I'd really like to learn more about networking; not only to network my existing computers but also to possibly incorporate network storage or servers within the business. I put a few "Networking for Dummies"-type books in my Amazon cart, but none of them are getting 5-star reviews.... they all seem to have shortcomings.

Before ordering, I wondered if anyone here knows of a website that goes through the basics of networking in 20~40 pages to give a good, solid overview?

I haven't clicked through the links on this page, but it looks promising.

Basic Networking Concepts

I looked at a few other pages and Peter's suggestions seems to be as good as any.

The Introcuction to Home Networking Link looked like a pretty good place to start. I liked the example diagrams of you most common layouts a little deeper down in that section. Nice simple diagrams.

It's a really, really broad topic to just start into a conversation on so read until you fall asleep then come back with questions.

Wait, this isn't the network site?

I come here to network.

Thanks guys... I never considered About.com!

I come here for the maple syrop recipies.

I'm with Mark on needing a better understanding of setting up a "real" network. I've made lots of little tactical decisions putting up a wireless network many years ago, but now that I want to do more than just have multiple PCs accessing the internet, I'm not so sure what to do.

I've PM'd some here to discuss NAS. I've got my PS3 on the network. And I want to be able to backup PCs and share/stream files, etc. But I haven't found anything that gives me a real overview/framework for how networking really works in a Windows environment. Why do I see some folders and not others? How does Windows, conceptually, view a network?

Not sure I'm asking the crowd here to answer per se, but I didn't get what I needed from the about.com links. So are there any others? Perhaps seeing a "step-by-step how-to" for a non-Vista windows environment would help me understand what the key steps are and why.

Thanks,
Rich

I promise that I will spend some time going through the suggested About.com site pages as recommended. But I have a very quick question in the meantime.

**Remember that my computers are NOT Networked to communicate with each other. I'll do that someday, but right now, this question involves spreading internet access only!

I have a Linksys WRT54GS router as the 54 series was highly recommended here. My cable modem is plugged into the input, and I'm using 2 connections for nearby computers to have internet access. Two laptops are gaining wireless internet from the router, and three other computers have no internet at all.

To update my Denon recently, I ran a 50' Ethernet cable across my office, across the hall and to the far side of the living room to my rack. It's not ideal, but I've left it in place at the moment to enjoy internet radio on the Denon.

As the updates for the Denon and B-D player went so well, I've started considering the advantages of getting my other HT components on the net…primarily the Xbox 360 and HD TiVo in addition to the receiver…though I guess the B-D player gains some benefit to online content as well. That should suffice for background…I hope.

So I've got that Ethernet cable going to the rack, but have 3~4 components that could benefit from a connection. Will a unit like THIS one take the incoming connection from the Linksys Router and simply distribute it? Or are there weird things like packets and codes and secret handshakes and decoder rings needed?

{{{extra long link provided since Ken doesn't like little links!!}}}

If this will work, maybe I'll plan a more permanent solution by running the cables through the attic instead of across the floor!

Yup, that'll do the trick.

So, nothing to do but plug it in?

Do I get slower internet because of the distribution?

Yep - it will work.

BTW, Newegg has this unit for 21.99, free shipping, no tax.

Excellent! Thanks guys!

I hadn't price shopped yet, I just happened to be at BB site for something else..... Though I COULD just pick it up and get it done tonight!

Just re-read your post and counted using all of my fingers. Linksys also makes an 8 port version. Not sure of the cost.

You won't lose any internet speed per se, unless one of those components is downloading something.

That switch will definitely do the trick, but why not get a switch that also serves as a wireless bridge so you can do away with that unsightly 50' cable run as well?

It probably won't be plug-and-play because you'll have to configure it to access your existing wireless base station, but we're here for you.

EDIT: I just noticed that you were planning to redo the wiring so it goes through the attic. Whenever I can, I prefer to use a cable, but if you want to save yourself some attic intrusion....

Could I possibly run into problems with connection speed when playing internet radio?

~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE:
Jeez, I'm so ignorant...... I just turned on my Photoshop computer (which is also where I've ripped all my music files to an external hard drive) and I got a window asking me if I'd like to allow the Denon Network to play content from this computer's Windows Media Library... Holy Crap. I thought I was going to have to connect a USB hard disc to the Denon...I didn't kno I could do it this way!

Yes you could to the connection speed/radio question.

I wouldn't think so, Ken. Internet radio is typically up to 128kbps, though I've seen some streaming as high as 320. Even 320kbps is no more than 40K/s, which even 802.11b can handle with ease.

I've been in a small office where someone's streaming music. It can and does suffer.

I prefer hardwired anyway, so you two stop your bickering!

Seriously, thanks to everyone for their help. It really WAS cool when all this fell together! All of a sudden, after years of no networking happening AT ALL, I'm listening to music on my Denon streamed from one computer and controlling the Denon through Mozilla from a different room. And it was all Plug 'n Play in an environment where NOTHING ever seemed to be Plug 'n Play!

Before buying the receiver, I had all that talk about hooking up a hard disc to the USB jack. I had absolutely NO idea that I would boot a computer and get a window asking if I'd like to share my music with the Denon.

Hell Yeah, I would!

Now, I couldn't imagine buying a receiver without networking capability (as I sit here listening to a Blues station from New Zealand...)

Oh, our Mark has all geeked up!

Doesn't matter if you prefer hardwired or not, Mark, any kind of home networking is likely faster than your broadband connection. That's the limitation, and my contention is that streaming internet radio will take up a significant chunk of that connection. Easy enough to test; set up one of your computers to play streaming audio, and then see if web browsing on the other is affected.

I've had "higher quality" internet radio playing quite a bit since yesterday oftentimes while I'm on the net and I haven't noticed any slowdown... Of course, I could always kill that source if I'm uploading/downloading something major to an FTP site or something...

Very true.

I'm late but whit any decent HSI connection you should be OK in a home environment to run an internet radio station and do most anything else short of a huge, unrestricted download.

In an office environment, sometimes it's just not the Internet bandwidth that is the bottleneck but all the other traffic floating around on your network that is taking up space. It all depends on how well it is configured, switches vs. hubs, intelligent routing and design, etc.

Using my pretty meager 5MB connection (country living) I'll have an internet radio station playing on the Squeezebox, run my works stuff via a VPN to my work, chat with co-workers over VOIP and download a decent size file from our work servers and never hear a hiccup on the radio feed.

I might even have the Axiom board up on my second monitor but that uses almost no bandwidth at all, except when Peter and Ken are spamming the heck out of the ShoutBox. heh heh.

You mean Charles and Sean.

Normally Yes, 'Calvin' but at this particular moment they are the names I see. snicker.

This didn't seem "New Topic" worthy, but I'm curious:

Some of the internet radio I'm trying is obviously streaming versions of "traditional" radio stations. Some others never have an ad or DJ.

Q1--How is it they do this without ad income? I'm listening to a Belgian Blues station now that I've had on for 90 minutes, and they've had no break at all.

Q2--Is Pandora accessible in this type of setup with the Denon? I'm not sure how it "browses" other than Denon just building certain radio stations into the firmware somehow or something...

TOLD you I was stupid when it comes to Networking!!!

Hey, I keep the spam for myself.

I'm not seeing an answer to this on About.com or Googling:

Is a 100' Cat5 cable problematic pertaining to signal loss? Is Cat6 better for long runs?

Cat6 is always better, but I don't think 100' is a problem for Cat5. I'm sure there's a spec somewhere.

It looks like lengths of up to 100m (328 feet) are in the specs.

Cool! I've got a 100' length, four 7' lengths and one 14' length of Cat6 in my basket at Monoprice. I'll pick up the switcher locally as I have a BB Reward certificate.

Maybe Sean will pick up and deliver the cables?

Well, everything is mostly good with the network, though I need to iron out some security issues. In the meantime, I have a question that I can't find an answer to:

Is there a way to stop a Vista computer from EVER going on the internet?

I have a laptop tethered to my studio camera that I use for recording images, and now that I've got the network setup, it's constantly slowed down and interupted by "new updates available", etc. I know I can turn off the auto-updates (at least I did in XP Pro) and remove stuff from the startup group, but I can't find a simple option to "Never connect to the internet" or better yet "Never connect to a wireless network". When I boot up, I manually disconnect it from the wireless network, but it's already found updates in the meantime!

I can always hardwire it occasionally to update it as needed.

Is there such an option, or is MS hellbent on everything having to be connected at all times?

Turn off your wireless card.

Via hardware management?

I have another laptop with an PCMCIA wireless card, so I can simply pull it out on that laptop. But I wasn't so sure that turning something off via the hardware management would be a good idea for this one...

Do you still need it on your home network? If not, I see nothing wrong with disabling your network hardware, occasionally enabling it for updates.

No, I'd actually prefer it to be disconnected from everything. I can bring it up to my office to hardwire it with an ethernet cable here and there as needed.

Well, you can either do it with a switch on the laptop (if such a switch exists), or you can drill down through Vista's network apps until you get to the adapters and simply disable the wireless adapter (right click on the adapter, choose disable)

Or cover it entirely in tinfoil.

As was already mentioned disable or pull the wireless card from the PC.

Another option I did not see mentioned was adding a MAC address filter on your router to not allow that particular wireless card to connect to your network. To me that seems the preferred option as the wireless card is still there and active in the event you want to connect to yours or any other wireless network. You'd just disable the MAC filter from another computer if you ever need to connect (or just plug in the ethernet cable of course).