I’m trying to set up a 3-computer home network. I’ve tried to educate myself through J Helmig’s home page and zdnet, but I’ve been a slow learner. My first try was unsuccessful, but there are a few things I need to try before giving up.
I do havesome basic questions, though. I have a broad band cable modem (3com) at home that I use to connect with a static tcp/ip, allowing connection to our university network from home. My main computer has Windows XP Pro, one 10/100 NIC that I use to hook up to the hub, and a USB that I use to hook up to the cable modem. I bought a 4 port 10T hub. One of my laptops also has Windows XP Pro.
1. The cable modem also has an ethernet RJ45 connection. Do I need to buy another NIC and hook up through it, or does it matter?
2. I bought the 10T hub a day before I found out I could have bought a 10/100 switch from somewhere else for a little less. The salesman told me that 10T was more than I needed at home, though, and I believed him (10 Mb/s is faster than what I think I’ll ever need). Is that so, or are there other considerations?
3. I imagine that when using my main computer as the gateway and hooking it up to my local network that my ISP won’t detect my local network. Is that so? I know that my isp only allows one computer to connect at a time, and that when I change computers, I have to wait 4 h before connecting another computer to the internet through the cable modem. I read an answer to another question, though, that suggests that I’ll have to buy a cable modem router (more stuff to learn and buy) to connect the cable modem to the hub, if I want to hide my home network. Is this the best way?
Thanks beforehand for the help!
David
