how to network

joebond,

Start by taking a look at these sites:

http://www.homenethelp.com/

http://www.wown.com/

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

They have excellent tutorials about how to build the type of network you want.

Your Compaq will probably need a Network Interface Card.  The Linksys LNE100TX ($5-15) is good, but any brand name will do.  And there are lots of good routers available.  Expect to spend $30-50. The Linksys BEFSR41 is excellent.  So is the D-Link 604.  Both very easy to set up, in fact, for what you want to do you really don't have to do any setup.  Linksys has a new router - the NR41.  Very good price ($30) and from a good name.

Message Edited by _Paladin on 11-17-2002 06:04 AM

Buy David Strom's "Home Networking Survival Guide"

joebond,

The equipment I mentioned is for wired ethernet.  If you want to go wireless, Linksys makes that as well.  Take a look at this: http://www.linksys.com/products/group.asp?grid=22.  The Linksys BEFW11S4 runs about $100.  Make sure you get an Access Point/Router, like the BEFW11S4.  Access Points (without the router) are also available but would not work in your case.  And if you go wireless, you would need at least one wireless NIC and maybe two if you want the D4500s wireless as well.

Is there that much of a diiference between wired and wireless? And is wired that big of a deal? (will I have wires running all over my house?)

 

Thanks.

Are these wireless routers? Or do I need to run wires all over my house?

 

Thanks.

I didn't realize that wired is that much faster than wireless.  I wanted to ask your opinion of the following devices offered for sale this week.  It is a D-Link (DFE-530TX+) for $5  and a D-Link 4 Port 10/100 Router for $30.  And I also need to network my office with 5 computers for a printer and a DSL line, what do you reccommend?

joebond,

"Is there that much of a diiference between wired and wireless?"  Depends on your point of view.  Wired is going to run much faster (between the PCs on the LAN) and there is no concern about interference from other 2.4 Ghz devices like there is in wireless.  And if you are comfortable running some wire, it is the preferred method.  In your case you will have a single cable running from the PCs to the router. 

Regarding speed, that needs to be put in perspective.  A wired LAN runs at 100mbps.  A wireless LAN runs at about 11 mbps.  But your broadband service is running at 2 mbps at best and probably less, so having that 100 mbps LAN is of little help surfing the web.

Of course, pricing on wireless is higher than wired, but wireless pricing is about where wired pricing was a year ago and is dropping.

joebond,

D-Link makes good equipment and you won't go wrong with their stuff.  I saw those sale ads too (Best Buy).  The DI-604 router is very nice and will do everything you want.  I installed one a week ago. 

For your office, I recommend you hire me.  Just kidding.

Linksys makes an 8 port router, the BEFSR81.  That would cover 8 PCs.  Routers typically have 1,4 or 8 ethernet ports.  And if you outgrow those 8 ports you can connect separate ethernet switches to the router to increase the number of ports.  If the printer is currently connected to a PC (it probably is) you can leave it that way and share it with the other PCs, as long as the PC the printer is connected to is powered on.  If  that is a problem, then you can add a print server to the mix.  Think of the print server as just another PC on the network and its sole job is to control the printer.  The printer would then be attached to it.

One word of caution.  Windows XP Home supports a maximum of 5 PCs in a peer-to-peer network.  Windows XP Professional supports up to 10 PCs.  That 5 limitation may become an issue down the road.

joebond,

Issue #1: Watch for a private message at the top of this Window.

Issue #2: Each PC will have one cable (about the thickness of standard lamp cord) running from the PC back to the router.  The router can be just about anywhere.  It would reside adjacent to the modem.  Some homes and small businesses have a central location where telephone service enters the house and all the station wiring goes back to that central location.  That would be a good place to put the modem and router.  In other instances the modem is adjacent to one of the PCs.  Then placing the router there and running a cable from that point to the second PC may make more sense.  Only you can decide how and where to run the cabling.  Depending on your home you may be able to run it in the walls.  Or perhaps through the ducts if you have that type of heating system.  When running the cable is problematic, wireless gets serious consideration.

i am in a similar situation as I have a new 4500 and I happened to purchase the Dell wireless router. I already have dsl but I installed it with an internal modem in my older pc which is still running windows 98. My new pc is running xp pro. Is it possible to hook the router to my old pc's modem or does the modem have to be stand alone? I haven't checked out the websites you provded yet but I'm having a hard time with the big picture of this whole thing. would love to hear from somebody with FastAccess dsl that has successfully accomplished a home network setup.....thanks!

kenkel,

If I understand you situation correctly, you have DSL installed into an internal modem in an older Win 98 PC.  You want to give the new D4500 access to the internet on the DSL connection.  And you have a new wireless router too.

You have two options. 

First, scrap the old modem in the old Win 98 PC.  Install two NICs, one in each PC.  They can be wireless or wired (I imagine the new D4500 has a wired NIC in it already). Connect the two PCs to the wireless router (either by wired or wireless). Get a new DSL modem and connect it to the router. Configure the network.  You're in business.

Second option.  Install two wireless NICs, one in each PC.  Configure them for Ad Hoc mode. Then install Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on the Win 98 PC.  You don't even need the router.  This option is more complicated and more prone to error, but will work.  ICS is part of all Windows systems since Win 98, so there is no software to buy.  To do this, the old Win 98 PC will have to be powered on for the new D4500 to access the internet.

My recommendation: scrap the old modem and use the router and new modem.  In the long run it will be much more stable and each PC will access the internet independently.  But it is obviously more expensive this way.  Maybe your ISP will provide the modem.

The three sites I mentioned will discuss ICS and configuring wireless in Ad Hoc mode.

kenkel,

Welcome back!

Since you are using the TN1184 as your internet gateway, you want to configure the Siemens wireless USB network adapter for infrastructure mode, not ad hoc.  Assign the preferred SSID.  You do not have to configure the channel, the wireless network adapter should figure out what channel the TM1184 is broadcasting on and conform to that channel.  The wireless network adapter will appear in the Win98 Network properties.  Configure the wireless network adapter for TCP/IP and the properties should be set to Obtain an IP Address Automatically.

it's been awhile but I wanted to post on this existing thread for the sake of all the other network-challenged dell owners.  Your assessment of my situation was right on.  I scrapped the OLD pc's modem and designated that pc as the one I wanted to setup with a 'wireless' connection.  The NEW pc is the one with the dsl connection and is cabled to the router (not wireless).

Hoping you can help me now that I know a little bit more since when I first got this system.  Hot on the trail of home networking, I purchased a Dell Truemobile 1184 at the time I purchased my 4550 desktop.  I have dsl (fast access) and went ahead and connected my router (I think I actually had a co-worker of my husband's do it) to my dsl modem and have been having no problems whatsoever since then.  I don't technically have anything networked.  I'm running WIN xp pro on NEW pc.  My husband occassionally is able to gt into his system at work using our home dsl connection - I think he is running win2000 for networks on his laptop. 

Ok - now on OLD pc, I am running WIN 98se and have installed a wireless usb from siemens (speedstream 1022).  I know I am SO CLOSE to a connection  but I'm just not there.  I have:

WEP disabled, ad-hoc mode and I've named the network so that the SSID is accurately set.  I've updated the channel setting to match that on the router, but I'm not getting anything.  In fact it indicates that I've picked up a connection but it does not resemble the one I want so I'm wondering if I've picked up a neighbors connection (still can't get on).

I've looked through the router config and I see gateway mode enabled, and DHCP enabled if that helps.

Can you help me get connected?

 

I de-installed all the 'old' dsl stuff from the old pc but I'm wondering if the windows network settings on either of my pcs is preventing me from using the truemobile connection.

ok now we're getting somewhere - i'm still not sure what I did - when i got back to the OLD pc it was indeed set to infrastructure (I've been playing with this).  ANYWAY I went through the other settings just to check them out.  Do I need to 'remove' other network components?  Just wondering.

When I went back to search for connections, up popped my wireless one!  I was so excited.  Now my problem seems to be weak 'link quality' (6%) and weak 'signal strength' (6%).  Maybe I need to move the pc to be in better proximity to the NEW pc?

Also once the connection looks promising, how do go about bringing up my dsl connection?  Do I have to do anything special or just bring up explorer?  I am a programmer analyst by trade but the network was always there before I ever sat down so I am LOST with all this connection/packets/wan/lan/dns/gateway/etc/etc/etc/etc stuff!!!

thank you so much for your help!