Re: First Home Network questions

See http://www.homepcnetwork.com/index.htm?faq1.htm for general advice.

For your router/hub, make sure you get one with a good built-in firewall,
not just NAT - I like the NetGear FVS318.

No, you can't attach your firewire HD to the hub - you'd need something that
could be network attached for that (NAS, which would prolly be overkill for
you). Just share the drive from whichever machine it's attached to and
access it across the network. It will be slower, but shouldn't be
prohibitively so.

Re wireless - make sure you get something with good security - the Cisco
Aironet products are more expensive but are worth it. You don't want to get
any uninvited guests on your network.

Travis Pupkin wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm on the verge of setting up my first home network. I have a PC
> running W2K pro and have a notebook arriving next week with XP Pro.
>
> I know I'll have to switch from my PC's internal DSL modem to a
> router/hub, and then I'd eventually like to set up the notebook to
> connect to my LAN wirelessly.
>
> I also have a firewire hard drive currently connected to my PC. Is it
> possible to connect my firewire hard drive directly to a network hub,
> so I can easily access it with my notebook while my PC is involved
> with processor-intensive tasks? Or would that even matter? I assume
> that if the drive is connected to my PC and the PC is busy, that
> would slow down my access to the drive. Am I wrong?
>
> Any other problems I might experience with this configuration of 2000
> Pro > XP Pro over a wireless LAN?
>
> Thanks.