[Stryke 9]

So why call it a network, then? It's not, it's a shared connection. It's like calling a dual-processor P3 a render farm- they're completely different creatures, really nothing in common but the absolute most basic functions.


Hell, forget that, since you obviously don't know- why the hell bother with wireless? You can get a nice modem router and a decent length of cable for something like $50, tops. It's cheap, it's more reliable, it's all you need for a shared connection and has no real disadvantages compared to wireless for that application.

Using fancy technologies in wholly inappropriate ways doesn't impress anyone, dude, it just makes you look like an overpaid fool. Like every assistant manager I've ever seen. Wireless is genuinely useful when you've got multiple PCs that need networking in an area, particularly ones that are moving. You don't have that problem. So, then, why?

[Stealth]

see an0n, my reasons for setting up a network are not just being too lazy to save my files to a ZIP disk (it'd probably be more expensive, just for the record, to buy two zip drives and a zip disk for the computers than it would be to set up a complete network LOL ), but i want to be able to play games between the two computers, share an internet connection, share files, share printers, scanners, etc. which can only be done through a network.  

Plugging the computers into a switch is considered a network (yes it really is, look up the definition of "network") but i'm going to be plugging them into my Linksys 'router', and although sharing an internet connection is the primary thing i'm going to be using the network for, other things (mentioned above) are making me go the full 9 yards


EDIT:

Using fancy technologies in wholly inappropriate ways doesn't impress anyone, dude, it just makes you look like an overpaid fool. Like every assistant manager I've ever seen.

well i'm not just going to go out and buy "fancy technologies"... that's why i asked the price of a basic wireless network, in terms of NICs, router, whatever else i'd need.  i want to keep it as simple and cheap as possible, but at the same time reliable

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
So why call it a network, then? It's not, it's a shared connection.

you call "Putting NICs in each computer, running cable to a central router, and then sharing the internet, files, etc. from all computers. " a shared connection?  I don't, i consider that a network.

[an0n]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hooking **** up to a router doesn't let you share files.

This was my main point of contestation in regards to your definitions of what makes a network.

You'd need a central server computer doohickey to share files and ****. Thus, it would constitute a network.

And using a switcher (at least the kind I'm thinking of) is little more than plugging and unplugging wires when different computers want access to a device or service. And that's not, in any way, a network.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by an0n
Correct me if I'm wrong, but hooking **** up to a router doesn't let you share files.
*Corrects an0n*

This was my main point of contestation in regards to your definitions of what makes a network.
see below

You'd need a central server computer doohickey to share files and ****. Thus, it would constitute a network.
No you wouldn't.  You can share files, play games, etc. on a passive hub... of course you can do the same (and more) on a switch

And using a switcher (at least the kind I'm thinking of) is little more than plugging and unplugging wires when different computers want access to a device or service. And that's not, in any way, a network.
Multiple computers, plugged into a switch, hub (active, passive, take your pick), router, server, anything, is considered a network.  Look it up.  There's different types of networks, but they're all some sort of network

 

Cisco CCNA ceritified kid...:  I wasn't asking the definition of a network, i was asking whether people with experience recommended going wired or wireless.


EDIT:  Chew on this:  For computers to be able to share files, play games with each other, etc. they have to be on the same network.  yeah.  the same network... therefore even if you're just using a hub, it's considered a network.

[Stryke 9]

Actually, you don't need a central computer. Had a family network running a while back (load of good it did, only two computers even kinda worked and one was so slow you'd boot it up, go to bed, and sometime the next day it'd be ready to open word. Hopefully before a meal, so you could do more than just sit there and wait or go out for a long walk), no central computer, files shared and everything. When it was up. I'd just missed his part about sharing files.

EDIT: Just couldn't pass this up.

Cisco CCNA ceritified kid.

How cute, kids these days.

[Stealth]

you're right Stryke.  you can share files, play games, and much more on even an 'unintelligent' (passive) hub, which is the simplest networking device you can find...

EDIT:

How cute, kids these days.

yeah.  an0n did say that he's CCNA certified a while back, didn't he?  or am i thinking of someone else?  

i'm still not certified, but who the hell cares

[Anaz]

*will be CCNA in...~1 year*

[Stealth]

yeah i'll be taking the test in a few weeks myself.

what do you think of the new cisco curriculum?  what semester are you on?

[Anaz]

Well, I just randomly grabbed it as the 1 tech course in HS I haven't taken yet for this semester (and consequently the next 3...), so I'm on sem 1 right now. It's really funny to watch the tards in the class who just don't get it. I.e. on our beginning of the year survey, this one kid put "compaq presario" as his computer OS.

[Stealth]

oh.

yeah i meant what semester of CISCO are you in, not of school it's confusing, because cisco has 4 semesters, and we're covering it in 2 school semesters (one year), but the class is a 2 hour block (two periods combined)... so it's all cool

[an0n]

I am certified and/or qualified for the following jobs/services/abilities:

• ......

[mikhael]

For the record, I work for Cisco Systems at the Research Triangle Park campus.

Originally posted by StratComm
As for wireless, it works most of the time, but the equipment isn't very reliable.  They do break quite easily.  We didn't even have that many wireless devices at work last summer, and 1 in 4 that I installed was more trouble than help.

Funny, Cisco and Sun seem to disagree. We use 802.11b pretty much everywhere on our 15 building campus. Its damnably reliable.

Originally posted by an0n

Just get some cheap-ass 10/100 LAN cards and bottleneck them into a switcher or router or some **** then out to a single modem.

Also, sharing a net connection is NOT a network. It's a half-assed measure at best. A network is a setup whereby you can transfer **** between computers and/or where everything is run on a central server and accessed by barebones terminal machines.

Here's a hint from the people that do this for a living: a network is a collection of computer connected together by some media (like, oh, Cat5 or a wireless connection). "Central server with slaves" is one kind of network. "A bunch of machines sharing a fat pipe" is a network. If the latter did not describe a network, I would dare say that Cisco systems does not have a single network anywhere on our campus.

If you can share an internet connection, you can share data between the machines sharing that connection.

[Stealth]

thanks mikhael for backing me up

Yeah i've heard a lot of good things about wireless.  University of Texas (the largest network in America) (from what i've heard), uses a lot of wireless

[StratComm]

Mikhael, where exactly do you work?

[mikhael]

Cisco Systems, Research Triangle Park campus, Building 6 (Pineview). I work for NSITE LabOps--oh wait. we're STEP-LASER now. Yay reorganization.

Why do you ask?

[Liberator]

Curiosity I would imagine seeing as you said you did it for a living.

*bows before the mighty network/modeling god, mikhael*

[mikhael]

Dude. I'm just a sysadmin. I just work for Cisco (like 200k other geeks). And Venom models way better than me.

If you really want to consider me a god though, sacrifice a new graphics card to me. Just mail it.

[übermetroid]

About Wireless vs Wires...  I am just about finished adding 2000sq feet to my house, and I installed a wireless AND wire network in the bedrooms and the office.  (Well wires to everything, and 1 wireless to see how far it would work.)  I found that the wireless had troubles making it from the server room to the office or my room (which are on the complete oppisite side of the house).

But besides that the wireless works fine and I can use my HP PDA with built in wireless when I am in the living room if I feel like being a super geek.

.....
Cisco!  I took a semster of that durring HS!  Yech!  I am very impressed that people here get interested in that stuff.  I know I was bored like crazy!

[StratComm]

Mikheal: because if you're in RTP then you aren't too far away from me.  I just find it interesting that there's another forumite from around these parts.