Easy router/networking instructions..? (plus other waffle)

Originally Posted by nightdevil

you will be able to network and have both pcs on the internet at the same time using the ethernet hub but one will be the 'main' computer controlling the connection while the other will be the 'guest' computer connecting through the main computer ..in order for the guest to be online the main computer has to be on at the same time... using a router resolves this problem as the router is connected to the cable modem rather than one of the computers and as long as the router is powered on then both computers will have an internet connection as and when they need it

to CF. That was my first thought, but I don't think it will work like that. The 'main' computer will get an IP address from NTL, but where will the second get an IP from? I think what you are talking about is ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). This would require two network interfaces in the main computer - one connected to the modem and one to the secondary computer, either via a cross-over cable or via the hub. (You only really need a hub if connecting three or more devices).

[nightdevil]

Originally Posted by JohnHorb

to CF. That was my first thought, but I don't think it will work like that. The 'main' computer will get an IP address from NTL, but where will the second get an IP from? I think what you are talking about is ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). This would require two network interfaces in the main computer - one connected to the modem and one to the secondary computer, either via a cross-over cable or via the hub. (You only really need a hub if connecting three or more devices).

yeah I know you only really need a hub if you are connecting 3 or more computers, and either way...using the hub or just using the simple network cross-cable you would still need 2 ethernet cards in the main computer if you wanted to connect the modem by ethernet too (which is always better) but you could connect the modem to the main computer via usb and then use the etherent to connect to the hub..remember his roomate has already bought the hub...ideally if it were me I would return the hub and buy a router but I dont know if that is an option in this case

True - hadn't considered the USB option. The hub would just be an unnecessary complication though - a cross-over cable would do the job. I guess it depends what the OP already has in the way of cables. I doubt the 'return' option is available if he bought the hub from a computer fair. Ebay might be the better option.

[nightdevil]

Originally Posted by JohnHorb

True - hadn't considered the USB option. The hub would just be an unnecessary complication though - a cross-over cable would do the job. I guess it depends what the OP already has in the way of cables. I doubt the 'return' option is available if he bought the hub from a computer fair. Ebay might be the better option.

not really an unnecessary complication cos he did say at the end of his first post that an option to add a third pc would be good...using the hub would allow that for the future and would mean that instead of when they got the third pc having to re-network all over again it would be fairly simple just to add and make the connection

Thanks very much for the various pieces of advice. I told housemate Matt that the ethernet switch won't work. I *had* actually researched what was needed (i.e. sought advice on this forum and received helpful information) and so printed out for him exactly what he needed to get. If he decided to ignore that advice, it's his look-out, and he can take the switch back and swap it for something that'll work. He paid £16 for it; for the sake of an extra fiver or so he could have got what I told him to get in the first place. (Although as he's even less technically clued-up than me, I can imagine how easy it would be to be swayed by some stallholder who started talking complicated-sounding IP talk at him. I imagine maybe that stall holder didn't even have a wired router to sell him and so fobbed him off with the switch)...