[Ham-Computers] Setting up home network

[Philip Atchley]

Hello Duane,

Before I ordered the DSL, I very carefully checked all the hardware 
requirements.  There isn't any problem with either machine in that 
area.  This one greatly exceeds their suggested "minimums" of a 166 MHz 
Pentium with 64 MB RAM (this is a 600 MHz Pentium III with 256MB).  
Rachel's "Email Machine" is a 200MHz Pentium II with 64MB, so it meets 
or exceeds the minimums. 

I could have BOTH machines tied to the router and access the Internet 
directly, but I plan to set it up so that my machine is the "server" and 
Rachel's machine is a "Work station".  That way everything will be first 
routed through my firewalls and virus scanner before she sees it.  That 
also lets me virus scan her machine etc remotely.  I did that last night 
and with my machine scanning her machine remotely it went so much faster 
than when I scanned it directly from her machine (guess it relieves her 
slow processor of a lot of work).  The two machines are tied together 
with what is called "fast Ethernet" ports, 100MBs vs the older 10MBs.

Anyway, there are still a few bugs to be worked out in the networking, 
but it's working.  The DSL service won't be activated until the 20th of 
this month, at which time I'll have to change the Email settings.

I got a couple nice Emails from Aaron Hsu giving me some tips. I told 
him I didn't understand how SBC could offer the "DSL Express Service", 
which is one grade higher (faster) than their entry level DSL service, 
for the same price as dial-up.  He said he has the same service and 
basically it doesn't cost SBC any more to offer the DSL than it does 
dial-up.  You need a modem for either service, and  effectively this 
relieves the load on the regular telephone lines as you're not tieing up 
a line.   Since SBC is the telephone company, that makes sense to me.

Yes, I have firewalls in place, effective virus scanning and a hardware 
router.  On top of that. SBC has quite effective virus scanning in place 
on their end.  Since I've switched to them I haven't seen any viri come 
through at all as it's all scanned at their server also!  But like they 
tell you, you still need to run up to date virus scanners on your own 
machine.

73 de Phil  KO6BB


Duane Fischer, W8DBF wrote:

>Phil, 	
>	
>You need to tell them this is a 600 MHZ macine, and tha tyou have a ton of
>software running constantly in the background.	
>	
>Your present software for virus and firewall won't be adequate, a router is
>critical. Thsi is not an easy set up with your two very different systems. yo
>may be opening the door to destruction.  
>
>----------
>From: Philip Atchley <beaconeer at sbcglobal.net>
>To: Computers <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [Ham-Computers] Setting up home network
>Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:04 PM
>
>Hello,
>
>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 
>decided to take them up on it. Since all I've used for the past 6-7 
>years is dial-up, I have a couple questions at least one of which I'm 
>sure customer support wouldn't be able to help with.
>
>1.  Since it's higher speed than regular dial-up, and uses the phone 
>lines, I'm certain that that it must operate in the LF RF range.  Does 
>anyone here know approximately what frequencies the DO use for DSL 
>service.  I suspect it may affect my LF work (longwave beacons) at least 
>to some degree.
>
>2.  They include a "starter package" for the cost of shipping.  This 
>includes the DSL modem, software etc.  They state that some computers 
>may require the installation of an Ethernet card (they're pretty cheap 
>now).   I KNOW that mine will need it.  They also offer a "Wireless Home 
>Networking kit" 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).
>
>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.
>
>4.  Is there anything special I need to look for in a router, in other 
>words, any "gotcha's"?
>
>73 de Phil  KO6BB
>
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