HOWTO: 2 PCs and 1 eircom BB connection

Morpheus

Can anyone tell me how would i best connect a 2nd PC to my (standard, not wireless) eircom BB router?

causal

Have a peek at this thread

JoyPad

Throw in more details, and you'll get an answer tailored to your needs.
When you say standard eircom BB router, is that the Netopia 3341? If it is, it should have an Ethernet port as well as a USB connection.
I guess you already have your 1st PC connected to it. Is it connected via USB or LAN?
Does your second PC have a LAN card or not? What operating systems are your PCs running? How far apart are the two PCs?

A possible answer for you would be: buy a cheap USB cable and connect your PCs, then activate WindowsXP's Internet connection sharing on the PC already connected to DSL. But then again, your PC#1 might not be running XP, or you might not have available USB ports.

Cheers,
JP

davidoco

I share a bb eircom connection using the netopia to two computers using network cards and a 3com office connect switch. cheap as chips and simple to set up just plug and play really. also you don't have to worry about leaving either pc turned on. you just have to leave the switch and modem on.

Morpheus

davidoco thats exactly what im looking for, I need the BB available to whichever PC is switched on at the time. I leave the BB box turned on 24Hrs a day but switch off the PCs.

its the netopia BB package that i have.

2PCs P4 and P3, P4 with NW card, P3 with old standard modem.

both running XP SP2.0.

What do i need to buy and how do i set it up??

quazzy

Morphéus

I Think you have 2 options.


Option 1)
Plug P4 into Netopia via LAN Cable and Use the USB Cable for the P3

---

|Netopia|---LAN CABLE

---

P4 (Lan Card)
| Combi |---USB CABLE

---

P3 (USB Port)

---

Option 2)

Buy a LAN Card and a small Switch (40 euro ish)
Install Lan card on P3 PC.
Plug Lan cable from Netopia into Switch
Connect P4 and P3 (with new LAN Card) via the swtich

Netopia

---

LAN Cable ---- 4 port switch ---> 2 LAN cable for 2 PCs


Hope it helps

Quazzy

causal

I'd suggest a gateway/router, rather than a switch, particularly as you said you're going to be leaving your modem on all the time.

It's a bit more pricey and there's a little setup required, but there's security with built in firewall, NAT, DHCP etc. etc.

causal

JoyPad

causal wrote:

I'd suggest a gateway/router, rather than a switch, particularly as you said you're going to be leaving your modem on all the time.

It's a bit more pricey and there's a little setup required, but there's security with built in firewall, NAT, DHCP etc. etc.

causal

No need for this, as the Netopia *is* a router, and has all those features builtin.

What you need is a basic LAN setup, and that means network cards in both PCs, and a hub or switch to connect the two. If you also plug your modem in this hub/switch via cat5 cable (provided by eircom), set your PCs to get IP addresses from the DHCP server (already running on Netopia), and you're all set.

One other option you could be looking at is a package like this. It gives you the missing LAN card, and the switch, while also providing the freedom of movement for one of the PCs.
If you were to get one of these, you'd have to config the first PC and cables as above, while the second PC would not need a wire.


HTH,
JP

Orion

causal wrote:

I'd suggest a gateway/router, rather than a switch, particularly as you said you're going to be leaving your modem on all the time.

It's a bit more pricey and there's a little setup required, but there's security with built in firewall, NAT, DHCP etc. etc.

causal

It's desirable (for me anyway) but not required. A simple switch or hub will do exactly what he wants. I've set it up that way myself for a couple of people.

davidoco

Option 2 given above is the way I have done it. I didn't have to do any messing with IP addresses etc. I did the following

Plug dsl modem into switch. Power both up. Connect network cables to NICs in both pcs. I had Zone Alarm running on my pc and when I booted up it picked up the network and set it up for me - don't ask me how! Using the 192.168..... address of the modem I made a connection. Then power up the other pc (have Zone Alarm) installed it also picks up the network and off you go.

Morpheus

Ok, now ive a slight change,
Same set up,
Netopia (not wireless) BB router
P4 Win XP SP2.0

but what if the second (old P3 PC) ran windows 98?

would i still be able to connect it to the BB?

would the SMC Wireless G 54 Mbps PCI kit (wireless router + PCI) work with win98?

JoyPad

If the card is supported on Win98, then yes. If not, then no.
Let's see in the features page for the card:

System Requirements:
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition / Windows ME, Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP

So, there you go: Win98 SE is supported.
That means you will have a driver for this OS that will let you use all the features that the card has.

HTH,
JP

Moriarty

Moved to Nets/Comms.

diarmo

Could a Mod please Edit this a little and make it a Sticky?

It outlines the exact method of setting up a DSL Modem/Router to a Switch and then onto your other comps.

Thanks.

Morpheus

unfortunately i have windows 98 standard edition, not 98SE. damn, looks like i may need a new OS for the PC.

causal

Morph&#233 wrote: »

unfortunately i have windows 98 standard edition, not 98SE. damn, looks like i may need a new OS for the PC.

You could get this 802.11b USB wireless dongle which is compatable with Win98. I presume all 802.11b devices can talk to each other.

If you do decide to upgrade your OS then either go with XP, or linux if that's your thing. Don't bother with ME or 2000.

hth,
causal

diarmo

causal wrote:

You could get this 802.11b USB wireless dongle which is compatable with Win98. I presume all 802.11b devices can talk to each other.

If you do decide to upgrade your OS then either go with XP, or linux if that's your thing. Don't bother with ME or 2000.

hth,
causal

If his machine originally had Win98(not SE) then it must date from probable 1998.
If you put WinXP on a 1998 machine you better prepare yourself for a slideshow as thats all your going to get!

Get a copy of win2000 for that comp if Win98 was often crashing.
If you had no problem with the uptime of Win98 then get yourself a copy of Win98se.

For a 1998 era system....WinXP is a pointless waste of time!

causal

Plenty of machines from that era will run XP.

Will Morpheus particular machine run XP?: A PIII could be from about 500MHz to 1.2GHz, how much RAM we don't know. If it's 1.2GHz with 512MB RAM I suspect it'd be fine; if it's 500MHz with 64MB RAM - not fine.

According to Microsoft you require :

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Home Edition
• PC with 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum required;* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
• 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
• 1.5 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk space.*
• Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
• CD-ROM or DVD drive
• Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

causal

diarmo

causal wrote:

Plenty of machines from that era will run XP.

Will Morpheus particular machine run XP?: A PIII could be from about 500MHz to 1.2GHz, how much RAM we don't know. If it's 1.2GHz with 512MB RAM I suspect it'd be fine; if it's 500MHz with 64MB RAM - not fine.

According to Microsoft you require :



causal

Microsoft are full of ****!!!!
They would say it would run on a 486 if their asses were covered.

Have you ever tried playing MS Flight Simulator on their minimum specs???

Anything less than a P3 with 256MB of RAM is unable to have WinXP on it!!!

I installed WinXP on a AMD500Mhz box with 310MB or RAM...uninstalled it fairly quickly and re-installed Win200 ASAP!!!

As I said before stick with Win98se if you have a spare copy(and a licence for it of course ;-).

JoyPad

If you're looking for an Internet PC (browser/email/IM), then you can put XP on P3/128Mb, but it will take a while to start/shutdown, and even to open the first browser window. You might want to turn off all non-critical services to ensure quicker startups (i.e. I hope you know how to use msconfig).
However, Win98 on the same specs, will do the same job flying.

Cheers,
JP

Morpheus

ok first step, im reinstalling win 98 this weekend, i need to stick in office 2000 and then ill try to get the 2 pcs set up on BB.