HomeFree install experience from Seattle Times
Home networking is still a (lot of) work in progress
Getting a high-speed Internet connection with a DSL (phone) or cable modem immediately gets you to thinking about home networking your personal computers.
When the Internet boom began, home networking went through a brief flare of interest. Various methods were available, including running the network over your home's electrical system.
There were two problems. Setting up the network was an exercise in self-flagellation. And if you got it to work, the network usually was excruciatingly slow.
Now home networking is making a comeback. All you need do is drop into a CompUSA or similar outlet and walk down the rows of Ethernet cards, cables and hubs. These used to be the domain of guys with ponytails and screwdrivers down at work. Now we're all getting sucked into this bizarre little world.
The reasons are obvious. First, computers have gotten so much cheaper. Many households, especially those with students, now have two or more PCs.
Network sharing of files makes a lot of sense for family projects, and where mom or dad is a proofreader for school reports (or each other). It also helps to be able to back up precious data over a networked computer in case one goes down. Between real work you can play multi-user video games. You can share a printer.
And everyone can be on the Internet at once, rather than having to fight over a telephone line.
If the speed issue has cleared up, however, the simplicity bugaboo is still with us. For home networking to really catch on, it will have to become much easier to do.
It seems obvious that whichever computer manufacturer makes networking a no-brainer will sell lots more PCs than the next guy. Several are working on it, but none has quite made real networking "plug 'n play."
For the past week I have been trying to set up a home network built around Diamond Multimedia's HomeFree, which is designed to work over your home phone system. Diamond sells a kit for $99 that will connect two PCs together.
I was aided in my mission by Compaq, which sent me a Presario 5600i to test. The Presario is designed to be networked. It comes with HomeFree-compatible software, a DSL modem, a standard modem, and an Ethernet port for a variety of networking options.
The first challenge was to install one of the HomeFree boards in another computer so it could communicate with the Compaq. I had on hand a test model of a Dell Dimension XPS T500, about the fastest PC currently available.
Installing PC cards is a pain. Getting the case off, finding a free slot, fiddling with tiny screws. This alone is enough to deter the average sane person. It could be so much easier, too, if the industry made hardware configuration a high priority.
I installed the card in a free slot and turned on the PC. I expected a dialog box to pop up telling me Windows had detected new hardware. None appeared.
A search of the installed devices and a call to Diamond support confirmed that the card was not being recognized. The Diamond technician suggested freeing an IRQ. This turned out to be poor advice (another problem in the PC industry), since Windows 98 should have recognized the board even if it lacked an IRQ.
I tried switching the board to another slot on the Dell. No dice. I tried a second board included with the HomeFree kit. Nada.
A Dell support technician suggested I try a different PCI board. Luckily I had a spare video card in my arsenal of test equipment. Windows 98 recognized it immediately on boot-up.
It was looking more and more like there was some deep incompatibility between the HomeFree card and the Dell. I tried one more test, installing the card in the Compaq. Bingo! Up came the dialog box stating that Windows had found new hardware and asking if I wanted to install drivers.
After several days of fiddling and hours of talking to support technicians, I had my answer. Somehow, a leading PC brand and a leading home network kit were incompatible.
Only in the PC biz. It was time for Plan B, which I'll discuss next week.
User Friendly appears Sundays in the Personal Technology section of The Seattle Times. Paul Andrews is a member of The Times' staff. Send e-mail to: pand-new@seatimes.com.
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