Like Mac OS X, OS 9 includes the AirPort software you need to put a Mac with an AirPort card on a wireless network. If your Mac uses OS 9 and is AirPort ready, you can use an Apple AirPort card and OS 9 software to join a wireless network.

The original AirPort card is an 802.11b adapter. It's compatible with Apple's own AirPort and AirPort Extreme base stations and with other vendor's 802.11b and 802.11g access points and gateways.

No third-party vendors have produced Mac OS 9 drivers for their 802.11g cards. Fortunately, an AirPort-equipped Mac can join a "g" network, since the network standard is backward-compatible with 802.11b.

In this section, we describe basic wireless setup under OS 9, special situations for older Macs, and ad-hoc networking. First, install an AirPort card according to the directions that came with your Mac.

To set up wireless access under OS 9, follow these steps:

	Choose Apple menu > Control Panels > TCP/IP.
	To add settings for TCP/IP while preserving your current TCP/IP configuration, choose File > Configuration.
	Select a configuration and click Duplicate.
	Click Rename, and call the configuration Wireless.
	Select Wireless and click Make Active.
	Choose Airport from the Connect via menu.
	If your computer gets its IP address from a server, choose Using DHCP Server from the Configure menu. If you have been assigned an IP address by your ISP or system administrator, enter the address and the other information provided for your network.
	Close the TCP/IP window and save changes when you're asked.
	Choose AirPort from the Apple menu. If you don't find the AirPort application there, you will find it in the AirPort folder, inside the Apple Extras folder.
	Available wireless networks appear on the Choose Network menu in the AirPort application. Pull down the Choose Network menu and select from the list of available wireless networks.
	Once you have connected to a network, its signal appears in the AirPort application.
	If your network requires a password, you will be asked to enter it once you have selected the network. Enter the password.
	The signal strength of your chosen network appears in the AirPort window. Close the application.
	To test your connection, open a Web browser.
	If you need to use AppleTalk resources (such as printers) on your local network, you need to enable AppleTalk. Choose Apple menu > Control Panels > AppleTalk.
	Choose AirPort from the Connect via menu.
	Close and save your changes.

Special Situations

If you want to add wireless access to an older Mac -- one that doesn't have an AirPort slot, you will need a third-party wireless adapter and probably a third-party driver as well. The exception is the Lucent/Orinoco/Avaya series of wireless PC cards, which run just fine using AirPort drivers. The cards contain the same Lucent-manufactured radios that the original AirPort card does.

If you intend to use another brand of adapter, you have two choices: find a card that comes with Mac drivers (most do not) or buy a driver from a vendor like IOXperts or MacWireless, both of whom offer drivers that claim to support most PC card wireless adapters.

Though any PowerBook using OS 9 can be made to work on a wireless network, you probably won't find a PCI-based adapter that can be made to work with an older Mac. A few companies produce USB adapters that work with old iMacs-the models that don't support an AirPort card.

Ad-Hoc Networks

To build a peer-to-peer network using OS 9, follow these steps:

	On the OS 9 Mac hosting the wireless network, choose Apple menu > AirPort.
	Click the Software Base Station button.
	Enter a name for the new network and select a channel from 1-11 and click OK.
	Select the new network from the Choose Network menu.

In order for wireless computers on a network to communicate, their IP addresses must be on the same subnet. An IP subnet is a range of numbers that create boundaries for your local network. When your network is managed by a wireless access point or router, the access point's DHCP server typically hands out addresses within the same subnet to all members of the network.

Since your ad-hoc network does not have a server to provide addresses, you will need to create a static IP address for each device on the network. Using a private IP subnet, you can assign addresses that are valid only within the local network. For example, start by assigning the computer that hosts your network an IP address of 192.168.0.1, and give each client computer an address in that range (i.e. 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.254).

On each networked computer, use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and be sure that the gateway address field of each is empty. Connect one or more computers to your new ad-hoc network, give them IP addresses.