Wireless and networking... what's it all about ??

bgscotty

Hello!

I currently have a desktop pc, and my flatmate is going to purchase one within the next day or two.

I'm interested in networking our two pcs, but would welcome more explanation as to the benefits and advantages of doing this.

Basically, what is "networking" and why would I want to do it?

How would I go about networking the two pcs?

What equipment would I need?

I currently have a Livebox from Orange, which gives me 8mg broadband and VOIP telephone calls.

Any comments gratefully received.

Thank you.

Scotty

albertross_2

to share the internet connection and files/printers if you wish.

Get a wireless usb adapter, that's all you need

tomstickland

I'm not a fan of wireless. If you're both using desktops then why not use Ethernet (wires)?

bgscotty

tomstickland wrote: »

I'm not a fan of wireless. If you're both using desktops then why not use Ethernet (wires)?

Thank you for the suggestion.

Wouldn't there be a need for a lot of wiring as the two pcs will be in different rooms?

Or am I misunderstanding what you mean by "wiring"??!

Scotty

joshm_2

If your PC is connected (wirelessly or wired) to your Liveox then you already have a Local Area Network or LAN - it just has two entities at present (the router and your PC). The LAN then connects via the Livebox's modem to the interent, which is a Wide Area Network or WAN. If you connect another computer (wirelessly or wired) to the Livebox so that it can access the internet, then you will have networked both PCs (and your router).
Like the earlier response says, once you've got your network you can do whatever you want in terms of file/printer sharing. One of the simplest ways to set this up (lthough it's not without its pitsfalls) is to set up both PCs (assuming they are running Windows) so that they are members of the same Windows Workgroup.

masterthief

From what I know, you only need/want to network the two PCs if you want to fileshare between them quickly and easily (e.g. share music, photo, or video files). since video files (full length movies anyway) are often larger than the capacity on a blank CD (700MB) you can't just easily burn a CD and blank DVDs may be too expensive.

If u want to swap a lot of files it might be worth networking the two comps.

But if you (or your flatmate) has an external hard drive or 1GB or higher usb stick, this often meets your requirements without needing to network the 2 PCs (just use the external data storage to save files to and then trasfer them manually).

another reason to network is to share hardware such as scanners or printers, but unless you use them a lot, you can probs get by with one long usb or ethernet cable.


as for the earlier post on ethernet wiring - ethernet is just one cable (you can get retty long lengths) which plugs into the back of your comp (you should have a telephone-like port, but slightly bigger, next to your standard dial-up port at the back of your comp...........this is for plugging in an ethernet cable to connect to the web or to another computer orexternal device) so the 'wiring' is not complicated or time-consuming.

one disadvantage with networking 2 or more comps is that if connected to the internet,you can accidently leave the comps prone to more outside inteference - something to do with the setting you choose in order to create the network.

hope this helps - you'll probs get better advice later, I don't really network computers often, so am limited in being able to help/advise.

masterthief

pretty long ethernet cables can b picked up cheaply - I have one I use to connect my main music-mac to the internet to check for system and software updates every now and then. I run it from my comp to the modem a couple of rooms away, just plug both ends in and connect, then put the cable away after I've downloaded my updates (don't connect my music-mac to the net much 'cause I don't want the system to crash or ppl tto be able to nick my original tunes)