Networking Made Easy

By Lincoln Spector

February 2, 2004

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If you've got a broadband Internet connection and more than one computer, you've probably considered setting up a peer-to-peer network. This not only gives each PC high-speed access to Paris Hilton videos, it also allows you to share files, printers, and viruses.

There was a time when the task of setting up a network was deemed too complicated for anyone except hopeless computer geeks—the type of people who read BYTE.com. But technology has taken great strides in recent years. Today's networks are as easy to set up as a Mid-East peace talk, and almost as likely to work.

What tools do you need for your network? First and foremost, you'll need at least two personal computers. Anything less and you can't pass data from one PC to the other. You'll also need several special cords called cables, and a box to plug these cables into, called an Internet router because people stopped buying things called hubs.

Most routers come with five Ethernet connectors labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, and WAN (which stands for Internet Connection). The other four connectors are for plugging your computers into the router. You'll need a long cable (they come in lengths up to 87 cubits) to reach a computer in a different room than the router. You'll also need to drill a hole in the floor, discover that the hole isn't in the right location, drill several more until one is right, run the cable under the house and through the walls, then hang onto the cable for dear life as the overly-drilled floor collapses.

Without Wires

If Ethernet seems too difficult, try setting up a wireless network. This will allow you to skip laying cables and still get network signals as clear and reliable as anything you've ever seen on a television with rabbit ears.

Most wireless network products sold today are based on the Wide Open Wireless standard (WiOWi, pronounced "Why, Oh, why," as in "Why, Oh, why doesn't my network work?"). If your router has an antenna, it is either WiOWi compatible or mutated into a giant cockroach. Either way, it will have to be properly configured.

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