OT: linksys router box and hub--help!
Feb 14th 2001, 11:10 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
OK, you geniuses, I need a bit of assistance here, please, from the computer-wise among
you, and I know that there are a lot of you out there:
We have a cable modem that comes in and hooks to a 4-port linksys router box. From that
router box, we have one pc, two macs, and one hard drive server attached, which fills all
four of the ports. (except for the uplink port)
I am on one of the macs, a powerbook. My company just gave me a Pc laptop (yech!). What I
need to do is make a way so that I can connect my powerbook and the pc laptop both to the
internet without having to trade my ethernet cable back and forth (like I am doing now,
which is a pain in the wazoo!).
I have ordered a hub that has an uplink port and some ethernet cables.
Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the linksys
box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc laptop
each to a separate port on the hub? I do *not* want to network the machines, bear in mind,
only to give each of them the capacity to have internet access. Are there any software/IP
changes that I need to make, in order to do this?
Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would this
require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure? The pc is a Toshiba Tecra 8000
with 128mb ram and is running win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128 megs of
ram running OS 9.0.4.
I have tried reading about this, and it's just not gelling in my brain... Thanks for any
assistance for a computer-stupid middle-aged lady,
alvena
you, and I know that there are a lot of you out there:
We have a cable modem that comes in and hooks to a 4-port linksys router box. From that
router box, we have one pc, two macs, and one hard drive server attached, which fills all
four of the ports. (except for the uplink port)
I am on one of the macs, a powerbook. My company just gave me a Pc laptop (yech!). What I
need to do is make a way so that I can connect my powerbook and the pc laptop both to the
internet without having to trade my ethernet cable back and forth (like I am doing now,
which is a pain in the wazoo!).
I have ordered a hub that has an uplink port and some ethernet cables.
Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the linksys
box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc laptop
each to a separate port on the hub? I do *not* want to network the machines, bear in mind,
only to give each of them the capacity to have internet access. Are there any software/IP
changes that I need to make, in order to do this?
Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would this
require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure? The pc is a Toshiba Tecra 8000
with 128mb ram and is running win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128 megs of
ram running OS 9.0.4.
I have tried reading about this, and it's just not gelling in my brain... Thanks for any
assistance for a computer-stupid middle-aged lady,
alvena
Feb 14th 2001, 2:23 pm
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Test
> OK, you geniuses, I need a bit of assistance here, please, from the computer-wise among
> you, and I know that there are a lot of you out there:
>
> We have a cable modem that comes in and hooks to a 4-port linksys router box. From that
> router box, we have one pc, two macs, and one hard drive server attached, which fills
> all four of the ports. (except for the uplink port)
>
> I am on one of the macs, a powerbook. My company just gave me a Pc laptop (yech!). What
> I need to do is make a way so that I can connect my powerbook and the pc laptop both to
> the internet without having to trade my ethernet cable back and forth (like I am doing
> now, which is a pain in the wazoo!).
>
> I have ordered a hub that has an uplink port and some ethernet cables.
>
> Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the
> linksys box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc
> laptop each to a separate port on the hub? I do *not* want to network the machines, bear
> in mind, only to give each of them the capacity to have internet access. Are there any
> software/IP changes that I need to make, in order to do this?
>
> Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would
> this require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
>
> One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
> lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure? The pc is a Toshiba Tecra
> 8000 with 128mb ram and is running win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128
> megs of ram running OS 9.0.4.
>
> I have tried reading about this, and it's just not gelling in my brain... Thanks for any
> assistance for a computer-stupid middle-aged lady,
>
> alvena
> OK, you geniuses, I need a bit of assistance here, please, from the computer-wise among
> you, and I know that there are a lot of you out there:
>
> We have a cable modem that comes in and hooks to a 4-port linksys router box. From that
> router box, we have one pc, two macs, and one hard drive server attached, which fills
> all four of the ports. (except for the uplink port)
>
> I am on one of the macs, a powerbook. My company just gave me a Pc laptop (yech!). What
> I need to do is make a way so that I can connect my powerbook and the pc laptop both to
> the internet without having to trade my ethernet cable back and forth (like I am doing
> now, which is a pain in the wazoo!).
>
> I have ordered a hub that has an uplink port and some ethernet cables.
>
> Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the
> linksys box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc
> laptop each to a separate port on the hub? I do *not* want to network the machines, bear
> in mind, only to give each of them the capacity to have internet access. Are there any
> software/IP changes that I need to make, in order to do this?
>
> Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would
> this require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
>
> One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
> lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure? The pc is a Toshiba Tecra
> 8000 with 128mb ram and is running win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128
> megs of ram running OS 9.0.4.
>
> I have tried reading about this, and it's just not gelling in my brain... Thanks for any
> assistance for a computer-stupid middle-aged lady,
>
> alvena
Feb 14th 2001, 3:32 pm
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Alvena Ferreira wrote:
> Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the
> linksys box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc
> laptop each to a separate port on the hub?
Yes, that's all you have to do.
> I do *not* want to network the machines, bear in mind, only to give each of them the
> capacity to have internet access. Are there any software/IP changes that I need to make,
> in order to do this?
>
No changes are required.
>
> Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would
> this require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
>
Leave it as is. No need for a second IP.
>
> One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
> lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure? The pc is a Toshiba Tecra
> 8000 with 128mb ram and is running win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128
> megs of ram running OS 9.0.4.
>
Not sure what you mean by "network machines". If you want to share files between mac and
NT it is generally a pain in the neck in my experience.
Lex
> Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the
> linksys box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc
> laptop each to a separate port on the hub?
Yes, that's all you have to do.
> I do *not* want to network the machines, bear in mind, only to give each of them the
> capacity to have internet access. Are there any software/IP changes that I need to make,
> in order to do this?
>
No changes are required.
>
> Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would
> this require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
>
Leave it as is. No need for a second IP.
>
> One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
> lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure? The pc is a Toshiba Tecra
> 8000 with 128mb ram and is running win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128
> megs of ram running OS 9.0.4.
>
Not sure what you mean by "network machines". If you want to share files between mac and
NT it is generally a pain in the neck in my experience.
Lex
Feb 14th 2001, 7:05 pm
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Alvena Ferreira <[email protected]> said :
>Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the linksys
>box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc laptop
>each to a separate port on the hub?
Yup.
> I do *not* want to network the machines, bear in mind, only to give each of them the
> capacity to have internet access. Are there any software/IP changes that I need to make,
> in order to do this?
Yes. And here's where the fun can begin. If your work laptop is normally on your office's
network then the TCP/IP settings are likely set for the office. Your Linksys box probably
works on one of the non-routable IP address ranges (probably 192.168.y.z). You will need
to assign an IP address and subnet mask in the range that your Linksys box can talk to in
order for your work laptop to access the Internet from your home network.
>Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would
>this require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
No. That's the beauty of the Linksys box (and proxy software). They use what is called
Network Address Translation. What this does is allow one real-world IP address (24.x.y.z
in the case of a cablemodem) to enter the box and translate it to an address that is only
used INSIDE the local area network (i.e. your home).
>One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
>lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure?
Relatively painless, but I will STRONGLY recommend that you get a powerful firewall on
that machine. All you have to do is right-click on a folder you want to share, click
SHARING, select SHARE AS and enter a share password (use something strong--random mix of
letters and numbers or a keyboard sequence). Click OK and you're done.
That said, however, don't expect to be able to network a Windows 95 or Windows 98 computer
with your Macs--they don't play well with each other. You would have to have one machine
running Windows NT with File Services for Macintosh installed.
The pc is a Toshiba Tecra 8000 with 128mb ram and is running
>win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128 megs of ram running OS 9.0.4.
If the Toshiba is running NT Server (as opposed to NT WOrkstation) then you can indeed use
Services for Macintosh on it. If it's running Workstation, then you're probably out of
luck--you'll need to run NT on another machine on your LAN.
>I have tried reading about this, and it's just not gelling in my brain...
My brain does that to me on a daily basis--don't worry about it <grin>.
And don't worry about not grokking this networking thing immediately--it's like herding
cats at the best of times and takes a delicate hand wrapped around a brick to make work
some days.
Cheers, |The Second Edition of my book Peter Dougherty |"Tracks of the New York City
Subway" |is now available and shipping. Please visit Amateur Radio: VE3-THX /W2
|http://www.quuxuum.org/pjd/trk-book.html
NOTE: If e-mailing, please reply only to pjd at panix dot com.
>Now for my question: can I just hook up my ethernet cable (which comes off of the linksys
>box) up to the uplink port on the hub, and then connect my powerbook and the pc laptop
>each to a separate port on the hub?
Yup.
> I do *not* want to network the machines, bear in mind, only to give each of them the
> capacity to have internet access. Are there any software/IP changes that I need to make,
> in order to do this?
Yes. And here's where the fun can begin. If your work laptop is normally on your office's
network then the TCP/IP settings are likely set for the office. Your Linksys box probably
works on one of the non-routable IP address ranges (probably 192.168.y.z). You will need
to assign an IP address and subnet mask in the range that your Linksys box can talk to in
order for your work laptop to access the Internet from your home network.
>Now, let's say that I wanted to have EACH of them on the net AT THE SAME TIME...would
>this require a second IP from my provider, or am I set to go as is?
No. That's the beauty of the Linksys box (and proxy software). They use what is called
Network Address Translation. What this does is allow one real-world IP address (24.x.y.z
in the case of a cablemodem) to enter the box and translate it to an address that is only
used INSIDE the local area network (i.e. your home).
>One last question: IF I decided that I DID want to network these machines, would it be a
>lot of hassle and sweat or a relatively painless procedure?
Relatively painless, but I will STRONGLY recommend that you get a powerful firewall on
that machine. All you have to do is right-click on a folder you want to share, click
SHARING, select SHARE AS and enter a share password (use something strong--random mix of
letters and numbers or a keyboard sequence). Click OK and you're done.
That said, however, don't expect to be able to network a Windows 95 or Windows 98 computer
with your Macs--they don't play well with each other. You would have to have one machine
running Windows NT with File Services for Macintosh installed.
The pc is a Toshiba Tecra 8000 with 128mb ram and is running
>win NT 4, and the mac is a G3/266 powerbook with 128 megs of ram running OS 9.0.4.
If the Toshiba is running NT Server (as opposed to NT WOrkstation) then you can indeed use
Services for Macintosh on it. If it's running Workstation, then you're probably out of
luck--you'll need to run NT on another machine on your LAN.
>I have tried reading about this, and it's just not gelling in my brain...
My brain does that to me on a daily basis--don't worry about it <grin>.
And don't worry about not grokking this networking thing immediately--it's like herding
cats at the best of times and takes a delicate hand wrapped around a brick to make work
some days.
Cheers, |The Second Edition of my book Peter Dougherty |"Tracks of the New York City
Subway" |is now available and shipping. Please visit Amateur Radio: VE3-THX /W2
|http://www.quuxuum.org/pjd/trk-book.html
NOTE: If e-mailing, please reply only to pjd at panix dot com.
