- The Raspberry Pi is one of the better technical solutions. It is relatively low cost, low power, and is fairly representative of how the Macintosh SE would get on ethernet networks back in the day. (In many cases a more powerful computer would serve as a bridge between LocalTalk and ethernet networks.)
- Ethernet cards for the SE are rather uncommon since most SE's used LocalTalk for file and printer sharing. PDS cards were more-or-less specific to a model of Macintosh, so the option of sticking in a card intended for later models is not an option. SCSI-to-ethernet bridges are only an option if you find one with the drivers, since the drivers are virtually impossible to find after the fact.
I will admit to being a bit disappointed by this article. I was hoping for something more along the lines of interfacing an SE to the Raspberry Pi's internal UART since that would take a bit more skill, though not an absurd amount of skill. On the other hand, it is a demonstration of getting an archaic SE online is more about creativity than ingenuity. That's important for many of the people who pursue vintage computers as a hobby since they don't necessarily have the electronics background to design anything more sophisticated.
Another option would be a Ethernet-Localtalk bridge box (which were commonly used for Apple printers). These used to be dirt cheap on ebay, but I guess people are into this stuff and they're now over $100.
In the past I would swing by some retro Mac discussion and say "hey! you're trying to network that classic mac? just buy this bridge for $25 on ebay!" But they're not so cheap anymore so I guess make your own if you want.
