I just networked psycat’s and my computers, allowing us to share files, my printer and our DSL connection for only 30 bucks! Also, there’s no network cable routing or anything since it uses the existing phone lines in your house to network the computers, with no interference with your normal phone capabilities. We got the Linksys HomeLink phoneline network interface, which included both PCI cards, cables and software. The installation was simple and fast. If you’re looking for a cheap and easy way to network your computers, this is it!
My name is Vince, and I’ll be your network administrator today…
sk8r, she is upstairs and I am downstairs. I’d estimate approximately 30 feet.
Lux, I didn’t see anything that talked about Mac installation of the software. Although it didn’t say anything about it not being compatible.
There is that product – there is also the intel anypoint home networking adapter that works the same way. Personally I’m going to network together my 3 systems, one with a net card and 2 with USB to RJ40 adapters in the next week or so. I’ll be sure to let everyone know how it goes
Simply link the two directly. That’s what I did. I grabbed about 20 feet of twisted networking cable and plugged the NICs into each other. Simple for only two computers. I carry some of that around when I have a laptop too, in case I want to link up with another laptop user.
My computer (running Linux) serves as proxy and firewall, and is plugged into the phoneline, with the phone plugged into it.
Oh, and if you don’t have NICs, buy some or grab them from your workplace. They probably won’t care - NICs are incredibly cheap nowsdays.
If a deaf person can do it, how hard can it be? But I dont know where you got that package for $30.00, what a deal. I know it usually much more. ($100+).
I used a NetGear thing, it was $75.00 for 2 PCs, hub & wiring included. Pretty fast too. But both computers use the same power outlet so I don’t know if I can use your solution Demo.
I use RedHat for my Linux flavor. My gateway/firewall is just a 486 (and a Packard Bell at that) but it works wonderfully! You can find help on IP Masquerading, Proxying, and Firewall with IPChains (and more) at http://www.linuxdoc.org
I’m using a sorta unholy mix of RH6.2 and Mandrake 7. Thinking of going to Mandrake 7.1 or possibly Debian once I get a new hard drive (running on my spare after the death of my larger drive).
It is not difficult to set up the machine for proxying. All that requires is one or two IP chains. A readymade script is including in the Linux HOW-TOs which you may already have on your computer (or you can get them from linuxdocs.org).
A firewall is also the same thing. Specific IPchains that deny requests to certain ports from certain IPs, block fragments, and lock questionable activity. They aren’t hard to write once you’ve played around with it a bit.
I use Windows 98 SE and the internet sharing feature. My laptop will use it on the network at home, sees the “real” proxy on the LAN at work, and dials up if it can’t find a proxy.
What’s the advantage to using Linux? It’s free, that’s a biggie, and you can use a 486 instead of a Pentium.
Linux is highly configurable, and free. It comes with far more software - again free - then any Windows installation does.
No more guilty conscience at software theft! I can honestly say 100% of the software on my machine is legal.
Personally, I don’t like things automatically dialing up, but all the things your machine does can easily be done under Linux. And can your Windows 98 SE do proxying and firewalling on its own?
Nope, you’re pretty much open and naked when online and not safely hidden behind a corporate firewall.
If you want a really simple linux distribution, there are a couple of cute ones. Haven’t checked them out yet, but a friend of mine has been having a lot of fun with them. They come on one or two floppies, so you can run linux on any x86 PC you come across!
Mu linux comes on two floppies, I believe. Includes the kernel, some of the more common utilities, lynx, wvdial, and X windows!
Bring along a third floppy if you want a disk with say AIM or ICQ.
Pocket linux comes completely on one floppy. Includes the kernel, common utilities again (like vi) and wvdial.
Simply insert the floppy in the machine, and reboot into linux. Add /sbin/ipchains and you have a firewall/proxy on one disk.
Ouch. 1 mbps!
And if you are using ethernet cable, again, you don’t need any special software. Simply plug one NIC card into the other. That, you can do for free - and Windows already supports it.
Question, 1mbs even when using the phone at the same time?
In other words, does using your phone line for dialup mean that that either your 56Kbs modem will slow down, or your 1000Kbs network will slow down?
I think the phone at what, 10 kHz? and the 10 Mb network don’t “see” each other. I’ve heard an AM radio station on some of the RJ45 at work (No, I didn’t install it!) and that part of the LAN seems ok.
I have a simple network device which is pretty much just a cable which you plug into both USB ports. While it is not the thing to use if you are trying to hook up several dozen computers, it is just the thing for this type of application where you just want to connect two computers which are nearby. I carry mine with my laptop at all times as it allows me to connect to any desktop with USB.
There are several similar products Belkin F5U104, USBnet, Linksys, etc
