Ok, Sean gave you his list, now here's mine:
3 NetGear FA310TX 10/100 ethernet cards
1 Auto-sensing 10/100 hub or a 10/100 bridging hub
or a 10/100 full-duplex hub, depending on the
way you intend to use the network.
Oodles category 5 unshielded twisted pair patch cables,
color coded as Sean suggests, in various lengths
depending on placement.
On hubs:
I like sound of, price of, and tests of the various
NetGear hubs, but I don't own one. I own a
Linksys auto-sensing 10/100 hub which is ok
but no better. I own 3 of these Netgear NICs
and one Intel pro/100B (base TX), and I much
prefer the Netgears, and more bang for the buck.
You can get 'em for 22 bucks. There are LOTS
of excellent hubs out there, though.
You want an auto-switching 10/100 hub because
you will want to plug DSL into it, which is
going to be 10 mbits but you want it to
interface with the 100mbit network. If your
main network multiuser-at-one-time connection
will be over the internet, an auto-sensing hub
will be fast enough and the cheapest option.
The other options are faster for multiple users
at a time but much more expensive.
On cables:
Look in the yellow pages and call around to see
about getting the main wiring pulled by a pro
cable installer (network cable installer, that is).
Cost around $200 to pull cat 5 through my whole
house, including the cable. Run at least two cables
everywhere, you'll thank me for telling you that if
you listen and regret it if you don't.
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