What all do I need for my Network...Please Read

J

Jasoco

Video Gamer/Collector
I need to set up a Network for our house to connect all our computers to my Cable Modem.

Here's what I have:
iMac with 10.2.3
GateWay with 98SE
Compaq with XP Home
Xbox with future Live account
Acer with 98SE

Now, the iMac will be connected directly to the router. The other PC's will not be, but what would I all need?

I am leaning towards the LinkSys Wireless Router my friend has. his is connected to both his PC and Mac and wirelessly to his Dad's PC and says it works fine.

What kind of Wireless cards will I need for the PC's? One of the computers is just messed up I am afraid it won't take a card. It has no Ethernet either. But we'll have to see. It is made in 1998 with Windows 98SE. The Gateway is a bit newer with 98SE too. The Compaq has XP on it and is from 2001 so it should be fine.

We want to set this network up as cheaply as possible. I want it to at least do the Internet. Windows to Mac file sharing would be a nice option but isn't really important. Just as long as we get the Cable Modem going to all of them.

Another thing is I will probably get Xbox Live later on so I'll want to connect it directly to thre Router as well.

How would I go about this setup? Thanks.
 
Well if you want to do it cheaply, then you probably don't want them all wireless. The LinkSys comes with a 4port switch and you have five computers, so if they are all wired, you will need a hub/switch. These are cheap (~$30). LinkSys sells wireless pci cards, they're around $60 (of course many others sell them as well).

So for the absolute cheap, buy the LinkSys BEFSR11 (~$30 on ebay, $60 new), if you don't need the xbox now, then you just need a nic for the Acer ($10-$20 new) and some ethernet cables and you're good to go. To add beyond the four machines, just get a cheap 4-8 port hub/switch (whatever you can find cheap) and you're still good to go. If you get the wireless router you can add wireless pci cards to the computers at an additional cost (I assume that the other computers already have ethernet).

One additional thing you can look at are wireless usb adapters (like for your Acer, assuming it has a usb port) that are around $60. For those machines with ethernet already you can add a wireless bridge if you don't want to add a pci card to your pc's, but these are not cheap (~$100).
 
No, the Acer actually has USB ports, but they aren't connected. The computer came out before USB was finished so the dumbasses put the ports on but no connections.

That pissed me off when I read on their site that the model doesn't support the USB ports.

Thanks for the advice. We have an Ethernet Card that came with the Cable Modem kit that we'll prolly use for the Acer.
 
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