I have to admit i'm not real good with the wireless networking stuff, but i think my setup is pretty simple, though i can't get it to work...
I have my Mac hardwired to my cable modem and it works fine. I have a wireless router (motorola) that's not connected to anything yet, but i want to use it to send a signal to another pc in the house without breaking the hard connection to the mac (i don't want to buy an airport since i have the wireless router already!). Now, there are 4 connections on the router, so I figured that I could use one for the mac then just have the router do its wireless thing. What am I missing here?
To sum up what I want:
Cable-->cable modem-->wireless router-->hard connection to mac AND wireless signal to other comps

thanks for the help, cuz i feel dumb

p.s. I don't have the drivers or literature for the wireless modem, so I need a way to change/get the password for the wireless connections...

You'll want to make sure that you have a crossover cable for the connection between the cable modem and the router. Although many routers can automatically do the crossover, some can't, and it's best to do that if you have one lying around.

Connect the cable modem to the router's "WAN" port. This allows the router to firewall it if you so please, and it's where it expects the internet to be.

All hardwired connections use the router's built in 4-port switch, and should be easy enough to configure.

For the router's internet setup, usually the easiest thing to do is have only your main computer connected to the internet-connected router. Then follow the setup wizard (and it's probably a good idea to let it clone your computer's MAC address). The rest if pretty straightforward.