Which hub to go with?

any reviews and or recommendations for 2 pc's?

[jeremy goodrich]

I'm putting together my first home office network, and so far my little connection sharing idea is just not working.

So, I'm thinking of purchasing a hub, so I can still use the same dsl line for both computers. Does anybody have a favorite brand, etc, for hubs? Personal recommendations?

I've looked around, and the pricing is all over, from 30 or so to 100 for a simple 4 or 5 port number. I only need one for the 2 pc's, might be nice if it was 10/100 compatible, and had a built in firewall, but really all I want to do is get them both online. Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[msgraph]

Just set one up here Jeremy. Bought a hub and was able to connect everything right but had a problem with the internet connection sharing part. After trying a few programs out that didnīt require me to install a second NIC on the "server", I found that the Sygate home network did the job pretty good. It creates a virtual NIC on the "server" so that you can have one IP for the LAN and still keep your ISP IP as well. Then you load up the same software on your client system and it will go in and assign the IP automatically. If everything works right you should have it all up and running in no time. They offer a free personal firewall as well.

here is the site [sygate.com]

Now after saying all this I have found out another piece of hardware that might work even better. Thinking about buying it because all this "connection" software is eating up some resources. Plus it seems like less of a hassle on maintenance.

Linksys has a 4-port DSL/Cable router that will set you back about $150. From the reviews I read in various PC mags I hear that it is one of the best things to get for sharing a high-speed modem on a network. Pretty cheap for a router too. It has a built-in firewall and I hear the security is very good.

They have a lot of other cools toys for sale as well.

product info [linksys.com]

[jeremy goodrich]

Is the only difference between the linksys hub you mention and the cheaper model the firewall? Seems that I could get firewall software for less for each machine, configure it on the computers as clients, and save money over the expensive version with the firewall built in.

Thanks for the suggestions, though. I think I just might be well enough equiped to go get something, I'll keep you informed on how well ( or not) it works out. :)

[jeremy goodrich]

Thanks again to msgraph. I went out and got the linksys cheap model, and then went to cnet and dowloaded one of the "free proxy servers" listed when I did a search, called winproxy [winproxy] which is pretty cool, but a major pain to configure.

Still have the other firewall software, fully compatible. It's pretty exciting, even though it's an old pc and a refurb portable, to be able to say I'm sitting here on my own private lan. :)

[startup]

I have seen a cable for sale that networks two computers using the USB ports. If I remember correctly, the length of the cable is only about 3 feet.

[msgraph]

Welcome. Good to see that everything worked great. It's a big relief when everything runs smoothly. Very annoying when you have to reboot everytime you change a setting.

I regret that I didn't warn you about WinProxy however. It is a pain to configure and I hope you have a good uninstaller program if you ever want to remove it. I had a lot of trouble trying to configure it so I just gave up.
When I uninstalled it there were a few files and registry keys that were not taken out. It somehow threw in a Windows Startup setting to try and run the installation file everytime I rebooted. I had to run Uninstaller and Norton's System check to make sure everything was cleaned.

Sygate's firewall is pretty good and it's free. Has a really good log file system to track incoming and outgoing packets. Like 4 different log files to view I think. The only problems I had with it was all my FTP connections had to be in passive mode. But that's also due to the how the servers that I connect to are set up.