basically that's it... also what type of cable do we need my computer (computer A) is connected to the internet with a normal telephone line..I think? I dunno I keep hearing CAT 5 being related to LAN do we need anything differnet in terms of cable? If someone could provide exactly what we need for this it would be great and yes I looekd at the sticky about how to make a LAn conenction but it's only for 2 comps and I htink 3 is trickier...
You would be off a whole lot easier if you would just get a router and 3 striaght CAT 5 cables. If would be easy and require little setup. But, you can go a long and problem prone way of using 3 Crossover Cables and lots of Bridging which will lead a beginner to an ultimate headache.
a small 4 or 5 port 10/100 switch , connect each of the PC's to the switch with a standard cat5 cable. set up ICS (internet connection sharing ) on the PC connected to the phone line (assuming it ruins windows) set the other 2 Pc's to pick up an IP address using DHCP and there you go job done....
Seconded. Windows gives you pretty good instructions on how to configure ICS/DHCP and does it all for you if you use "Setup a home or small office network".
BTW I just want to make it clear that Computer A B and C don't actually need to be connected to the internet at all and I do'nt need to share the internet we just want to cnnect EACH OTHER to play LAN, this change anything?
Well, then you can skip the ICS/DHCP portion. It would be easiest if you just bought a $5 (convert if needed) ethernet switch and three Cat5 cables (I don't think straight or twisted usually matters anymore because most switches can flip the ports nowadays). I've never done it any other way because the difficulty makes it completely unworthwhile. Go for the switch, it is realllly cheap.
are u sure this is exactly what I need... to get 3 up and running to play why is networking so complicated everyone is suggesting different methods some suggest, hubs, routers and then now switches i just want to make sure we can connect 3 up to play aginst each other... sure this will work?
Right I've looked through google and came up with a few switches: I'm looking for quality at budget even if those two don't go together, basically the best budget product, please check if these ar even the right switches? There ar some "gigabit" and "ethernet" switches whatever the difference is.. http://www.digiconcepts.com/linksys_networkswitches_09.htm http://www.digiconcepts.com/netgear_networkswitches_08.htm
they basicly do the same. the only differnt is how "intelligent" they are with adressing data. For your Lan a Hub is enough, but i would recommend a Switch as its faster couse it knows where to send data within the network and a Hub just sends it everywhere until it finds the right plase. Check D-link or Zyxel for simple 4 port swiches. Did this help? EDIT: The Switches in your links are good for what you need. I would go for the Linksys they make pretty good Network gear
A Gigabit network is a very fast network... and it only works if you have a gigabit (or onboard) NIC (network interface card). Some people say you can't see the difference .. i think... but there is a huge difference ... maybe not in games but in file sharing there is. The "ethernet" is something else not related to speed (as far as i know it isn't related to 10/100). The other speed format is 10/100. It is slower. With gigabit i can transfer files at 60/70 mb/s .. depending if both computers have faster hard drives... compared with 10/100 where i only get 6-8 mb/s maxing out at 10ish i think. nb: gigabit is 10/100/1000 .. backwards compatible.
you could skip ICS or you could still use it, if you use ICS just make sure the the computer with the internet connection is on and booted up before the other PC's it will then act as a DHCP server and internet gateway for all the other PC's as there booted up, it'll also speed up the network detection on the other pc's as it won't have to wait for the DHCP request to time out before giving you an IPPA (168.254.x.x?) address and that irratating "limited or no conectivity" message won't appear.
Okaythanks for all the comments I'm sorry taht I keep asking question and question again since all of this technical jargon is hard to sink in lol.. Anyways could someone tell me EXACTLY step by step what I I need to do to enable 3 computers to play a LAN game with a switch... Thanks, even a website will do.
Buy a switch. Buy or attain three Cat5e cables (or cat6, doesn't matter, anything with 8 wires) Connect each computer to a port on the switch via a Cat5e cable. Power on switch Power on computers You *may* need to run Windows' network setup thing. It's fairly self-explanitory, just put them all on the same network name. However if it's just for lan gaming, that may not even be necessary.
... and you also need a Gigabit switch/router and either CAT5E or CAT6 (i.e not just CAT5). Given your needs I would say that the price premium for gigabit network is completely uncessary. The difference between a switch and a hub is that a switch knows the location of each computer on the network and so can pass packets directly too them rather than having to broadcast them all over. The problem with a hub is that with the packets being broadcast down every route there is more network traffic and hence more collisions. More collisions == slower, more unreliable network (as packets need to be resent etc). As you only have 3 computers on your network a hub should be enough to keep you happy, although a switch is still preferable.
OKay, forget all the definitions. Go buy a switch. Both of the ones you linked to are fine for this job. Buy 3 "ethernet" cables (like this - just make sure it's long enough!). Power on switch, connect PCs to switch. On each PC, make sure you see the "Local Area Connection is now connected. Speed: 100.0 Mbps" message appear (the "100.0" might change depending on your network hardware - but this doesn't matter). Next, on each PC, go Start -> Settings -> Network Connections -> Local Area Connection. Click the "Properties" button. In the list of protocols, select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", and click on "Properties". Now click "Use the following IP address". Now you can set an IP address for each PC. They must be different, but only change the last number in the address. I would recommend using 10.0.0.1 for one PC, then 10.0.0.2 for the next, and then (guess what?) 10.0.0.3 for the third PC. "Subnet Mask" can be set to 255.255.255.0 for each PC. "Default Gateway" can be left blank for your setup (i.e. you are not connecting to the web). Once y ou have done this for all three, open up a command window (Start -> Run -> cmd) and type in "ping 10.0.0.x" where x is the address of a different PC. You should see something like Code: Pinging 10.0.0.2 with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Ping statistics.... If you see this, your network is running, and you can play LAN games. If it comes back with "Request timed out" messages, go and check your network settings again. If you want to see shared folders or printers, your best bet is put each machine into the same "Workgroup". Right click on "My Computer" -> Properties -> "Computer Name" tab -> Network ID, and go through the network ID wizard setting up in a Workgroup (not a Domain!). Hope this helps. It's about as simple as I can make it.
Okay I'll try that out this weekend when the boys come round again thanks alot guys, lots of stuff sorted out there
Follow the above advice, but if you do get curious, here's my best explanations of things, though only concirned with the 'home' market definations. Hubs: When they recieve a network packet, they send it down all the connected cables, the computers then ignore the packets which don't have them as the destination, for small networks this isn't a problem. Switches: Same as above, but they switch the packets to the machine where there supposed to go, allowing someone to say be loading a big file from a network share, without affecting other stations on the network. Routers: Similar to switches, but operate on IP addresses rather than Ethernet MAC addresses, this allows them to send things out to the internet if it's not on your local network. Routers for the home market come with built in switches, you usually have one 'internet' port, and four to eight 'lan' ports. If you really want to know more, probably wikipedia's the best route.
