Hey,

Im not going to do it yet but i was wonder if it is a good idea to make a small home network in my house. Im in a class on networking but, it doesnt really show me how to make one yet. Just kind of the stuff that i need. I dont really know what i would need for a small home network it would have around maybe 4 computers. If you guys have any help please let me know that would we awesome thanks.

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Hi,

It is very simple but you have first to buy a small hub/switch (not expensive about 25$) and as many cables as you need. And then you will have to do some configurations depending on your requirments.

I would recommend a wireless router and wireless nic's for the computers. Trouble with cables is they're unsightly, a job to hide and limit where your machines can be positioned.

You can get kits that use the existing mains wiring in your house. They are special plugs that include an rj45 socket in them.

now if i do this will it let me access the other computers from one computer. or limit users from doing things on one computer. Im sure it easy to share dsl in the house i know how to do that.

now if i do this will it let me access the other computers from one computer. or limit users from doing things on one computer. Im sure it easy to share dsl in the house i know how to do that.

Depends on what OS's your 4 computers are running and how they're configured.

well my laptop is running XP media which i think is the same as pro. the other 2 run on XP home. How can i find out the configuration?

xp home isn't to good for a network

xp home isn't to good for a network

?? Why not

I have run XP home happily in a network. I even had it exposed to the internet on several ports so I could connect VNC via SSH I never got hacked. Nothing wrong with XP Home provided you know what you're doing.

I mean if you're trying to really learn networking, home's abilities are specifically crippled. it can't join a domain for instance, and any mcsa course is about domain control

I mean if you're trying to really learn networking

Ah I see what you mean.

It is possible to join XP Home to a domain actually with TweakUI it was avalailable from Microsoft's site but they pulled it obviously, but you can still get it if you hunt around with Google. But this would not be helpful if you are trying to gain MCSE you need the proper versions for that.

my point exactly. for someone who is learning, tweaking windows, just to get standard functionality might be pretty frustrating.
and xp home in it's usual appearance can't do much except for simple internet surfing. it loses shares, can't join domains...
http://www.google.com/search?q=home+vs+pro

XP home is fine for home networks of less than 5 PCs

generally you need some NICs (network cards), ethernet cables and a switch/hub/router (depending on your needs)

uou can connect 2 computers directly together between the two NICSs (no need for a switch or anything) using a "crossover" cable. Standard cables are "Patch"

Oh, fix me if im wrong but we have three computers in the house they are sharing a internet connection through a router are they networked together so we can share files or alows people to run remote desktop from one machine to the other?

are all hubs USB? I need a hub so i can run a Ethernet cable from my host computer into my hub so my other computer NICs connect into my hub. But i see no hub that have a Ethernet ports on them i just finding USBs

are all hubs USB? I need a hub so i can run a Ethernet cable from my host computer into my hub so my other computer NICs connect into my hub. But i see no hub that have a Ethernet ports on them i just finding USBs

Thats a USB hub.

Look for something called a "10/100 ethernet switch" (or similar)

Oh, fix me if im wrong but we have three computers in the house they are sharing a internet connection through a router are they networked together so we can share files or alows people to run remote desktop from one machine to the other?

You cant do Remote Desktop on XP home (pro is ok)

in terms of networking,yes, but file sharing may not be set up though. It has a nice wizard so if it isnt, its easy to enable

If your computers are sharing an internet connection via a router, most routers are an ethernet hub also. So they are connected you just need to set up file sharing.

xp pro is for businesses. You say that it's better for home networking becuase it connects to a domain? think again. Why does he need to have a domain in his home? Stick to xp home, as it's good for home.

my router is a 2wire from SBC. If thats makes a different for sharing files.

xp pro is for businesses. You say that it's better for home networking becuase it connects to a domain? think again. Why does he need to have a domain in his home? Stick to xp home, as it's good for home.

On XP home you cant passwiord protect shares (wtf, 98 can do that....) which is why I use pro at home

xp pro is for businesses. You say that it's better for home networking becuase it connects to a domain? think again. Why does he need to have a domain in his home? Stick to xp home, as it's good for home.

the guy said he was studying networking

even if you study networking, there's not much use for all of the domain features, and he would have to get windows server and those licenses are expensive, and he really doesn't need it.

those liensec are valid for three months if you use the cd that comes with the usual book from ms curriculum. one per course. usually, that is enough to last about half a year after the course is long over

yeah my friend got the 180 day trial of server 2003 with 5 CALs when he did his MCSE

i can get a the license no problem from my school its nice.

when I did an IT class, here's what I've got/had access to:

DOS 6.22
Windows 3.1
Windows 95
Windows 98SE
Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Windows NT Server 4.0
Windows ME
Windows 2000 Professional SP4
Windows Server 2000
Windows XP SP2
Windows Server 2003 Standard
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
Wndows Vista Business
Exchange Server 2003

And a bunch of other cool stuff. I think the licenses last for ever.

no, these licenses cannot last forever. unless it was the school just burning illegal copies for you

OK here the problem. I ran the network setup wizard on my desktop, my gf laptop and my laptop. I shared a file on each computer. My girlfriends computer could see my shared file and add stuff to it, but my computer did not have her shared folder or my dekstop shared folder. With the desktop it had my shared folder but not my girfriends shared folder. If you could help me out. or if you dont understand this let me know.

we have a aliance with microsoft.

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