At 13:12 10/25/01, Brian L. Sanburn wrote:
>I've decided to setup a home network.  I currently have one
>(Win98) computer hooked up to the internet via the @Home, cable
>service. I just purchased a D-Link 704 router so that my second
>(Win95) computer can access the Internet, too.
>
>On the one hand I've read that I need two NICs in the Win98
>machine, one in the Win95 and a router, and in other places
>just a NIC in each PC with a router; I need MSs ICS setup on
>the Win98SE PC and in other places I've read no such thing.
>So, needless to say, I'm confused.  Since I run DHCP on the
>Win98 PC (that has Internet access) it makes sense that I set
>up the router the same way as it would now be doing the
>interacting with my ISP (@Home).
>
>And wouldn't I disable WINS, have my PCs obtain an IP address
>automatically (from the router) and have no gateway listed,
>on both machines?


You only need two NICs in one of the computers if that
computer is running ICS. Since your router will take the place
of a computer running ICS, you only need one NIC in each
computer. No ICS. Take out the second NIC from your Win98
machine.

So connect each machine (using straight through CAT5 cables)
to one of the four 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports on your D-Link
router. (The cable modem goes to the one 10 Mbps port on the
router.)

Configure each computer to obtain an IP address automatically.
As you said, there's no need to run WINS and no need to enter
a gateway address. Each computer will be a DHCP client, not
a DHCP server. Your router is the DHCP server.

In case any other reader wants to check out the D-Link 704,
go here: <http://www.dlink.com/products/broadband/di704/>.
 From this page: "Client machines require no software, simply
set them to accept a dynamically assigned IP address and reboot.
Each time they are powered up the DI-704 will recognize them and
set their IP address to instantly connect them to the LAN.".
In most home cases, the LAN is the Internet.

Regards,
Bill

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