Possible to access cable modem via minihub?

[Fat Tone]

...in order to avoid having two network cards in one PC (no spare slots) when making a small LAN (2 PCs)?

Thanks

Tony.

[Jorden]

You mean you have a 2PC network at the moment, and you can get cable, thus adding a second NIC in your server PC for the internet?

I think that would be possible. I'm aiming for a same setup when ADSL finally reaches me

Even if you would put a minihub inbetween, you still have the server PC with two NICs.
The other option would be to buy an old P166 or something alike and make that one server, with 2 NICS and add a hub for the other 2 PC's.

Jord.

[cbman]

If I read your question right...

You have no spare slots on your mobo and would like to know if a cheap network hub would allow you to put both of your computers onto cable... I am pretty sure it will not work unless you have a hub with an uplink port in it (Cost's more I believe)

An alternative is to get a USB External NIC.. they aren't that expensive and I have tried them out and they work very well.

Just some more advice... if you do have older hardware sitting around... something like Jord mentions works very well also.. (My current situation is like he is descibing.. only with a P133) The added bonus to that is if you wish to run FTP or FServe and or a mini webserver it is handy as you can use the smaller computer to hold all that information and it won't be used for much else so it will have little downtime.. (I rebooted once last week when I installed Opera 5.11 (excellent what they have done with it) + some windows updates) and other than that... it runs Genome (Returning a result every 4 or 5 days.)

Hope that helps if Jord's answer didn't

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"Wouldn't it simplify things if Hettar, Mandorallen, and I go pick a fight with them? Five dead Murgos aren't going to follow anybody."
"I don't know if that would set to well with the Tolnedran legionnaires who police the fair," Silk drawled. "Policemen seem to worry about unexplained bodies. It upsets their sense of neatness."

From Book Two of the Belgariad, David Eddings

[Kosh Naranek]

Here is what my cable modem manual says :

1. ISP must set modem up for multiple users
2. Modem can serve as a Gateway - 32 users
3. Multiple users must be connected to an Ethernet Hub.

My cable modem works via USB ... so if i want to connect additional users to my modem i have to use a ethernet hub while i remain on the USB connection.

So all you need is a cable modem with an ethernet connector.
My cable modem is a Motorola Surfboard 4100E

You could also try to use ICS ( internet connection sharing ) just remember to configure the firewall that comes with when you install ICS ... ( it's a pretty powerfull firewall, but by default it can only be configured through the registry ... there is third party apps available though )

[fds]

http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/index.htm

[Fat Tone]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I have the answer now, which is as I suspected.

Sorry for the short question, I was in a hurry.

This is for a friend, who already has one PC and a cable modem attached via a nic. He will shortly (today maybe) be building a 2nd PC for his father, and wants to network them together and (ideally) share the internet link. He has no spare slots in the current PC for a 2nd nic (which is how I thought it had to be done based on what I've read in here over the years).

Looks like he'll have to sacrifice something (which may be possible as he has a G400 Max + RR-G ) or use a USB nic.

Thanks also for the link, fds, that'll come in very handy for configuration.

Cheers

Tony.

[fds]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Tony Andrews:
Looks like he'll have to sacrifice something (which may be possible as he has a G400 Max + RR-G ) or use a USB nic.
</font>

Not necessarily...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Tony Andrews:
Thanks also for the link, fds, that'll come in very handy for configuration.
</font>

I linked to it because it has links to just what you semmed to need, hardware solutions for sharing a cable connection between multiple PCs..

Check <a href="http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/index.htm#HardwareFirewalls">this section</a>.

[SteveC]

Tony - I assume this friend is getting one of Telewest's Blueyonder service's cable modems? OK then - tell him what he wants is a Netgear RT-311 (or RT-314) cable modem router.

Then you go:

CATV point -> Cable modem -> Router -> Hub/switch -> PC1, PC2, PC3, etc.

(The RT-314 has an inbuilt 4 port switch) I have the RT-311 and it works a treat for me.

PS: With Telewest (IIRC NTL are the same), you can't just plug the cable modem into the hub - they only allow one registered MAC address at any one time.

Good luck!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[RichL]

I was looking at Netgear's RT314/RT311 only the other day for exactly the same thing.
Misco (http://www.misco.co.uk) are currently selling them for £99.99 ex vat.
Note that unlike the Linksys Cable Router these dont appear to have any form of inbuilt firewalling. I recommend Zone Alarm on your PCs as a simple solution. Obviously if you have a large number of PCs attached to your home LAN, then you'll want a better solution.

[Fat Tone]

Thanks Guys - i'll pass that on, and may well even use it myself when I move to an area where I can actually get cable (NTL) in a couple of months.

Cheers

Tony.

[dave m]

Yes, I can confirm NTL are the same, to connect to our network we got the D-Link router with a built in firewall (also around the £100 mark) to connect to our hub.
Dave

[SteveC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by RichL:
I was looking at Netgear's RT314/RT311 only the other day for exactly the same thing.
Misco (http://www.misco.co.uk) are currently selling them for £99.99 ex vat.
Note that unlike the Linksys Cable Router these dont appear to have any form of inbuilt firewalling. I recommend Zone Alarm on your PCs as a simple solution. Obviously if you have a large number of PCs attached to your home LAN, then you'll want a better solution.</font>

Hi RichL - the RT-311 just plugs into an existing switch/hub so you can run as many PCs as you like through it. (The DHCP only works up to 32 PCs though - but will you ever have more than that in your home?)

They have basic protection in them - you control what port goes where (e.g. I can have just port 80 and 21 connections coming inbound to my web server, and nothing else going anywhere, and every other PC on the network can still do what they like. You can also block out specific IPs and/or port numbers like telnet)

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[This message has been edited by SteveC (edited 16 May 2001).]