Okay, I’m getting ready to move to Paris (tomorrow morning), and one things my girlfriend told me to bring was an ethernet hub (how romantic, right, we haven’t seen each other in six months, and she says, “Don’t forget the ethernet hub.”).
It’s only got one ethernet port, so what do I use to connect two computers two it? Do I have to buy an expensive router? I’m looking for a cheap way to hook two computers up two computers to one thingy.
Is it possible? I went to both Staples and Office Depot, and I found no ethernet hubs.
Your DSL router supports DHCP so you should only need a switch. Do a search for ethernet switches. Buy something with at least three ports. It should cost around $20.00 - 30.00.
Some older DSL modems need a crossover cable when connected to a switch. Why don’t you wait until you get to Paris and buy a switch? That way you won’t have to use a power converter on it.
Well… ideally it seems like you want a cheap router, but if not I’d go with a switch.
A hub is really dumb and sends whatever comes in on any port out all the other ports. That one you link to is only 10Mb too - I’d give you one of those for free if you weren’t in space.
A switch knows which port to send incoming data out of, and thus doesn’t waste other PCs time. With this or the hub, each PC would talk directly to the modem itself.
A router is yet another step up and acts as a smart interface to a network, basically allowing you to share access to one line. With this the PCs wouldn’t know about the modem, just the router.
With 1 days notice you’re not likely to find a super deal - just for examples I’ll leave these links:
A 100Mb (10 times faster than the hub you link to) switch for ~20$US
A list of routers, some of which I note are free after rebate.
On preview, what JimMacMillan says - he also gets bonus marks for remembering the power issue. :smack: