Home networking

On 26 Jun 2005 12:32:22 -0700, A strange species called "pgjonesuk"

What kind of broadband are you getting? Cable or ADSL? I take it you are in the UK?

If you are thinking of Cable, if it's Blueyonder that is good. If you are in an NTL region though, I'd advise you to avoid it big time. If you are going for ADSL you have numerous choices. There is lots of compebreastion.

If you are not using a router then one of the systems will have to connect directly to the broadband modem. The other computer will need to connect to the internet through the first computer directly connected to the net. This means for the second computer to be able to connect to the internet this way, the first computer will always need to be switched on.

I also ruled out a wireless broadband system two years back because it was too expensive at the time, and a wired one was easier to configure. I believe costs have come down quite a bit now for wireless broadband so you may want to double check into this.

It would be a lot easier IMHO for you to get a router. If you are getting broadband via ADSL you can get a combined ADSL modem-router. These are quite cheap now. You can get 4 port ones for future expansion, or you can get ones that come with an ethernet and usb connection so you can connect one computer through ethernet and one through USB.

Yes they should be able to.

At the moment I have two machines. One XP Pro the other Windows 98SE. They are both set up to connect to a 4 port ADSL modem-router to share a 1MB broadband connection. I also have the computer connected on a network. I can access anywhere on the Windows 98 machine. The Windows 98 machine can just access one of my CD-DVD drives, as well as the shared folders. The 98 machine doesn't have a disc drive that works, so it accesses mine if needed.

It isn't too difficult. You should be able to do this. I would advise against connecting via USB for a Windows 98 machine. Connect the 98 machine through Ethernet. I think both on Ethernet would be a lot better than a USB connection.

I went to Practically Networked for a lot of help when I first set everything up how I wanted.

HTH

John