I hooked up my old Performa to the Airport Express via ethernet, expecting that it would show up on the network and I could connect to it from my other computers. But it doesn't show up, and if I try to use the Chooser (!!) on the Performa to connect to the newer machines, it gives me an error. I assume the problem is that the wireless connection that the other computers use is not on the same subnet--is that the problem? And is there a way to connect nonetheless?

Old guys for old computers. Let me dust off the cobwebs.

What version of system software? I think pre-8.5 can't connect either way. I assume you're using the Server Address in the Chooser to connect via IP address? Apple Talk on for both machines? Even though it's IP it uses a sort of hybrid AppleTalk IP protocol if I remember right.

The ethernet port on the base should be handing out the same IP and subnet range as wireless. Since it's an AE it should carry AppleTalk wirelessly. Check the TCP/IP Control Panel on the Performa and see if it shows a subnet and IP.

It's OS 8.1. And yes the Control Panel does show both subnet and IP, and both are the same as on the other computers. I mean the subnet's the same and the IP address falls within the expected range. It is connecting to the network because I can get IE (!!) to go out onto the web, and I can send and receive email (although attachments end up being corrupted, for some reason). I just tried to shut down the poor old thing and the desktop kept disappearing and reappearing so finally I had to do a power shut down.

Okay, OS 9 has IP sharing built in, so you'll need this for 8.1. It has a 10 day evaluation version. If it was just to get some files off of the Performa that would work but not a good permanent solution for $39.

You know, I think I have ShareWay installed in my old Rev A iMac. I'll have to see if it's in there and, if it is, how portable it is. But it's not worth the price for this old Performa. I can play with it without having file sharing capability.

Incidentally, everyone who says how fast and snappy the Classic OS used to be . . . they haven't used it for a while . . . that's all I can say :p

Yeah. It was a setting in the TCP/IP control panel IIRC. I could get my wife's iMac-350 connected to my G4 via ethernet or she could connect to the internet - not both.

Well you are talking about a Performa, not sure which you have but at best it's a 603e, 200 Mhz chip, 40 mhz bus, 33 mhz ATA bus, 5400 RPM drive. My dual 867, 133 mhz bus, ATA 100, 7200 RPM drive when it runs OS 9 runs rings around OS X Finder operations.

Of course OS 9's sudo multi-tasking was lacking as compared to OS X, but I'm still appalled at things like how slow it takes X to draw Finder windows, for example when you have a folder with a long list of items that you haven't opened in a while, or at how much of the CPU the Finder takes even when it's in the background. The other day In activity monitor the Finder was taking 67% of one of the CPU's, I had one Finder window open. I closed it and CPU usage dropped to almost nothing. I always wonder what it is that the Finder is doing with all those cycles.

You're right of course, it is a Performa

The speed is . . . well, speed is the wrong word. And you can do only one thing at a time. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!