If you've always wanted to blow your siblings up in Quake II...Aug 14 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Home networks can range from two computers connected with a cable to eight or computers connected to a single Internet connection. Several years ago, I helped set up a home network. It was fairly basic – three Windows 95 PCs connected to a 10-Base-T hub. There was no dedicated server, and if someone wanted to use the Net, he/she would simply use a modem to dial out to an ISP. Today, things are different. My home now has up to eight PC’s running a variety of operating systems (Windows 98, NT, 2000, etc.), and they all connect to the Net through a server which then dials out to an ISDN line (cable and DSL are not available in the area, but we plan to upgrade the system to cable). Home networking is both a convenience and a lifesaver. The first important step in starting a network is to have Ethernet (or Fast Ethernet) network cards in each computer to be on the network. Most network cards today are simple to install, and fit into a PCI slot or USB (Universal Serial Bus, most new PC’s have this) port. PCI cards are usually faster, but require opening the PC, and may take up IRQ’s and other resources. Most PCI cards go up 100-Base-T (Fast Ethernet), which means that the card can transfer 100 megabits per second (Mbps). They also support the slower 10-Base-T (Ethernet), which means 10 Mbps (for compatibility with slower networks). USB network adaptors usually transfer at the 10-Base-T rate because of the bandwidth of USB. There are USB dual speed cards, but they do not usually go up to the full speed. USB cards are easier to install and do not require opening the PC case. Older network cards connect to an ISA slot, which is slower and a lot more of a pain to install. They require setting resources manually (via jumpers on the card itself) and do not usually support Plug and Play. The next step in installing a network is to set up the cable. In most cases, the length of the cable does not matter (unless you live in a large mansion, in which case Fibre Optic may work better). Each PC needs to have a network cable leading from the network card to the hub, which would be in a centralized location. There are many creative ways of running the cables from each PC to the hub. Some ideas include under the carpet, above the ceiling, and through the walls. When my family had the carpets re-done, they requested that the network cable was re-routed before laying the new carpet. Before then, we had to use a hollow broom handle to place the wires, routing wires under narrow stretches of carpet. The problem with that was that the nails in the carpet damaged the network cable. If cabling is a problem, it may help to go with phone-line or wireless networking. These systems are usually limited in speed, but speed is not critical for sharing a web connection or blowing family members up in network games. Phone-line and wireless networks also come in either internal or external configurations, but they use a different method of communicating instead of a hub. Wireless networking is also more expensive than the traditional Ethernet. They usually go up to about 11Mbps. For Ethernet networks, a hub is required for three or more computers. Two PC’s can be easily connected using a special cable. Hubs can come in various varieties. Most “beginner” networks use a simple 10-Base-T speed hub. They only go up to 10 megabits per second, but dual speed network cards can work with these without a problem. The next step up is a dual speed hub, which supports both 10 and 100 speeds. The hub automatically determines the correct speed to connect to each computer. One of the main reasons that one would want to create a network is to share an Internet connection among several computers. The system that I use at home consists of 6-7 computers connecting to a dedicated Internet server. Before the server, one of the “workstation” PC’s had the net connection, which meant that whenever the computer crashed (which was the case with Windows 98), the net connection would go out. To share a connection, the server system must have special software. One such example is Wingate, which is powerful and works as well as (if not better than) Microsoft’s Proxy software. Alternatively, one can use the Internet sharing software built into Windows or a router. Besides Internet sharing, networks are also great for playing network games, such as Doom and Quake II, and sharing files and printers. Most games use the IPX protocol, which can be enabled in the Network section of the Windows control panel. Most newer games and Internet based games require TCP/IP, which Windows usually sets up automatically. With TCP/IP, each computer requires a unique IP address. Unless DHCP is installed on the server, each PC must be assigned unique IP address. One system would be 192.168.0.1, while the next would 192.168.0.2 and so on. Each computer also needs a unique computer name if File and Printer sharing is used. File and Printer Sharing is useful if one computer has a printer, and others need to print to it, or if someone starts a document on one computer, but needs to finish it on another (and then print it over the network) Laptops can also be incorporated into a home network, which helps to synchronizing data between a desktop and a notebook. Notebooks can be hooked to a network with either a USB network connector (if the laptop has USB ports) or a PCMIA card (most laptops have this). As for my refrigerator, I have yet to figure out how to connect that to the network, but I have almost got my stereo on the Internet  |
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