Home Networking
This is something we have set up in our house. This is the simplest way I found to share one phone line over multiple computers to share the net. The only thing not included is any recommendations to the software that you will need. One thing there is a lot of software out there to do this I will add a links page to some of the more popular ones. There is some graphics for operating system Windows NT, Windows 95, and Windows 98. The first thing you will need to do is to see what kind of slots are in your computers and which one has a open slot for a NIC'S (network interface cards). My recommendation for this is any PCI NIC (if your computer has one open) that conforms to the 100 MBPS specification. You can pick these up at any computer store and are relatively cheap the only thing that you need to be sure of is that these cards are NE2000 compatible. That is in case you have a non-pnp operating system (I.E NT). The next thing you need to consider is cabling. I recommend Category 5 UTP this is like phone cable but has 8 wires in it. If you have more than two computers then you will need a hub for this type of cabling. If you only have 2 computers then you don't necessarily have to have a hub (see crossover cable). If you prefer you can also use coax cable for this, the coax cable is different than your cable T.V cable it is slightly thinner. Even with more than 2 computers you wouldn't need a hub each nic would have a "T" connector on its BNC connector and each end (the first and last) of the cable run needs a 50 ohm terminator. Now that we got that done let us start installing the NIC'S and setting everything up. Power down your computer unplug everything from the back and remove the cover (if you have never installed a card I say have someone who has help you) find a open slot for the type of card you have purchased (I.E ISA or PCI ) and install it. If your operating system is Windows 95 or 98 the card should be found once you boot up. If your running Windows NT it’s a bit different click here. Now its time to set up the software for the LAN select your operating system below also the links to the software are there.