Help/Suggestions networking 2 PC's w/DSL

[acidosmosis]

I just rebuilt my old PC for my parents to use. I need to network the two PC's (mine and theirs) together and share DSL.

Obviously I need to buy a network card for their PC because it isn't built in like it is on mine. So that is one thing I need to do before I do anything else.

I need a DSL router. Please offer some suggestions on what kind of router to get and where (for under about $60).

Also, I don't have much experience on networking two PC's with a network cable + DSL router so any help on that would be great too. If you have any links for webpages explaining the process that would be very helpful.

 

[agissi]

I reccomnend Linksys and Netgear for routers..If I were you I'd get this.

Just install the network cards. Plug the DSL line into the router where the manual tells you to, plug the PCs into the router where the manual tells you to (its pretty obvious anyways). Then boot the PCs. If your PC doesnt auto config, boot up IE, and under the address bar put in "192.168.0.1". That'll hook you up to the router(for the router I mention above anyways). Then just have that documentation/manual handy, and setup the router I kno I hate following the guides and stuff too, but jacks and settings really varies from router to router.

 

[acidosmosis]

Awesome dude, thanks for the link and the info! That looks pretty promising. Unless someone has a better idea I'll probably go with that.

 

[Nodsu]

Yes, the DSL routers are very simple to set up and they come with instructions that could be followed by a blind chimpanzee so that getting the thing to work is no problem.

 

[Nic]

Just out of interest (I may be getting a router in near future), does anyone know if a router has its own MAC address?

The reason I am asking is that my cable company requires that I register the MAC address of my device before I can connect to their service.

If I choose to install a router, do I need to register the MAC address of the router (if it has one), or does each device (PC NIC) need to be registered also?

 

[acidosmosis]

I've never set up a router so I wanted to make sure I was going about it the right way. Networking is where I have the least experience of all.. well not counting Linux.. lol

 

[DigitAlex]

a router has a mac address, yes !
at least mine does

 

[agissi]

The router I listed does too

I think most do

 

[DigitAlex]

i simply guess that any network device does

 

[young&wild]

My D-Link DSL-504 does have one...i think its a standard for Mac support now a days

 

[Nic]

Thanks guys, a router it is then.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good router for a small home network, say 4 devices that can share an internet cable connection?

Not too bothered about cost as long as it's reasonable.

PS: Sorry for stealing your thread acid, but maybe you'll find this info useful too.

 

[acidosmosis]

lol nic, go ahead man

 

[Tarkus]

MAC address - Linksys routers can clone the MAC address of the computer so if you setup Cable or DSL before you add the router you can hook up the router and copy the MAC address from the computer to the router. I would suspect other brands also support MAC cloning.

 

[agissi]

Nic, the one I listed above (first reply) is ideal for a small home or office network...4 Ports

 

[DigitAlex]

i have a DSL router with only one lan port but it's ok
it has a dhcp built in server etc
also have a 8 port 10/100 switch and 3 machines
works great

 

[Nic]

Is a built-in dhcp server a useful feature to have?
What can I use it for?
Do I need it?

Do I need to install software to use a router, or is it transparent to my system?

That Linksys router looks good, and its cheap.

As you can tell, I've never assembled a home network before, though I do know a little about networking. I'll be studying networking soon, so this will be a good start.

Edit: That particular model isn't available in the UK, but there is an identical spec model that costs £50 ($75) over here. We europeans seem to get ripped off big time compared to the US.

 

[agissi]

Nic, I dont know about the dchp server, but if I were you I wouldnt worry about it.

You will need to install software for your DSL/Cable modem, but not the router.

 

[DigitAlex]

well here all my machines are configured to get the IP / netwmask / gateway address / dns addresses from the dhcp server which happens to be the router
as almost all of the machines have multiboot installs with multiple OSes it would be a pain in the *** to change and configure every OS. this way when i want to change something, i just have to chante it on the router
another very useful thing, when someone comes and connects to my lan (8 port hub), no need to check which IPs are available etc etc, the dhcp server handles all this so it's very useful, at least to me

as i said, my router is the dsl modem at the same time, so it's a little bit different. the router/modem connects to the internet itself and provides an internet access to all machines connected to the hub.

so my setup is kinda like this : internet > modem/router > hub > all machines

hope it helped a bit

 

[Nic]

I think I understand it all now, and will get that Linksys when I'm ready to install my network.

Thanks guys.