a program that you may have left running on your host computer.

There are two appendixes, both for the Macintosh, one on the Keychain and one on multiple user accounts in Mac OS 9.

To paraphrase from the back cover- In Home Networking for Macintosh & Windows The Missing Manual you'll find everything you need to know to create and use your home network, and not what's best left for those looking for a career as a system administrator.

For more information or to purchase a copy, go to
http://www/oreilly.com