On 4 Oct 2001, at 17:52, Cal Peters wrote:

> I am in the process of setting up a 3 machine peer-to-peer
> ethernet network. I have Win98 installed on all 3, and would like
> to be able to provide for future high speed internet access.  Do I
> need a hub and a router, or just a router?

  It may be possible to connect more than two machines without a hub,
if you use coaxial cable and "T" connectors.  There are a number of
problems with this; perhaps the easiest one to explain is that since
coax Ethernet is limited to 10 Mbps, most Ethernet cards that offer a
coax connector support only this speed.
  The preferred approach is to use "Cat 5" (or "Cat 5e") cable with
RJ-45 connectors (look very like an RJ-11 telephone connector, but
larger), and you need somewhere for the other end of each cable to
go.

  That would usually be a hub, for a simple isolated network.

  For a bit more money -- less all the time! -- a hub can be replaced
by a switch.  A hub is like the old telephone "party line", or CB
radio, where everybody takes turns using the same shared channel.  A
switch works more like modern telephone service, where each
conversation is limited to a connectin between specific machines --
and so several conversations can be going on at once without
interfering with each other.


  When you come to connect to the Internet, you will need a
"gateway".  That *could* be one of the peer machines, suitably
equipped and with special software, or it could be a special-purpose
device like a router.
  A few very nice devices for home and small-office use combine a
small hub or switch (4 or 8 ports) with a router, in a single unit.
You might want to consider such a device.

Dave Gillett

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