Mac Mini marriage to AppleTV2: trouble in paradise

[donewifcomputer]

Hello,
First off i don't understand computer lingo that well. i learn by muddling through and searching the web for answers. But after six hours of searching yesterday i am close to giving up. Apple support is going to charge me, my internet provider might help and they might charge me, past experiences with retail computer stores proved useless, and the apple installation booklet was helpful but only to a point.

The problem: Mac mini, ATV2, and DSL hook-up. i don't have wifi, wireless, or routers and i refuse to have cable TV. i have the ethernet cable ready but the Mini only has one ethernet plug. So how do i hook this up? The Mini was a gift from our children 2 years ago and the ATV2 was this '11 Christmas gift from our son. Great kids, right!

i read about splitters, some articles say i can do this others say i can't. If you use splitters they have to be used in pairs. That would be a pair at the computer and a pair, where? At the phone jack or on the ATV2? Some articles say a Mini is the same as and better than an ATV2!???

To say i am lost is an understatement! Any help will be appreciated and will keep this mom from tossing it all out the window!

 

[radiogoober]

This is what you need:

- Purchase a wireless router
- The "phone plug looking" network cable that plugs into your Mac Mini will now be plugged into the "uplink" port on the router.
- Now, you can run wires from the other ports on the router to your Mac Mini and AppleTV. Alternatively, since the router is wireless, both the Mac Mini and the AppleTV can access the internet wirelessly.

 

[Fry-man22]

This is what you need:

- Purchase a wireless router
- The "phone plug looking" network cable that plugs into your Mac Mini will now be plugged into the "uplink" port on the router.
- Now, you can run wires from the other ports on the router to your Mac Mini and AppleTV. Alternatively, since the router is wireless, both the Mac Mini and the AppleTV can access the internet wirelessly.

The Mini can be the router.

* Plug the Ethernet cable into the mini
* Verify the Mini can successfully connect to the web
* Open System Prefs-> Sharing
* Locate "Internet Sharing"
* Verify the settings say share Ethernet to computers using Wifi
* Check the box to enable internat sharing

The mini network is now visible to the ATV. You will probably want to protect this network once you get it set up but just get it working and then we can mess with security settings.

I am doing the opposite of this to feed my Ps3 from the MINI Ethernet. The PS3 only has G wireless so I connected the mini to my N wireless network and then shared the connection over Ethernet to the PS3. This gives the PS3 a 100Mbit connection to the mini and the web so I can stream 1080p from the Mini to the PS3 and still stream netflix.

If you have any other wireless devices they can connect to the mini's network as well.

 

[radiogoober]

^^^ good call! Thats the best, easiest, and cheapest advice. Good idea man!