newbie question about routher, hubs, etc

[RB]

What is the functional difference between a hub and a router?

What is the functional difference between a router and a networking switch
unit?

 

[Norm]

Networking 101 at http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/basicnetworking/

 

[Stacey]

What is the functional difference between a hub and a router?

What is the functional difference between a router and a networking switch
unit?

Simple explaination.. A hub and a switch do basically the same thing, tie
computers together. A hub is a dumb conection that sends every packet to
every machine. A switch learns where to send each packet so there is less
traffic. On a larger network this is a good thing.

A router is a device you place between a network and the internet to act as
a firewall and to provide a single IP address for a whole network so
several computers can use the same single outbound conection.

Many routers have a built in 'switch' so you just hook the modem to one port
on the router and the PC's to the other ports on the router.

 

[RB]

Great answers. Thanks. The beginner's networking web site was super info,
and the simple explanation given in the next post fit right in, too.