iMac Talks to PowerBook, Part 2

22 June 1999 - Evan Kleiman

You have an iMac, you have a PowerBook, and you have a few ways to connect them - but none of them seem fast enough or cheap enough, so you want more. Never fear, there's plenty more was to connect Macs.

The first way you can connect Macs used to cost 7 - 15 dollars per computer, but with the iMac, the price gets jacked up. This solution is called PhoneNet. As you can guess from its name, it uses phone line to connect the two or more Macs. First, you will need PhoneNet adapters for each serial Mac, like your PowerBook. Their serial number is: PN308P. They go for about US$10. As always, eBay has a nice variety of these pieces pretty cheap. The reason this way of connection is because you need a special converter called the iPrint, they are all available from Farallon. Then to connect them wire them with a cheap phone line, which you can buy from any Radio Shack or dollar store.

Your other option is a free one, but it only works with the original Bondi iMacs. If you look to your left when you are at your keyboard, you will see a little redish-black half circle. This weird color half circle is called the infrared or IrDA port. And if you have a G3 PowerBook, you can just beam files, because the G3 PowerBook has IrDA, too. If you sit at the keyboard, the IrDA port on this Mac is on the back, left-hand side. Just point the two Macs at each other and fire up the infrared control panel and beam just like you're Scotty. You can also use this method to connect between two Bondi iMacs and two G3 PowerBooks.

So, now that we've discovered networking, you really have no need to have a floppy drive now! 

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