Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dave Taylor who wrote (3637)	11/21/1998 5:46:00 PM
From: Spots	Respond to of 14778

>>My son would like to network his 2 computers ... Get one of the fast Ethernet starter kits, which consist of two 10/100 Ethernet cards and a 100mb hub. There are several to choose from, notably Linksys and Netgear (from Bay Networks). Both are excellent. There are others also excellent, but these guys seem to be willing to cater to the home market. Check current features specifically against what you want. These things change from month to month. Based on now several-months-old market analysis, I would personally buy Netgear. However, I have a Linksys hub and Netgear network cards, mainly because I needed the ability of the hub to autosense between 10 and 100 megabits because of older equipment. At the time, Netgear did not have a reasonably priced auto-sensing hub. Now I see that they have one for under $200. I cannot emphasize enough, though, that you should check current offerings. All major manufacturers have web pages describing their products. Check out Linksys, Netgear (Bay Networks), Intel, 3Com, Kingston, Cisco (great stuff but high end--maybe they now have a home consumer line, I dunno), HP, and I'm sure others I don't know about or can't think of. Anyway, all of these offer top-notch products; you should check them out for what you want matching your budget and requirements. DON'T get a 10mbit network. That technology is rapidly becoming a major underperformer. 100mbit will total in the neighborhood of 100 bucks more to start with and very small increments to expand, if necessary. Anybody running 233/350 will not be satisfied with 10 mbits. Good luck.

To: Dave Taylor who wrote (3637)	11/21/1998 6:04:00 PM
From: Clarence Dodge	Respond to of 14778

Dave My son would like to network his 2 computers anandtech.com has recently posted a good 2-part Introduction to Networking article which goes over your options pretty well. I would agree with Spots to go with a 10/100 Fast Ethernet Kit. If yours sons network will consist of only two machines for the near-term future you could also,so I understand, dispense with the hub until another machine is added and use what is called a crossover network where the machines are wired directly to each other. This is all covered in Anands networking primer... your son should check it out. Clarence