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Here are some basic
questions and answers in several categories. Check back often because we'll be adding more all the time. And make sure to go the Forums page to leave questions there that you can't find here. Why do I need a network at home? I just bought a second computer and want to network them. Where do I start? How do I share my new cable/xDSL modem with other computers? What's the easiest way to network two computers? How much is a homePC network going to cost? Where can I get more information on homePC networks? What are the main advantages of a homePC network? What is the privacy policy of homePCnetwork.com?
Hardware Questions My network isn't working..what do I do now? How long can the cables be in an ethernet and fast ethernet setup? Can I network a PC and Macintosh?
Software Questions What software do I need to network two computers? Answers Why do I need a network at home? There are many reasons, but perhaps the most compelling are: (1) share peripherals such as printers (a good laser printer will service the whole family for years and no more swapping diskettes with files to print); (2) share internet access by using one computer, one modem and one phone line to provide simultaneous access to the internet for two or three computers; (3) take advantage of all the latest network capabilities built into today's software including shared scheduling, shared databases (even simple ones for home finances) and games. In other words, if you've made the investment to have at least two computers at home, then you likely aren't getting the most out of that investment if you don't network the computers. And, perhaps even more importantly, you can save a lot more money once your computers are networked. The reason? Because a home PC network is one great way to share peripherals between computers...things like printers and modems. With a little setup it's easy to share a printer. Sharing a modem requires some special software, but still not a lot of money. And then, with one phone line and one connection to a local service provider, two or three people can be on-line at the same time. That may not be a big deal now that modems are $50-100, but once we get sucked into cable modems or ADSL modems (and you know we will), then we'll be talking $200-300 a piece and the $100-200 to set up a home network to share one of those will be very cost effective. back to top
I just bought a second computer and want to network them. Where do I start? There are several fundamental decisions to make when deciding to network your computers. If you want the "easiest" way to network your home computers, see the next FAQ. If you want to do this yourself, you should browse through our hardware section. You'll note that there are several subsections for each of the main technologies now being used or talked about for networking home computers: ethernet, phone wire, wireless and AC wire. But, in fact, for now, you can really put those in two categories. The first you might think of as "tried and true" and that's the ethernet technology. This has been around for a while, mostly for business use. But that time in the "technology curve" has dropped prices considerably and allowed outstanding performance to come to the home for a few dollars. If you are networking computers in the same room, we recommend you don't hesitate to go the ethernet route. Look at our reviews for some of the major manufacturers' kits that will help you get up and running in no time. If the computers are in different rooms or floors of your house, ethernet can be difficult because it does require a wire to run between the computers. Now, for those of you who have or can run wires in the walls of your house..go for it. For those of you who find this a "non-starter," then you'll want to look at what we see as the other major "category" which could be called "untested" and is basically new technologies that don't currently have any real standards. There are, however, several groups forming to help drive standards. We have updates on these in the respective subsections of our hardware page. The technologies were talking about include network systems that use your home's AC wires, your home's phone wires or, even, wireless. From what we've heard, some of these work OK, some work shakily and some are a real mess. HomePCnetwork will be testing and reviewing many of these new systems, so check our hardware page often. back to top
How do I share my new cable/ADSL modem with other computers? For the most part, you should consider this a two-step process: 1) Network your home PCs. You'll want to look at our how to pages (particularly the "Ethernet" how to) and our Hardware pages to look at Ethernet, Phoneline and Wireless kits. 2) Share your cable modem across the network. You'll find both software (often called proxy software) and hardware (often called router) solutions. The choice will be up to you. We've discussed software proxies (see our review on Winproxy, for example) and hardware routers (see our review of the WebBeetle, for example). We have not yet completed a cable or ADSL modem sharing how to because we have all "real world" information on our pages and we don't yet have access to either type of fast-bandwidth device in our area. You can, however, check our Feedback page and our Links page to find other sources of information. In particular, we've heard good things about the fast-Internet access sharing tips over at www.practicallynetworked.com. back to top
What's the easiest way to network two computers? That's an easy one...pay someone hundreds or thousands of dollars to come to your house and build one. BUT..for the rest of us who can't afford that, there are a couple of ways to go. If you seldom need to network computers (for example, you occassionally bring home a large file from work and it doesn't fit on a floppy), then you might consider the $15 direct cable connection option discussed in the How to section. That's what I use to connect my laptop for that occassional huge file that needs to be copied. Beyond that, there are plenty of Ethernet starter kits with supposedly good directionst to help you do all of the work yourself to install two network cards (NICs) in your computer and set up the hub and cabling systems. Look in the hardware section for reviews of NICs..both current and upcoming. Finally, you could buy the parts (cheaper than in the kit form) and build with our instructions (and/or others' instructions). Check out the How to section on Ethernet start up for a discussion of the parts to buy and how to install them. back to top
How much is a homePC network going to cost? How much do you got? Ha. Seriously, as you can read in the How to section, true networks can start for as little as $15. There are now kits available with two NICs, a hub and cable for about $100. And one company even came out with a 100Mbps ethernet kit for about $130. back to top
Where can I get more information on homePC networks? As far as we know and can tell, we are the only site DEVOTED to homePC networks. Nevertheless, we're also compiling the best source around of links to lots of other information on how to network home PCs. See the Links page for more. back to top
What are the main advantages of a homePC network? You've got two computers already (or perhaps you are about to buy the second), so why not get the most out of having two computers. And you really can't do that unless you have them networked. Sharing files and printers are two of the major advantages. You may not think you need to share files, but imagine that both a husband and wife (who have separate computers) work on keeping the household budget. With a network they could keep the file that contains all of the household budget numbers on one computer, but the other computer could access it...meaning pull it up on the other computer, work on it and then save it again back to the other machine. There are similar "sharing" schemes for printers, modems and other peripherals or computer accessories. You'll find that info all over this site. back to top
My network isn't working...what do I do now? Needless to say, this is a very complicated question and the answer is not going to be easy. There are so many different possible answers and, in fact, so many different avenues to pursue to even look for an answer, that we can't possibly cover them here. But we can offer some suggestions. First, if you can, look on the web site for your computer and/or network hardware. You can try their tech support phone line or e-mail, but you may find that frustrating. Instead, or at the same time, we suggest you look through our How tos, our other FAQs on this page and our message boards for possible answers. You can also perform a diagnostic procedure on your own, using the following steps: 1 -- Have you checked all of the obvious, but sometimes overlooked, things? Start with plugging and unplugging all cables. (You can unplug cables from the hub at anytime. Make sure to turn off the computer before unplugging cables from the computer). Try switching cables. We've had cables that worked in the past go bad on us so don't overlook that possibility. Make sure the hub, if you use one, is powered on. If you have another hub, try switching them. We've brought hubs home from the store and had them DOA (Dead On Arrival). One way to check all of this, again if you use a hub, is to make sure all of the diagnostic LEDs light on the hub and the back of the network interface card. Check your manuals or readme files for more. 2 -- Is the hardware installed properly? Most network interface cards come with some type of program that performs a local check on the card installed in each computer. Sometimes this is a DOS program that must be run outside of Windows and sometimes it is part of the driver. 3Com has one of the best driver/diagnostic programs for this. We've had cards refuse to work in one slot in our computer only to work just fine when we switched slots. Also, make sure the card is seated properly..all the way in the slot. 3 -- Are the network cards connected properly and is the connection working? This is trickier. Some network cards include diagnostic programs that allow you to make sure the connection is working. Again, 3Com cards have a great utility for this that allows you to send and receive "packets" of data between two machines using 3Com cards and the same driver. If you are using TCP/IP network protocols, you can also use the "ping" utility included with Windows95/98 and WindowsNT to make sure the connection is working. Also, try different connection "hardware" if you can to see if that helps spot the problem. For example, if you are using a hub, try a "crossover" cable (available at most computer stores) that allows you to hook two computers up without a hub. This can be very useful since we once purchased a new 3Com hub and found it was absolutely dead. When we replaced it, our network worked fine. 4 -- Check your software and settings. First, go to the web site for your network card and make sure you have the latest drivers installed. Then, on each computer right click on the Network Neighborhood icon, select properties and make sure you have the same protocols installed and that the same one is selected as the default. If you're still having problems, remove all the protocols except one and see if you can isolate the problem to one protocol or another. Also, make sure you have selected "File and Printer sharing" and checked the boxes to share both resources. Then, in Windows Explorer, right click on each drive on your computer and select teh Sharing option. Make sure to give the drive and shared name and Full access. 5 -- Don't depend on Network Neighborhood to see the other computer. Instead, go into the Windows Explorer and select Tools > Map Network Drive. In the address box that pops up, type in \\computer name\shared drive name. In other words, if you the computer name for the other computer is computer1 and you shared the c drive as "c" then type in \\computer1\c Your computer should work for a while, but then another drive should appear in Windows explorer and you should be able to share files, etc, between the two computers. back to top
How long can the cables be in an ethernet and a fast ethernet setup? With ethernet, the maximum length of a cable from a hub to a computer is 100 meters (or about 300 feet). With fast ethernet, the single cable length is the same. Also, fast ethernet topology rules require a maximum of two hubs on a segment and the maximum end-to-end distance between workstations to be 205 meters. Thus is you have a computer connected to a hub and then that hub linked to another hub and then finally the second hub connected to a computer, the total run of cable can not exceed that 205 meters without a switch that can expand that limit. Keep in mind that for both ethernet and fast ethernet, you should be using a type of cable called category 5. This is essentially a standard for the network cables and relates to how many "twists" of the cable for a certain length. Regular ethernet can make do on a lesser quality standard (category 3 is common), but when you upgrade to fast ethernet (and you know you will someday) you'll be out of luck unless you switch all your cables to category 5. Save the trouble and install only category 5 today .back to top
Can I network a PC and Macintosh? Absolutely. In fact, we've had at least one PC and one Mac networked together since 1988. You basically have two options: one is to put a Mac on an otherwise PC-based network OR put a PC on an otherwise Mac-based network. A few years ago it was much easier to do the later because (and here's a surprise for all of the Mac lovers) the Mac was years ahead of the PCs with built in networking hardware and software. Now that PCs have caught up, I think it's easier to put a Mac on a PC based network. We have an extensive "how to" on networking Macs and PCs. back to top
What software do I need to network two computers? Well if you are a Windows user (I'm sure there are some people out there who aren't..I just haven't met any), then you're in luck because Windows 95/98 has everything you need. Yes, this site is a bit biased to the Microsoft products. (For the record, we are not against looking at other technologies. We just feel that we are sticking with the "typical" homePC setup.) Anyway, all of the network "enabling" software comes with Windows 95/98 and probably was installed when you first bought your machine or installed Windows. The only other software you might need are the files required to run a network card that you'll install in your computer. These files, called drivers, usually come with the card on a diskette OR may already have come with Windows (the so-called default driver). Either way, you're covered. back to top
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