Internet Sharing

A hub is for file sharing. A router is for internet sharing. If you don''t want to get two network cards and use one of the computers as a router, you''ll need to buy a hardware router. They''re around $100 for a cheap one.

Ben


IcarusIndie.com [ The Rabbit Hole | The Labyrinth | Programming | Gang Wars | The Wall]

Yeah, your best bet is to either use a hardware router, or use the main computer as a router, with two network cards in it. I assume you want to share internet access so you can play games from all of them online, right? If all you need the net for is for the Web and other simple stuff, try the AnalogX proxy (www.analogx.com).

rm -rf /bin/laden

Ok, now for a real answer....

A hub will work perfectly (since your connection is only 128k). What you do is you just hook everyone up to the hub, all normal ports, no "WAN" or uplink or whatever. After that, go to the network properties for your ethernet card, and their should be a tab called "Internet Sharing" (I use win2k, I think XP should be the same, eh?) Just check the "Share this connection" box, and have everyone either get their IP dynamically (IIRC, Win2k has a DHCP server for the internet sharing) or just assign all their IP''s manually with XXX.XXX.aaa.bbb, XXX all being the same on all the computers. For this setup, you need two ethernet cards in your machine. One to hook up to the DSL/ISDN/whatever, the other to go to the hub.

It should be outlined in XP''s help file if you have trouble.

BTW, a switch is just a "hub" that has 10/100/1000Mbit per port, where a hub shares 10/100/1000Mbit with every computer connected. If you dont have alot of computers to hook up, a hub is more than enough.

A broudband router makes everything easier/faster, but you dont have to spend $100 to share your connection.

It''s easier on my macs