Computer Wizards, I need help.

[Jim B]

Since I read the thread on dropping teeth, I figured that this was the place to ask before I act and commit an error.

Please keep in mind that my knowledge of computers is very limited, any advise needs to be at a 3rd grade level in order for me to understand. In other words... I have a stocker.

Present scenario, home office.

Dell PIII,1gighz desktop, ME, cd rom, cd r&w, network card.

Toshiba laptop, PIII 700hz, win2k, printer & dsl modem attached, jazz back up, cd rom, cd r&w. pmcia network card. I'm running Norton firewall for the dsl.

I've connected the two with a peer to peer connection. The laptop has to be on, in order for the desktop to take advantage of the dsl connection and printer. Not the ideal set up. It could have been reversed but my laptop has all the main info.

I want to get a new desktop that I will not have to upgrade in 1 month as an addition to my existing setup and make that the main computer I use. I use the laptop as my main computer now, I plan to use my laptop when I travel on my escapes. I need to be able to connect to the network for easy transferring of information and sharing of my files so that I can have my office with me and up to date as painfully as possible.

Additionally I wish to purchase a hub that will have connected 2 printers, dsl, 3 computers (no dedicated server) all sharing each other's local resources. In this manner no particular computer has to be on in order in order for the others to share printing and dsl except for the local information on the hard drives. I like the win2k operating system as it is the only one I've used that has not crashed and also familiar with. I will do digital & video editing as a novice (lots of fast processing memory along with lots of storage.

What are your recommendations? What should it come with? I don't want to touch it or do any upgrades to for at least 5 years. Would like something dependable and as bulletproof as possible... like the control arms Blaine built for me. I know that anything electronic has Murphy involved. I am at a loss where to begin and what manufacturers to look for. If this request requires a phone call I will make one. Don't need the best, don't need the worst, something of value that will do a dependable job.

Thank you in advance to all you nerds... I mean Wizards. I hope I'm not too much off topic.

Jim B.

97TJ El Niño, Mods listed on Web Site.
JJB@worldoversea.com
http://www.jeep.worldoversea.com
Jeep Rater Score: 42

[Jeff Weston]

Jim,

I have a Linksys 10/100 cable/dsl router with a built-in 4 port hub and it works like a champ. I think they're about $120 now. Anyway, if your printers have their own ethernet then you'll need 5 ports and this won't be enough for your needs unless you run one of the printers off a parallel connection on a workstation and use Windows sharing. If you need 5 ports, you can get the same Linksys router w/out the built-in hub and then connect it to an 8 port hub. It's really quite simple to hook it up. Setup of the router will vary a bit depending on the details of your internet connection.

Good luck!

Jeff

[TObject]

Ditto.
The most straightforward way is to get a broadband router with integrated switch (switch is better than hub)

I use D-Link 804 for example. Amazon recently had a coupon and a rebate on them, so I got it pretty cheap.

Just connect DSL modem to the WAN port of the switch, and your computers to LAN ports. The router will also act as your firewall.

There is a way around to make the system work with just a switch or even a hub by configuring all your computers as part of your DSL provider subnet, but don’t go that road, it’s like running 35” tires on a Dana 35. With a router, you will have your own subnet.

[Jeff Weston]

Tobject,

Are you running a cable modem at home? At my last home, the cable modem was a screamer (Cox @home). The service at my current home is a dog (AT&T Roadrunner). There are long waits between web pages, downloading mail and the modem often temporarily looses connections. Any thoughts on if it is something can be fixed? My cable company just shrugs their shoulders and says it shouldn't do that. BTW, I'm still on the DSL install list that I signed up for a year ago so that's not really an option.

Thanks!

Jeff

[Anders Karlsson]

I'm using the Linksys 10/100 router as well, it has a 4 port switch built in and I can highly recommend it. I also have a Netgear PS110 10/100 2 port print server on the network.

Jeff, I'm using DSL and I'm very happy with it but I'm considering getting a cable modem for work, do you have problems all the time or just during certain hours during the day?

[TObject]

Yeah, I have a roadrunner. I have never had a cable modem connection at home before, so I don’t really know what to compare it to.

Try to go here, and see what number the speed test gives you:
http://www.cable-modem.net/features/oct99/speed.html

I just got 315 kilobytes per second from them.

Try to post a question on your local roadrunner newsgroup (for example my local is roadrunner.sa.help).

I think roadrunner has some kind of connection diagnostic software. Medic, or something of that name. Maybe you can try it.

If your modem has a web interface, try hitting http://192.168.100.1/ there should be connection statistic and diagnostic utilities. What modem do you have?

Try calling customer support and complaining.

[Jim B]

Jeff, To, Anders,

Please clarify a few things. Do I gather that the Linksys 10/100 cable/dsl router with a built-in 4 port hub has a place that I can plug in my dsl modem plus another 4 ports? Will all of this be pretty much plug and play?

Jeff, if I need more than 4 ports that I would get the router plus the 8 port hub that plugs into it. Can one of the eight ports be used for the dsl? Will this setup have it's own firewall? Do they make smaller units like for instant a 6 port?

Anders, the Netgear PS110 10/100 2 port print server on the network that you have. Are these the actual server cards that allow you to plug in 2 printers and then plug in to one of the hubs on the router?

To, I did this test and I got 155, I know it's not even close as your 315... is this Roadrunner a service, how is it brought in to the home or is it just for work and dedicated lines?

Now that my head is somewhat clear on connecting everything what about the desktop? Do I go to Dell or Gateway and have it built to my specs? Someone told me that there was some type of backup system that pulls out of the computer with a handle and it's an image of your entire drive that you can store some other place for safety, does anyone know what this is, who makes it, and how much storage can it hold. I've been to the Dell, Gateway, looked at catalogs but have not seen anything like this.

Thank you.

Jim B.

97TJ El Niño, Mods listed on Web Site.
JJB@worldoversea.com
http://www.jeep.worldoversea.com
Jeep Rater Score: 42

[Jim B]

Forgot, with the router and hup setup, what kind of cable do I run and are these straight runs? Do I have to change my peer to peer cable since someone told me they are reversed?

Jim B.

97TJ El Niño, Mods listed on Web Site.
JJB@worldoversea.com
http://www.jeep.worldoversea.com
Jeep Rater Score: 42

[Scott Hill]

Hi there,

This is a somple situation with many answers. Now to get a real plan going I need to know How many IP address do you have are they static or dynamic??? do you want a server of just connection for everything.


with one IP address you need to do things diffrent that if you have more then on also Dynaic addressing requires some diffrent solutions then static addresses.

a little TJ with a few mods check her out at www.real-jeeps.com

[TObject]

Jim,

In addition to what Scott is saying…

You don’t want a hub (hubs) you want a switch (switches). Hubs were popular because they were cheaper, nowadays switches and hubs cost about the same. The difference – hubs transfer all information to all ports, switches are intelligent enough to know source and destination and do not transfer data to the ports that do not need to have it.

If four LAN ports not enough for you, let us know how many ports do you want (how many computers/network printers do you want to tie into your home network). And we will take a look at what’s available.

If four LAN ports are enough for you try D-Link DI-804 or SMC 7004ABR. You can also extend those by connecting another switch. I actually have a 5-port switch that I don’t need anymore, that you can have for cheap, if you go this route. If you need custom length UTP cables, to connect your computers, I can make those for you too.

DSL modem will not go to one of the LAN ports on the switch portion of the device; it will go to the WAN port of the router. You cannot use a Cable modem and a DSL modem at the same time without some special thingies.

Broadband routers are nice, because they are geared towards home user, and they have firewall software with intrusion detection, and they are easy to set up.

To connect your computers to the switch you will need straight-through EIA/TIA 568B UTP Category 5 (or better) cables. If you want, I can custom made those for you. Or you can get them just about anywhere.

Roadrunner service that I use at home is the only available cable modem service in my area. The signal comes along with the TV-cable coaxial cable, then I split it to two cables – one goes to the modem, another goes to the second splitter, which distributes the signal between TV-Sets in different rooms. The cable modem is controlled by the Roadrunner, they reconfigure it time to time.

As for the desktop. It used to be that you could build a better computer for cheaper if you buy components and build your own. These days, you can still build a better computer yourself, but not for cheaper. I recently bought a Pentium IV machine for my brother form IBM directly. Any company that you like should be fine, they are all about the same. When you order one, make sure it has a Network card in it, so that you don’t have to add one yourself. The type of backup system to use depends on your needs. I use a CD-RW drive for example, and I consider moving up to one of the Recordable DVD standards. I also have all my information from the primary drive mirrored on the second drive. But I do not consider this as backup – I call it “Fault Tolerance”.

[Anders Karlsson]

Jim, The Linksys router has 4 ports plus one for the cable/dsl, you can hook up more switches if you need more ports, it's very easy.

The Netgear Print Server is a stand alone box that looks like a router, it uses one of the ports on you router.

The cable/dsl router has a built in firewall and can be set up to assign IP addresses to all the devices, you don't need static IP's.

The backup thingy with a handle you heard about was probably just a removable hard drive, you could set one up in a RAID configuration like Sergey is talking about but it's probably overkill for a home user. You could use a program like Drive Copy and make a copy of your hard drive onto a removable drive say once a week.

I just backup the documents I think I need and the info from my e-mail program and bookmarks once in a while.

[TObject]

Oh yes, about those cables, If you can’t find 568B, 568A should probably work just as well. I have a theory on why 568B is better, but this theory is very close to the 18’ of coaxial cable story, and with Stu around I better keep it quiet.

For your setup Jim that basically means that any straight through Category 5 patch cord with RJ-45 on each end will work well. I bet that if you walk into a store and ask a clerk if the cords they have are 568A or 568B the clerk will laugh at you not realizing that he’s laughing at himself.

You can save the crossover cable to extend your switch inside the broadband router with another switch. All your computers will need to be connected with straight-through cables.

[Jeff Weston]

To,

I have a 3Com Home Connect external modem with my AT&T Broadband connection. In a word, it sucks! Using your test site, the best I registered was a 62, the worst a 4 and the average about a 50. Tech support never wants to answer the damn phone so that's no good either. Last time I did call, the guy was utterly worthless, wanting to blame it on the router. Ofcourse, nothing improved when it was wired up directly to the PC.

So, that leaves me looking to DSL. I signed up for DSL through Directv this past week and received an email 4 days later saying they couldn't install it after all. I'm now thinking of trying to get the DSL through Earthlink or PacBell. Any thoughts on either? At this point, the AT&T cable certainly isn't worth the $50/month.

Jeff

[TObject]

I think your modem should have web interface. Only I don’t know how to get there, did you try http://192.168.100.1/ ? The modem may have a signal strength reporting of some sort accessible through the interface. How does the cable come to your modem? Is it a good cable? How do you split the cable between modem and TV-Sets? What is the frequency range of the splitter, if you need to connect more than one TV, split the cable with a two way splitter first – one cable for modem, and another to an additional splitter (so that you keep your modem signal attenuation to the minimum). Check the frequency range of the splitters you use. Make sure that your coaxial cables around the house are not shot anywhere, try disconnecting cables from TV sets, see if it makes a difference. Buy a male-to-male connector, and try connecting the cable modem only, without the splitter. Are you sure that your network cables between modem and router and router and computer are in good shape?

[Jeff Weston]

I tried the web based configuration. It says my downstream receive power level is 1db and upstream is 30db. It doesn't say much other than the MAC address, S/N, etc.

As for the cable, I have RG6/U with no TV's hooked up at all (I have Directv). I did a re-boot of the modem (leave it unplugged for 2 minutes) and it is a bit better (max. test of 83) but it is still not great (sometimes long pauses before a webpage will begin to load).

I'm gonna' give AT&T another try tomorrow and tell them to put up or shut up. Then, I'll give Directv a call and tell them the same thing (hook me up with DSL). If that doesn't get me anywhere I'm off to Dish Network for satellite (cheaper) and will look for a different DSL provider.

Thanks!

Jeff

[TObject]

Please post exactly what do they call the levels, and what units of measure they use.

For example, my modem reports Downstream Power Level of -3 dBmV, and Signal to Noise Ratio (Downstream) of 37 dB. Upstream Power Level 40 dBmV, and Upstream Symbol Rate 1.280 Msym/s.

[Jeff Weston]

It took me a few tries to post this 'cause the modem keeps timing out or losing sync.

Anyways:

Cable Modem Status

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downstream Status
Downstream Lock: Locked
Downstream Frequency: 739.7869 MHz
Downstream Modulation: 64 QAM
Downstream Interleave Depth: 32,4,32
Downstream Receive Power Level: 1 dB

Upstream Status
Upstream Channel ID: 5
Upstream Frequency: 25.3280 MHz
Upstream Modulation: QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate: 1280 ksym/sec
Upstream Transmit Power Level: 30 dB

General Status
Cable Modem IP Address: ***
Baseline Privacy Status: Disabled
Registration Status: Operational

Cable Modem Operation Configuration

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Operation Configuration
Network Access: Enabled
Maximum Downstream Data Rate: 1.50 Mb/s
Maximum Upstream Data Rate: 0.30 Mb/s
Maximum Upstream Channel Burst: Not Present
Modem Capability: Concatenation Disabled
Software Upgrade File Name: unknown
DHCP server IP Address: ***
Maximum Number of CPEs: 1


Thanks!

Jeff

[This message was edited by JeepBBS on August 27, 2001 at 12:33 AM.]

[TObject]

Jeff I will try to make a sense of the numbers tomorrow. I am a little suspicious of that 1 dB Downstream Receive Power Level number, but I may be mistaken. Try to run a trace to your home machine http://validator.w3.org/traceroute note the last IP address of the recognizable server the thraceroute could hit, go to command prompt, and ping that address, note what ms interval the ping reports.

For example, I get 16ms at worst. Ping with –t option (until stopped), and look at the fluctuations in response time.

[Jeff Weston]

When I go to the tracerout page the last IP lists 96.146 ms, 94.589 ms & 97.550 ms. When I ping it through a dos window I get Time<10ms mostly and occasionally Time=1ms. Now it's getting Greek to me. Oh well, I better hit the sack so I can get up and pay for all this stuff. I've got a new server arriving tomorrow which should be both fun and frustrating at the same time.

Jeff

[Scott Hill]

Jeff,

if you need help with the server let me know and I can show up and give you a hand.

and as far as cables go for any new NIC dont worry about reverse or straight the NIC will accept any one most will display an extra light if it is reversed but it will still work.

a little TJ with a few mods check her out at www.real-jeeps.com

[Jim B]

Guys, I'm struggling to keep up.

Ok, to answer a few.

No dedicated server. With regards to static and dynamic, don't understand the difference (have an idea but not sure), don't know which is better. Which one is easier to install? I'd like to KISS it, if possible.

I will have 3 computers, 2 printers, dsl modem. Would like any computer that happens to be on, to be able to use either printer and dsl modem. All computers will share their local resources.

Since I don't have network cards on the two printers I like Anders idea of the Netgear print server taking only one port of the hub or switch as To calls it. The cable/dsl router seems to have the firewall and can be set up to assign ip addresses. Is static better and more of a hassle to set up?

If I wish to keep an image of my hardrive, what removal media is available out there that can also hold this much info, lets say 6gigs? Will it be better to just get a duplicate hard disk and just pull it out? Will the Drive Copy program only copy data changed? Right now my backup consist of using win explorer to copy over certain folders to my 1 gig jazz. It is a pain sometimes. I'm going have to check and see if Iomega has a better utility especially for the registry. Should I get a second drive identically in size and use it as my backup image drive? It would be nice if something happens to be able to just turn on a switch and be up again.

To, for the question on hub vs switches. If you think switches are better and more efficient are they as easy to set up vs the hub with firewall and router? Do I gather that the switches also have a router that has what you call a Wan connection for the dsl modem? When I get everything settled I will take you up on your offer with regards to those cables.

I thank all of you for your help & patience.

Jim B.

97TJ El Niño, Mods listed on Web Site.
JJB@worldoversea.com
http://www.jeep.worldoversea.com
Jeep Rater Score: 42

[TObject]

Hubs and switches do essentially the same thing, look the same, and there is no difference in setup. However switches can sense when let’s say two computers communicate between each other and keep other ports open for other connections, where hubs just bluntly replicate anything they get on one port to all other ports.

WAN port is a feature of the router.

You will want a router that acts both as DHCP client and server (I think all broadband routers have that feature), that way the router will get an IP address from your provider automatically, and the router will assign IP addresses automatically to all computers on your network. That would be dynamic, usually this method works right out of the box, no need to configure anything (you will probably want to kill your peer to peer network first though). I use dynamic at home, it works just fine.

Jim, unless you take it out of the computer and put it in a safe place – it is not a backup. Removable hard drive backup will work just fine until you drop it or something bad happens to the hard drive. If you really need to back up 6 GB at a time, I think I would go to Tape backup, or DVD backup. There probably lots tools to do incremental backup, but I am not on the ball in that arena, myself, I just copy whole files/folders.

Jeff, the trace route response time is time from the trace route server (remote) to hosts between that server and your computer. Ping time is response time between your computer and the machine you are pinging. 10ms is good.

[Jim B]

To,

Broadband router with integrated switches is how I will proceed.

I will connect the dsl to the Wan connection, I will need 4 switches, 3 for the computers and 1 for the Netgear PS110 10/100 2 port print server like Anders suggested that will run both printers for a total of 4 switches. As you say I can always add more switches as I need them. I'm I correct so far?

I will look into the D-Link DI-804 or SMC 7004ABR broadband. Am I on the right track here? I gathered from everyone's statements that this will be pretty much plug and play after I connect all the cables.

Besides the computer is there anything else?

Jim B.

97TJ El Niño, Mods listed on Web Site.
JJB@worldoversea.com
http://www.jeep.worldoversea.com
Jeep Rater Score: 42

[TObject]

Correcto mundo, Jim! Only you don’t need four switches, you need four LAN ports on the [single] switch (the two you just listed have four LAN ports). These four ports make out the switch integrated inside the broadband router. Yes, later if you need more ports you can add another switch (external). The combination should be pretty much plug and play. And if it doesn’t work form start, we will help you get it up and running.

Anders, does the print server act as DHCP client? Does it work with any combination of printers or is there a compatibility list?

Jim, here is your shopping list:

- Broadband Router (D-Link DI-804 or SMC 7004ABR for example)
- Print Server
- Cables

[Anders Karlsson]

According to Netgear's site Netgear
it supports all major parallel printers and yes it does act as a DHCP client if you want.

[TObject]

Sweet!

[Jim B]

To,

Checked both these units out and their specs which are a bit out of my league.

http://www.dlink.com/products/broadb...SpecsTable.htm

http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3/250

I did notice that he SMC had a parallel port hook up for a printer. Does this mean that if I get the Netgear I can have up to 3 printers? After looking at the specs which one would be better?

Jim B.

97TJ El Niño, Mods listed on Web Site.
JJB@worldoversea.com
http://www.jeep.worldoversea.com
Jeep Rater Score: 42

[TObject]

Wow, I didn’t even check the SMC router specs myself, I just believed somebody who told me that the model I posted was the newer replacement for the older SMC that I knew.

Looks like something I could use. My bro is complaining that he can’t access my laser printer when my computer is off.

Yes, it looks like with this router and a print server you’ll be able to hook up three printers. I am pretty sure there should be no conflicts between the two, but we will not find out until we actually try it, or have somebody who has already tried it pitch in with info.

Aside from the print server, the specs look about the same.

[TObject]

Jim, if you are looking for a bargain, Tiger Direct got a recently discontinued 3Com broadband router for only $39. Go to http://www.tigerdirect.com/ and search for m975-1032

[TObject]

Go here:
http://www.3com.com/lan2001/switch7
Waingt a second, click on "Skip Intro", and then click on "Free BOOK", and "Register Now"...