Advice on networking a IIGS?

[chris.hafner@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I have a ROM01 IIGS with 512KB of RAM that I've been enjoying as a general game machine, thanks to the magic of ADT and the advice of this group a year ago. Now I think I'm ready to take it to the next level, and will probably start with one of Vince Briel's 4MB cards to up the RAM and get on the list for the next run of the CFFA3000.

The tricky part (for me, at least) is that I'm interested in networking my IIGS to my Mac LCIII+ for file-sharing purposes and have them share an Imagewriter II. The LCIII+ has an Ethernet adapter, and I'm hoping to get it online to serve as an alternative to ADT to getting software over to the IIGS.

I'm an ignoramus when it comes to networking, and as I've looked into it I've become confused with the differences (if they exist) between AppleTalk, AppleShare, PhoneNet, and LocalTalk. Most of the references that I've found either concentrate solely on Macs, don't spend much time talking about hardware, and/or is totally over my head. And the AppleTalk adapters I've found on eBay are not all consistent, some seem to connect to each other via phone cables, and some via 8-pin serial cables (either printer cables or null modem cables, I'm guessing the former). For example:
These appear to be connected with serial cables: http://www.ebay.com/itm/160927006448?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648

These appear to be connected with phone cables: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271107661306?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

As do these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/190720733003?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648

This is way too much lead-up, but I'm just wondering if others have already done this and have any hints or advice to pass on - which types of adapters you'd recommend, any configuration tips, etc. Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Chris Hafner