[Ham-Computers] Setting up home network

[jeff]

On Tue, 2005-09-13 at 16:04 +0000, Philip Atchley wrote:
> My ISP (SBCglobal) is presently offering me DSL service for the same 
> price as I'm presently paying for their dial up (good for a year).  I've 

Nice.


> may require the installation of an Ethernet card (they're pretty cheap 
> now).   I KNOW that mine will need it.  

they pop right in and are generally recognized by the OS right off the
bat.


> They also offer a "Wireless Home 
> Networking kit"

I don't like these.  I just don't trust wireless, even with added
security (that is not enabled out of the box).  If you do go wireless,
make sure you ratchet the security all the way up and set it so that
only the specific machines you have can connect (using the MAC address,
which is explained in the directions).


>  that is very cheap after the rebates, but I don't think 
> I want to go "wireless" to my second computer  that my XYL uses for 
> Email (and which will also require a Ethernet card).

You can also use the wireless for one computer but not the other - your
call.  For instance, you can wire your desktop pc but use wireless for a
laptop.


> 3.  So the question is, to network these two machines together (600MHz P 
> III running Win XP Pro and a 200MHz PII running Win98se) I will need TWO 
> Ethernet cards and SBC's provided DSL starter kit.  WILL I ALSO need a 
> router to tie this all together?  I suspect I will.

Yup.  You can buy router/switch boxes with two or more ports.
They're really cheap at all the usual places.


> 4.  Is there anything special I need to look for in a router, in other 
> words, any "gotcha's"?

if you get one with a switch, make sure to get more ports than you need,
just in case.

If you want at least one computer to `see' the other, you have to put
them both in the same workgroup.  Don't forget to share the relevant
directories.

You'll also need a firewall.  Yes, there's probably one in the router,
but it won't hurt to have another on each pc.  www.zonelabs.com has a
free one called Zone Alarm.  I use it on all of my Win boxes.  Turn off
the XP firewall if you haven't already.


It's not a big project (at least until you try to DO it).  First get one
pc up, then worry about the other and the two talking to each other.