I recieved my AirPort Base Station last week, and information on the iBook mailing list led me to discover that a computer connected to the Base Station by Ethernet *can* initiate an Internet connection, prompting the Base Station to use the modem to dial out. (I thought this could only be done through the AirPort software.) So I thought I'd see if the MessagePad (MP2K with a Farallon Ethernet Card and Crossover Cable, connected to the Base Station's Ethernet Port), properly configured, could do the same.
The good news is...it works! The bad news is in most cases, it can't be relied upon to do so unattended, making it less-than-useful for people like me who set the MessagePad to download Internet content overnight.
The problem is caused by a delay while the Base Station dials up and establishes a connection. The MessagePad only knows that a connection request has timed out, and often gives up before the Base Station has connected. (Since the AirPort software has no option to instruct the Base Station to establish a connection on its' own, a few Mac programs also have the same problem.) In my test, only WebXPress was able to accomodate the delay...Ink Spot returned an error, and Eudora Pro was still trying about an hour later when I checked.
One way around this would be to set up the programs to access the Internet either simultaneously or one-after-the-other, in the 10 minutes before the Base Station disconnects an active Internet connection and hangs up.
On another note, I was able to connect with my iBook using NCU over the AirPort, via AppleTalk. (Same set up: MP2K with a Farallon Ethernet Card and Crossover Cable, connected to the Base Station's Ethernet Port.) It requires setting up the connection on both ends, of course, but once that's taken care of, it's nice to install programs and run backups through the iBook with the MessagePad in the other room.
I suppose this will have to do 'till someone writes a driver for an AirPort-compatable networking card...
BRIAN/bpearce@cloud9.net
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