Broadband sharing connections HELP!!

[Will]

Want to put into a 512k connection and divide it by 2 PC's, using XP Pro to router the bandwidth between them, How much proccessing power does it take to do this, can you notice it???

How much does it cost wot cabling / switches etc etc is required?

Will

[Dicko]

yes its very simple long as the router pc has xp or 2k on it!!
ul need an extra network card to run to the other pc and a card in that 1, and a piece of x-over cat5 or 2 pieces of patch cable and a hub/switch.
Not all aplications will work 100%, like msn works but the person on the PC not conected directly to the net might not be able to send files. This is becuase the main PC translates all the port numbers and is not configured to do the ports that file transfers in msn/icq/irc use but you can set them up if you know how!!

Dicko

[Dicko]

other option is to get a 3rd party utility such as wingate. this would allow more functinality.

[mikeoxford]

windows internet connection sharing works alright to

alternatively if you buy a router - like a hub (i understand?)

you plug both your computers and the DSL into it and it all gets shared together.........

i think thats right :?

[Dicko]

he said using XP pro so im guessing he wants to keep costs down and use software rather than a hardware router

and 'windows internet connection sharing' is what we were on about anyways :P

[mikeoxford]

oh :oops:

havent used XP to any extent - im working may way through the packages im stuck on NT4 at the moment.

feckin college is crap dont learn nuthin, taught meself everything i know

+ my dad hes cool.

next biggy i wanna get me nose in is linux :o

[Dicko]

linux is the dogs nadgers for making a router/firewall if your into that sorta thing. Im doing an MCSE pretty much done now. Learnt a fair but all windows stuff really 95/98/2k which applies to Xp and .net aswell.

[ZuG]

the best way to do it is either to buy a hardware router, or to get an extremly old PC base from somewhere (like a 486) for next to nothing, and then install Smoothwall which is a dedicated router operating system. Very easy to set up and very easy to administrate.
ICS is ok to an extent but you have to have the main PC on to use the other PC, and the ports are not as easily controlled. The problem with a computer based router like smoothwall is it will be left on 24/7.

To set up ICS follow dickos instructions.
To set up Smoothwall you will need the internet going into that pc, and then a network card from there going to a hub using a straight cable ( as opposed to x-over) and then straight cat 5 cables from the hub to each PC you want to add. Each will have their own network card.
A Hardware router simply lets you plug the net into it, and then plug a cat 5 network cable from there to each computer and thats it i believe.

[jkhilton]

Linux, in my opinion, is the best way to do this, but unless you know a little about the system and how to configure it can be a daunting task. ICS is the easiest way to set this up and it wont take any processing power really, just shares the bandwidth.

[mikeoxford]

linux will be a no go mate unless you know even little about it.

ICS is good for if u want click n play stuff

im gettin broadband within "5 days" according to BT wahoo - im setting up a proper server - similar to the idea above of using a 486 PC, but that way i can use it to share the interenet, the two printers we have can be administred from there, i can use it to server Unreal torunament, and most of all, i am using it for a webserver running windows 2k - i will be moving 4 or 5 sites onto it that i have deisgned and built