What's the difference between a Hub, a Switch and a Router?

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Well, all the concepts should be very much PC or Mac agnostic - it shouldn't matter, it's all TCP/IP over ethernet.

What might matter is how IP addresses are assigned. For example many ISPs will allow only 1 IP per connection, so only the first computer to ask for an IP address will get one. That sounds kinda-like the restart scenario you outlined. The solution there is a router - it only uses one, as far as your ISP is concerned, and you can have many computers behind the router.

This "burned out the ethernet" thing sounds really fishy to me. I can't think of a way for that to happen. Certainly a misconfiguration or even a misconnection to a switch or a router can't make it happen.

Leo

Leo, first thank you for being so kind as to answer to us (should I say newbies???)
My situation is as follows:
internet connection via wireles access point with a crossover cable to the lan card and win xp. I am thinking of giving my neighbour a share of the connection, so I want to limit his bandwidth. Can this be done with another lan card? Is it better with an old 486 computer as a server (I heard about some Linux progz that can do the job)and than a 10/100 hub? Which is the best and the fastest solution? As for security I am using software firewall (Norton internet security). how about a bluetooth lan ( i have 2 cards) between us? is it fast enough?

I'm not aware of any options in Windows to throttle bandwidth - though I could be wrong since it's not something I've looked into before. Ditto for Linux. In the past I've seen bandwidth throttling performed by higher-end routers, which are probably overkill (and over price) for what you are trying to do. As for bluetooth - you didn't say how far away the neighbor is. Bluetooth, by definition, has a very limited range.

You also didn't say how fast your internet is - if it's DSL or slower, a 486 box could certainly handle the job ok, depending on the software. I'd probably want it to be a faster 486, which will still seem slow compared to todays machines. I used to run a older Windows 2000 box as my "router" by using internet connection sharing, and it performed the task quite well.

To be honest, if I had to do this myself I'm not sure how I'd approach it, without a lot more research first. Your comment about having heard of Linux based solutions intrigues me, and I'd probably head of in that direction to see what's available.

Leo

EXCELLENT A++++++++++++++++++ Site
Leo !U are the MAN !!!
Very understandful answers !
Appreciate that !!!

Thanks for the quick answer!
I'll keep you posted about what I'll do.
ciao
oLs

My question is: What is the functionality of NAT sofware?, I know that is for multiple computers access the network (eg: internet) only using single IP address, but How is the translation?,
Another questions is How many softwares has the router? I know: NAT software (act as a firewall), DHCP software, etc. Thanks.

Here are couple of resources that might help answer what I believe your questions are.
How Routers Work: http://ask-leo.com/r-31119a and
How Network Address Translation works: http://ask-leo.com/r-31119b

Enjoy!

Leo

What is the difference between a router and a gateway !

A router is a type of gateway. A gateway is a device that connects (or serves as a gateway between) two networks. In the cases we've been discussing here, a router acts as a gateway between your local LAN and the internet.

Leo

Thanx for the answer !
The reason that I asked the diff router/gateway is that I noticed somwhere on the internet a very good deal about home wireless networking :
http://www.maincomp.com/shop/product.jsp?id=607&pw= !
Does it worth buyng it or should i look for a router in order to network my 2 desktops and 2 laptops ?

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