Chapter 5. Connecting Your Mac mini to the Internet

Connecting your Mac mini to the Internet can be a snap, and setting up a home network isn't much more trouble. Apple makes it easy to get online. And with an AirPort Express Base Station, you can stream music from the iTunes library on your Mac mini to your home stereo.

As you read this chapter, you will learn:

• How to connect your Mac mini to the Internet.

• How to share a wired or wireless Internet connection among your Mac mini and some number of Windows computers.

• How to set up a wireless network.

• Why an Apple wireless base station may be your best buy.

• The wonders of the AirPort Express Base Station.

Dear Reader:

As I begin this chapter, I wish you could be sitting here with me so that I could ask you questions. You'd tell me what you already have for an Internet connection, and I'd tell you how to share that connection among your Mac mini and however many Windows computers you own.

We'd decide whether a wireless network makes sense for you, or whether a wired network will do the job. If you already have a wireless network, we'd discuss replacing your current base station with an Apple AirPort Extreme to get some special features, such as the ability to send iTunes music around your home and to share printers easily with your Windows computers and your Mac mini.

If I knew your answers, I could write a networking chapter especially for you, written precisely to your level of experience and including only things you need to know. I'd have your Mac mini and Windows PC both connected to the Internet, one way or another, in no time flat.

Sadly, you're not sitting on my couch, and I can't ask you questions. So this chapter is longer and more complex than necessary to meet just your particular needs. I must meet as many people's needs as possible, and this makes some complexity inevitable.

The good news is that networking information can be divided according to broad categories of users, so that is how I will present it. I've organized the chapter into common scenarios, allowing you to select one that closely matches your situation and what you'd like to accomplish.

tip

Macintosh networking is simple. Looking at this chapter doesn't make it seem that way, but getting a Macintosh connected to the Internet is usually pretty easy. In that spirit, read "Connecting Your Mac mini to the Internet" in Chapter 2 before continuing here if you run into problems or just want to know more about connecting a Mac mini and Windows PC to the same Internet connection.