Wireless network advice

S

spadjie

New Member
Hi all,

I'm getting a new gateway pc at christmas and would like to know which is the best method to set up a wirless network.
I need both computers to be based on the network so i can print from any of them onto the same printer.
I would also like to access the internet (adsl broadband) from any of them.
From what i have already read, i have gathered that i will need a wireless adsl router and some wireless adapters (one for each comp on network?).


Does an admin computer have to be on to allow printing and access to internet on the other pc? Does the router have to be plugged in to one of the comps or none at all- allowing eithert pc's to the internet without the other being on?


Any advice willbe greatly appreciated as it is quite complicatyed to understand exactly what the network will allow.

Thanks.
 
Connect the router to the modem.
Connect cables from the router to the computer, or in your case if you want them all to be wireless, just setup your computers wireless with your router.

Configure your computers manually giving them an ip address unique to themselves and make sure they are all on the same settings as the router. Then, if your printer is network capable, set it up through the router also giving it an ip address so this makes all information sent through the router.

Then, you will have to have every computer and printer network capable and on the same workgroup so they can talk to eachother. If you don't have a network capable printer, just set it up on one of your computer and share it with all the others. It may sound vague, but if you need step by step, just let us know.
 
I Appreciate youve had a reply, thought you may want more detail

Take your point of presence location (literally where your ADSL connection comes in) and physically connect the cable, usually BNC microfibre, to your ADSL wireless router. (try & get a Linksys 4 port hub/router - circa £54) as mentioned.

This ADSL signal is now capable of being distributed via the router either through wireless or wired CAT5. Configure your router with a SSID (network name, dont use the default 'linksys' and enable WEP and a key. You should now configure each of your PCs (we'll presume there XP) for wireless connection. Ill assume your using PCI wireless cards (again match the equipment, so Linksys if you can), PLEASE NOTE either use the linksys wireless detection software or Windows built in software, NOT both. You will have to switch one off, otherwise it wont connect to the network properly.

So using the Windows wireless conduit (the stuff that comes with the cards, even the Linksys ones is poo) find your wireless network and access it, input the WEP key, (make sure you write it down) and connect. Once youve established a connection, do the same with other PCs. As for the printer, simply sharing it on one PC will effectivley share it with the others whilst there networked. However, if you want a more redundant solution and presuming your printer is a non network device , buy a cheap Linksys(lol I dont work for them honestly) USB wireless print server. This will allow you to make your printer wireless and thus it will be on your 'network' independant of the PCs' You can then add the printer as a network printer.

Talking of networks, lets talk IP addresses

Each device on your network needs an IP address to communcate. Think of an IP address like a post code, a IP address being a four octet numerical number. Each device on your network needs to be on the same subnet to communicate, so for example, if your router was 192.168.100.1 and your PC was 192.168.100.2 and your printer was 192.168.100.3 then that would be fine, however, if your router was 192.168.103.1 then that wouldnt work. Your ISP will have a forward facing IP address from your exsisting router outwards towards the internet, something like 72.50.105.10. However, simply configure your new router to use DHCP and configuer your clients to retrieve network information via DHCP (where appropropriate, more applicable if your using CAT5 cabling and a domain) DHCP automatically assigns IP addresses for you and makes it very easy

Google is your friend, theres some great networking guides for beginners, also the 'for dummies' series of books published by IDG are also very good. (no offence by the way lol)

Hope that helps
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

So will i need two wireless usb adapters #(one for each computer)?

What is this bnc microfibre?,

Can i not just plug a filter into the router. Then attach the modem to the filter and thyen plug my phone line into the spare socket in the filter.


Thanks for any replies.
 
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