Routers and goodies question

[aokay]

Ok, I'm getting DSL hooked up in a few days and I'm really excited. I have my computer in my room that I want to have the DSL, but I want the "family" computer to be able to have DSL too. Is there a way I can use a rounter somehow? I don't know very much about networking, but is there a way I can allow both the computer the same bandwith without setting up a network with NICs and a hub (and all the money)? If someone would be willing to explain how this works in greater detail, I would really appreciate gaining the knowledge. Plus, if I know how it works, what I need, how much it costs, etc., I just might set up a LAN.

Thanks,

Adam

[FlyingPenguin]

Well you can't do it without setting up a network.

Cheapest way is to use a software router (like ICS built inot Win98,ME,2K,XP or a 3rd party one like Sygate), install an extra NIC on your computer and a nic in the family computer and run some network cable. If there's only 2 computers you don't need a hub - just wire the network cable reversed and connect the two computers together.

You can find cheap Linksys 10/100 NIC cards at Office Depot for around $20

The better way, but a bit more expensive is to buy a hardware cable/DSL router - I recommend the SMC Barricade, but the Linksys is easy to find anywhere and it works just as well. This assumes your DSL modem has a network interface on it - if it's USB only you're stuck with option one above.

The DSL modem connects to the router and then the router acts as a hub for the computers on the network.

More info on this at http://speedguide.net

[bitSLAP]

Apparently Sygate Proxy can bind more than one IP address to a network card somehow, so you only need one network card in your main machine. You still have to buy the software ($40) though.

I guess the cheapest way is still to buy a crossover cable and a second NIC like mentioned above, and use internet connection sharing.

[EvilHorace]

Having done several home network type connections before, I recently upgraded to the SMC router that FP advised and it works great, much better and easier to install that the server, dual NIC, ICS setup I had before (which can be buggy at times and depends on the server being on at all times for the other PCs to be online....often a headache IMO).

Here's the thread with a link to the router at Buy.com where I bought mine.
http://www.pcabusers.net/forums/showthr ... adid=13964

Don't go "cheap" on networking as it'll be more troublesome than its worth and one can spend many an hour on home networking problems if it's not setup right or you have hardware, software or protocol issues.

FPs site (linked in his sig) has a great networking page there with great details if anyone needs to know how NICs and networks are setup.