Basic Networking: Creating a Home Network for You and Your Family

So the journey begins and our first stop is to establish the basics of a network… This Basic Networking guide will help you understand the following:
The Hardware used to create a network
The correct operating system to use on our network
Understanding how networks workSo buckle up your seatbelt, here we go!

Are home networks complicated to set up?

The short answer to the heading above is No. The long answer… Hell no! Believe it or not, setting up a network in your home is not complicated by any means. All you need is a point in the right direction and a little guidance. Together with this Basic Networking guide we will create the best network for you and your family.

So, what’s a network?

Simply put, a network is when two or more computers are connected and sharing data. That’s it! Nothing more, nothing less. These computers can be connected in a variety of ways and we will touch on that a little later. What we want to do now is work out the type of network we need in our house.

Why do I need a network again?

There are a lot of benefits to having a network. If you have more than one computer in your house you really have no reason not to have them networked, and by networking them you will be able to:
Share printers, CD-ROM drives and other removable drives between the computers.
Eliminate having to transfer files from one computer to another using a floppy (do they still exist?) or CD-ROM and share files directly between PCs. ( a great advantage if you are lazy like me)
A huge benefits is you can share your internet connection with the other computers in your home.
Store only a single copy of large files, saving space on the other PCs' hard drives.

Fantastic, how do I get started?

Whoa there!! Before we can start anything we need to plan first. "Plan?" I hear you say. Yes, plan! Building a network is a kin to building a house; we need a strong foundation to build upon. I can hear the groans already! You will be thanking me later. There are two types of schemes you can use in a Network; Client/server network and peer to peer. In the client/server network, you have one computer that acts as the server (the manager of the network or files), which controls the way other computers (known as clients) access the network, whether that being file sharing or running a program. Servers play a very important role on this particular type of network. Most home networks are based on the peer to peer Network, which has more relaxed controls thus is a better network for you and your family.

Operating Systems

This basic Networking guide assumes your operating system (OS) is at the very least windows 98 Second Edition. Although Windows XP would be preferable it’s not a requirement. The reason for this is because networking was built to function from the ground up in windows 98 SE to windows XP. The following OS will work perfectly with networking:

Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows NT
Windows ME
Windows 98 SE (Second Edition)

Also all these OS versions have a pretty little nifty tool on them known as Internet Connection Sharing. This allows all computers to share the internet, so while you are reading an e-mail on your laptop, your kid can be checking out their facebook page on the PC. Each computer must have a Network interface card otherwise known in short form as a NIC. Traditionally a NIC is a little electronic card that goes inside your computer right on its mother board, I use the term traditionally as not all NICs are cards anymore, and we now have network adapters that are connected via USB (Universal Serial Bus).

How to connect - cables, wires or thin air?

Now we must decide the type of connections we will use to connect our computers. This is very important as the type of connection we use will affect the speed that data travels across the network.

Why is speed important?

Well, waiting a long time for a file to open in a software application or for a file to be copied from one machine to another can be very frustrating, to put it mildly. We have four different ways to connect our PC’s, each have their own advantages. Let’s look at them shall we?

Ethernet Cables:

The connection type of choice for many businesses.

Fast and reliable.
Can carry data up to1000 mbps across a network depending on the ratedspeed of the NIC cards.

Used by most businesses to connect their computers.
Though similar looking to telephone wire, it is designed to carry data unlike telephone wire which was designed to carry voice.
You will need a concentrator (we will get to this later,) to use Ethernet cable.
The connector at the end of the cable looks like the connector at the end of your telephone cable, but it’s actually slightly fatter.

Telephone Line:

Connect each computer’s NIC (has to be a Telephone-cable NIC. Have you visited the NIC page yet?) to the telephone wall jack using a regular phone cable.
Telephone cable is inexpensive and is available every where, including your super market.
Networking process uses part of the line voice communication doesn’t, so you can still make calls whilst on the network.
Can transmits data up to 10 mbps.
Is increasing with popularity.
You will need a splitter for telephone wall jacks, to use your phone in the same jack.
If you have multiple lines in your house, all computers must be connected on the same line (same number).
Wireless connections.
No wires to trip over.
A very popular choice.
Best used on Windows XP, so would be best option to have all PC running XP.
Requires network adaptor that can receive and send wirelessly.
Frequency can travel roughly 150 feet, passing through ceilings, walls and floors.

To Learn More about the different types of Home networks visit http://www.how-to-network-computers.com where you can find this and much more, including Internet connection sharing and firewalls