h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

can some 1 help
i'm trying to find out a cheep way to conect 2 computer's ,
together in the same room so we can use broad band at the same time .
can some one help

Couple of questions first

Do both computers have network cards?
What version of windows (I'm assuming it is windows) are you using on both computers?
Is your broadband modem connected to one of the computers by a USB cable or by an Ethernet cable?

both computer's have a network card
and on window's 2000
and can be connected by ether ethernet or usb

In which case all you need is a cheap ethernet switch and a couple of straight through ethernet cables, which should only set you back about £30 tops. Connect the PCs and the broadband modem to the switch, and you should be away.

thanx we eill try that and let you know how we get on

Connecting a broadband modem straight to a switch won't work. Each computer requires it's own IP address. The modem will only provide one. With this arrangement you will only be able to use one computer on the Internet at a time.

The cheapest way is to connect the the modem to one computer via its USB connection. Then connect the two computers together via a Cat5 crossover cable. A crossover cable is similar to a straight through cable but the connections at one end are crossed to fool each computer that it is connected to something other then an interface card.

You then need to set up Internet Connection Sharing on the computer with the modem connected. You set both Ethernet cards to obtain a IP address automatically via DHCP. The ICS software then acts as a router, providing an IP address for both computers.

I have never set up Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 so I cannot give you the details, but assuming it is similar to Windows XP it should be straight forward.

I have always found that using ICS a bit problematic. It often stops working for no apparent reason and requires a re-boot to get it going again. A more expensive, but far more reliable solution is to bay a cheap router with built in switch. These can be had for around £60.00 The computers are then connected to the router via straight through cables and all the hard work is done in hardware via the router.

Donald

Works fine if you connect the modem to a switch's uplink port

Ah sorry, got my network hardware mixed up. Shouldn't be a switch but a multi-port router.