NIC Cards

Ok, I may sound stupid asking this question but anyway I hope to get an answer for it.

What the different between an Ethernet card and a Network Interface Card? Are their uses the same or is there some funtions that can only work with either one type of the card only?



I'm thinking of buying one Router to network my 2 PCs, and what do you all think of this router, is it a good buy?
USR Router

Looks fine, but i recommend Linksys products since i've dealt with them extensively and because they have award-winning 24hour technical support. They have a similar product, the BEFSR41 which is similar to that, and i would recommend the Linksys LNE100TX Network cards.

I'm not quite sure about your question, over the years NICs have been dubbed ethernet cards as one in themself. Is there a difference?

a NIC (network interface card) is any card that connects your computer to a network.
So an ethernet card is an example of a NIC, but a modem could be considered a NIC as well as a fiber optic NIC.
btw, to network 2 computers all you need is either a cross over cable (thats just one ethernet cable between the 2 PCs) or a HUB, which tends to b quite a bit cheaper than a router, as its a less complicated peice of hardware, but there would be no difference in performance for only 2 PCs.

A hub and a router's specifications do not differ between 2 or 268 computers. A hub just shares the connection, while a router does much more than just share the connection. The router protects the computers because of it being a hardware firewall. You will also get extras like DHCP, DMZ Hosts, etc.

yeah exactly, so there's little point in splashing out the extra cash for a router over a hub when you're talking about a small home network

yes, you just need a cheap hub. there is no need to buy a router.

He doesn't even need a hub to network just 2 pcs, a simple piece of Crossover cable is all that is needed. Simply connect the 2 NICs together with this, that is all there is to it.

Of course if he gets a hub, then there is room for future expansion, or for higher performance on a larger network he would need a Switch, and finally for an internet sharing network with broadband connection a router could be useful.

Hope this helps

This is true, but as he said in his first post "i'm thinking of buying a router," which is why i suggested which router i find easiest to use. What will you be using the network devices for? Just file transfer? Will you also be sharing the internet connection between the computers?

Well, I'm thinking of a router cos this will allow me to have a hands on experience in setting up a network. ( I belief that the knowledge for setting up 2 pcs will be the same as setting up 3 or more pcs right? As this is my first time doing it). Also, using a crossover cable would not allow the sharing of my broadband connection right?

And if I were to do a printing, sharing of files or transfering of files on my remote computer, I will have to leave my host computer on right or is there a way not to leave my host computer ( the one that has a printer install and all other hardware install to) off as I am working on my remote computer?

well, partly...if you wanted to just have the printer able to be used, then you could buy a printserver for it, which would use another port on your router/hub. However, to access the files, the computer must be on.

Wake-on-lan.
Would still have to leave the computer on but it could be left to go into suspend/sleep and then only woken by access through the nic. Has to support Wake-on-lan on the motherboard and the nic has to have the feature. Usually enabled in the BIOS. But it does have to be in some state of "on" to be accessed as Phatman5050 says.