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one REALLY OT post
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nothing particularly political about this.

i'm a mac owner (i believe 70%+ of mac owners supported kerry, btw). i have two questions:

1. this pertains to wireless LANs. i've got a wired LAN right now. i've got a microwave radio on the top of my house, and an ethernet cord coming into a linksys wired internet router/switch. the router is configured with a static IP, and the signal is then dispersed to all the workstations (windows and macs) where each box has a dynamic IP assigned by the router (192.168.1.x). the workstations talk to each other because the router is also an 8-port switch. here's my question. i want to go wireless for SOME of my LAN, and leave the rest wired. i believe i can buy a wireless router/switch to replace the wired one i've got, and then run an ethernet cable from the wireless out port to a traditional wired switch. is this the way to do it? or is there a better way?

2. i'd like to have a wireless sound system. what i'd like to do is run this sound system from my mac, through itunes, and i'd like to have three different sets of 4 speakers each. in other words, i've got 4 speakers in one room, then 4 speakers outside on one side of the house, 4 speakers on the other side of the house, and via my computer turn on one set of speakers or the other. my questions are:

A. can any old speakers work for a wireless system? do i just stick a airtunes station close to a set of speakers and these speakers start playing the music i tell them to play via itunes?

B. how would these speakers know when they're "off" and when they're "on," if what i want is the ability to toggle from one sound system to another?

C. these speakers need to be powered, but is there a kind of speaker that you just power up but without having that power come to it via the speaker wire? are there speakers specifically made for wireless systems? i don't mean computer speakers, but big, you know, sub woofers, and stuff like that?

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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from a new born mac user...

1. You can buy a wireless router then decide if you want to use a wireless connection or use a wire. not a problem with this.
As a matter of fact we have two pcs connected with a wire to the router while my laptops uses the wireless capability.

don't know for 2.

F (soon getting a G5 powermac)
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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I think you're going to have to buy wireless speakers - something like this: http://www.smarthome.com/8235.html

Then you can just plug the transmitter into your computer. I'm not sure how the computer would control which set of speakers - you might just have to manually turn on one set or the other. I know.. this is a pretty low-tech answer.

BTW - I'm a Mac-owning Republican supporter-of-gay-marriage Christian Deadhead.

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Re: one REALLY OT post [jhc] [ In reply to ]
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"BTW - I'm a Mac-owning Republican supporter-of-gay-marriage Christian Deadhead."

you serious?

i saw those speakers already. that can't be the only solution. i believe airtunes transmitters work thru regular speakers, no?

isn't there anything that receives a signal and translates it into whatever it is a regular speaker needs to get?

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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not going to work with any speakers...

from Apple's site

"Requires compatible stereo system or powered speakers."
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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you serious?


Completely.



i saw those speakers already. that can't be the only solution. i believe airtunes transmitters work thru regular speakers, no?

isn't there anything that receives a signal and translates it into whatever it is a regular speaker needs to get?


Airtunes will only work with powered speakers, so I guess if you had an outlet to plug your AirPort Express into and powered speakers you could make it work. I think it would be hard to make it work with an outdoor setup though.

Unfortunately I live in a tiny studio, so I haven't had the need to get a lot of hands-on experience with Airtunes.

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Re: one REALLY OT post [jhc] [ In reply to ]
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"Unfortunately I live in a tiny studio, so I haven't had the need to get a lot of hands-on experience with Airtunes. "


but this guy had time to play with it...

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/mac/0,39020393,39163378,00.htm
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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"not going to work with any speakers.."

upon further reading, i don't believe you're correct. an airport express station, which looks a lot like the power supply for my ibook, has a stereo-out jack. so, i could have a stereo next to the airport express, connect the two with an audio cord, and i'm in biz.

plus, yes, i can have multiple systems and toggle between them with itunes. however, i can't, it seems, have them all going at once. i must choose a system and go with it exclusively.

that's as far as i've gotten.

also, this issue might be connected to my other issue. i believe an airport express acts as an airport base station, so perhaps i don't need both. also, the airport express has an ethernet jack (as well as an audio and a USB port), and i read somewhere that if i stick this baby into my router it'll lease an IP (my LAN's computers are all set up DHCP).

so, can these thingies serve double duty as music signal receivers and wireless internet signal transmitters? can i stick a stereo jack and an ethernet jack into this thing at the same time?

i'm confused.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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OT even from your OT.

I'm a Mac user, but not a very adventurous one. I bought mine basically because of the stability of the OS. Do you use .Mac or any of the Apple specific services? What Apple specific software or support stuff or hardware have you found particularly useful over what Windows offers?

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
upon further reading, i don't believe you're correct. an airport express station, which looks a lot like the power supply for my ibook, has a stereo-out jack. so, i could have a stereo next to the airport express, connect the two with an audio cord, and i'm in biz.
As long as the speakers have their own power supply. Most speakers don't.

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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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1: No problem. You can either just add a wireless transmitter onto your existing switch or replace the switch with one that does both wireless and wired. I have done both before without problem.
If you have a separate wireless hub and wired switch, you just need to chose one of them to be the DHCP server (the bit that allocated the IP address).
So, if you are happy with your switch, they you might want to just get something like http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=608
or http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
to be the wireless hub.

2. If you use airport express to connect your speakers, you will need to have one per set of speakers. Then from iTunes you will be able to select whichever set of speakers you want.

you will need some form of powered speakers. Standard stereo speakers will need an amp, or you can use any sort of PC/Mac speakers that use batteries or take power from the wall.

This is the basic option. There are plenty of high end options (Yamaha Soundcast for example) but these are probably more than what you are looking for.

dt.
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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so, can these thingies serve double duty as music signal receivers and wireless internet signal transmitters? can i stick a stereo jack and an ethernet jack into this thing at the same time?
-------------------------------------------

Absolutely correct, one airport express can do be both the wireless internet server and drive the speakers.

I don't have mine setup like that at the moment but I'll give it a try and let you know (caveat, I am using a PC, not a Mac)
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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There are certain high end speakers that have amplifiers built into the speakers. You can check Meridian for one (if you have money to burn, and I know you do :-). Some of them take proprietary digital inputs, but there are analog versions as well. Bang and Olufsen have amps built in as well. I can't tell you for sure it will work, but they are the respectively the best sounding and best looking options out there.
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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2 sites for you.



http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/

At Griffin, they have an amp that you can plug into regular high end speakers.

Disclaimer...I am on a PC.
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Re: one REALLY OT post [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Invite me out to Casa de Slowman and I'll hook it all up for you. Actually, I've set up quite a few for people that I work with (oh the joys being being the network administrator people don't realize that the help desk is only for the company not for everything they bring in).

Cisco, linksys, and Xircom make some simple and elegant solutions. The Cisco wireless cards are a little tricky but and don't buy you much over any other brand. The combination switch/routers have the DHCP server and usually a firewall built in so depending on the age of your old stuff it might be a performance jump just upgrading.
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