Im trying to set up a small network at home...im after gettin a belkin dsl router and a couple NIC's to start with.

Does anyone know what I need to connect the pcs to the router is it patch cabling or crossover cabling?

Also I want to link my adsl connection to the network through the usb modem. Will it work if i just leave it connected to one pc and then any other pc's can pick up the connection through the router?

Dont know if im in the right forum for this...but if anyone does know i would be grateful.

Tnx.

Im trying to set up a small network at home...im after gettin a belkin dsl router and a couple NIC's to start with.

Does anyone know what I need to connect the pcs to the router is it patch cabling or crossover cabling?Does the DSL router have network ports? If it does, then just use patch leads/cables to join the NICs to the router, connect the router to the phone line and you're away :). Usually if it's several computers, you'll be better having ports in the router, so it doubles up as a hub too.

Also I want to link my adsl connection to the network through the usb modem. Will it work if i just leave it connected to one pc and then any other pc's can pick up the connection through the router? Yes, that'll work too, but that would mean it's pointless to have a DSL router.

Alan

The router had 4 RJ-45 ports in it...so yeah i can directly connect...but wasn't sure on which type of cabling to use, but you have cleared that up thnx.

About the adsl connection....right i see...have to bear with me coz i am new to all this!

As I can connect my modem directly to the pc....do you think it might just be worth me puchasing a hub or ideally a switch instead of the router?

Therefore I can still set up the network I need and share the adsl bandwidth?

Does this seem ok?

Appreciate the help!

tnx.

As I can connect my modem directly to the pc....do you think it might just be worth me puchasing a hub or ideally a switch instead of the router? If the router is also an ADSL modem, which I assume it is, then you can actually forget about the modem and connect the ADSL router directly to the phone line. If it's not, then you should be able to connect the ADSL modem to the phone line and then into the router.

Therefore I can still set up the network I need and share the adsl bandwidth? Doing as I said above will allow all the machines connected to the router to access the Internet through the ADSL connection. The advantage of having the ADSL router connected directly to the phone line or through the ADSL modem is so that you are not depending on one machine to be on all the time for the other machines to access the Internet... you're able to access the Internet 24x7 on any machine.

Does that help you?

Just wondering, but how much is the Belkin DSL Router? And from where? :)

Alan

That is very helpful cheers for that.

The belkin router...best price i've seen is from jungle.com @ £49.99

site addy is:

http://www.jungle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductInfoDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=11209937000&langId=-1&itemId=11209937001

Im not sure whether it does infact have a modem inside...it isnt clear...even on the belkin site it doesnt say (www.belkin.co.uk).

I see what your what your saying about it being more reliable through the router rather than the switch, but if the router doesnt contain the modem then I think i may go for the switch kit that belkin offers on the jungle.com site.
The kit contains a 5 port belkin switch, 2 NIC's and two 5M cables for £50 which looks like a good bet.

Anyway if you are interested and do look at the sites then let me know what u think.

thnx for all the help!

actually just noticed on the belkin site this from the product page

"4-Port Cable/DSL Gateway Router
Belkin Part Number: F5D5230u4
Ideal for sharing a broadband Internet connection with multiple users as well as building your 10/100 Base-T Ethernet network, the Router connects to your Cable or DSL modem and your computers. It sets up easily using the breakthrough Belkin SOHO Networking software, so you can begin sharing Internet access, files, printers, drives and more. The Router also provides NAT firewall security from the Internet, which locks would-be hackers from your home or office network."

So it looks like you have to connect your existing modem to it....but as mine is a USB modem, this could be a problem as i dont it has any USB ports on it.

If it doesnt...you dont know if a tranceiver would work do you and if there are any?

I've just taken a look at it and found that it doesn't include an ADSL modem, so that complicates things. You might want to take a look at D-Link (http://www.dlink.com/) routers, as some of those include a modem in it.

Alan

yeah had a look at that site mate, prob is though im based in the uk so i need to find a uk reseller which shouldnt be hard.

Do you think if i went for that switch kit i was talking about earlier that that would do the job, as long as left a pc on (one with the modem attached) so that the other pc's could gain access to the net?

Switch kit link below:

http://www.jungle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductInfoDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=11212334000&langId=-1&itemId=11212334001

tnx.

Definitely... that would work, that's the setup that I have here now, but I'm currently looking for an ADSL router instead. I'm located in the UK aswell and finding a D-Link reseller isn't hard, I know Dabs.com (http://www.dabs.com/) is one company who sells their products, but you might be able to find D-Link products cheaper somewhere else.

Alan

ok mate I will check that out....just need to make a decision on which way to go now.

thx for all your help thats really cleared things up for me...if i come across a dsl router for a good price i'll post the site address on here

I've got my eye on D-Link DSL504 (http://www.dlink.com/products/broadband/dsl504/), since I think I can get it for £85 at a local computer shop... take a look at the review here (http://www.it-reality.co.uk/Reviews/DSL504Review/DSL504-Review1.htm). Looks basic and is low cost, but does the job. The price is much higher at Dabs.com, so just shop around for the best price.

Alan

yeah that looks quite tempting that one...i will get on that nxt wk and see what i can find.

If something comes up as i said before i will post on here...cheers for all that - top man.

As to the question of what type of cabliling to use. You want cat 5 patch cable. Crossover is only for similar devices. IE router to router, switch to switch, hub to hub.

tnx Dave I'll pick some of that up.

One more question Alan or anyone who may know....I have a BT home 500 adsl account.

It is a no-NAT service...therefore do u think it will not be possible to share the bandwith through a router, if not is there a way that i could?

Tnx

Alan you might find this link handy if you are still after that router

https://portal.f9.net.uk/supportpages.html?a=216&Example_Session=e8bdbe1924869a3a64fb2b0e5b074555

It is a no-NAT service...therefore do u think it will not be possible to share the bandwith through a router, if not is there a way that i could? I've sent you a PM with comments in it about this matter.

Thanks for the link for setting up that router. I'm currently still looking for a router, but may put it on hold for a bit until I get the time to look into it in more detail.

Alan

http://ebuyer.co.uk - the best retailer at the moment. Dabs has gone downhill and up in price over recent months.

Thanks for that Terry, their prices certainly are far cheaper than Dabs.com... I'm most likely going to order an ADSL router from their instead now :).

Alan

I ordere the Ellink 8 port router from Ebuyer but broke it so sent it back. I plugged in the 12v supply from the cable modem instead of the 7.5 for the router oops.

Right...ive now got all the Equipment... i bought the Dlink 504 adsl router, a couple of Dlink 10/100 NIC's and all the cable.

Ive spent the last couple of days tinkering with it all and have managed to share files and printers and most importantly the internet connection with no problem.

But when both the pcs are on (both connected to the router) if you try and restart or shutdown one of them...it freezes and comes up with a box talking about "Spooling Process" and then gives you the normal options "wait", "end task" etc. So I normally end task but then i get the blue screen of death and it all goes downhill as my finger aims for the power button!

However I find that it doesnt do this if say one of the pc's isnt on or if i temporarily disconnect one of them from the router. Now I am running Windows ME or one of them and Windows 98 on the other. Dont know if that makes a difference. But i am hoping to install Windows 2000 on both of them in the next couple of weeks.

Iam starting to think that I should perhaps just log out of the system instead of shutting down or maybe i should shut the router down before i shut the pc's down??

Can any of you help??

Thnx.

Right...ive now got all the Equipment... i bought the Dlink 504 adsl router, a couple of Dlink 10/100 NIC's and all the cable.Cool, good choice, I've just received my DSL-504 router today and it's all setup and working great... nice 'n' silver aswell!

Can't really help with the other problems as I'm not yet a Windows network expert :)... I work best with RedHat Linux servers.

Alan

Yeah it does look smart doesnt it....bit flash!

Still sifting through all the options using telnet, but it looks like a good buy.

Yeah i've heard of Red hat someone I know is thinking of changing over to that as its supposed to be solid...unlike windows!

But yeah no worries, sure i'll figure something out....cheers for all the help though and no doubt i'll be on here again with more Q's!

Cya.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and DUMP that Windows ME hunk and install a Real OS.

Windows ME was Never Meant to be in the first place.
When the Evil Empire came out with Win2K it was supposed to merge both the home platforms (Win9X) and the corporate platforms (NT Desktop and Server) into one OS.

However, at the 11th hour, some game manufacturers decided that Win2000 wasnt as compatable with their games as they liked and as a result, Microshaft decided to put one last version of Win9X out there and call it Windows ME.

They cranked the whole thing out as a quick hack. and then went to work on XP, which DOES merge the two lines.

(You'll notice that ME is no longer available and hasnt been for quite a while....they yanked it as fast as possible because it was junk)


Win2000 is a FAR better platform for networks than any ME will ever be.


(As far as Linux goes....be warned there is a Steep learning curve to it, even if you have used Command Line OS's before.

And unfortunately, I have to say, the members of Linux users groups, forums, and other resources--in MY EXPERIENCE have been Very unhelpfull, and in fact, downright nasty.)

I have to agree with the last comment - besides here at WHT where most people are very newbie friendly and don't bash you for making mistakes however stupid, I find that the hardcore *nixers who never quit slamming MS in an argument eat you alive if you ask something like "how do i move files in ssh" etc.

Well like i say i can see some formatting coming up here :uzi: and hopefully i'll have all the systems running 2000 next week.

With anyluck that will sort out any conflicts I have at the moment.

Cheers :agree: