[ale] Home Network

[Robert Reese]

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
On 2/5/2007 at 8:00 AM Jim Moore wrote:

>How do I set up a home network?
>This is my setup: 3MB internet modem--Netgear WGT624 Router--Laptop (XP 
>Pro/FC6) wireless: Lan 1 Desktop (XP Pro/FC5), Lan 2 Desktop ( XP 
>Pro/Debian "Sarge" 40G spare disk space), Lan 3 (98SE with second 40G HD 
>has Mandrake 8 on it but lost boot when 98 crashed,can only boot 98SE now).
>
>I've looked at Samba but don't know if it's what I need to use.


Hi Jim,

I'm no Linux expert, but I'm using Samba myself for my home network to give access to my FC4 box from my Windows computers.  Jeff gave good advice for the router; I'd go a step further and assign IP addresses to each MAC at the router and set each computer up for DHCP.  The router will assign the same IP address to the MAC address of each connection every time that MAC device connects to it.

For the Windows boxes, make sure you put each machine on the same workgroup, creating a unique workgroup for your network instead of using the default workgroup assigned by Windows.  I don't recall exactly what I needed to do to Samba, but it too needs to be on the same workgroup.  By the way, I'm curious... do you still need Windows 98?  I'd recommend getting rid of it if you don't need it for both security and increased usability as "compatibility" requirements for keeping it around may cause you issues and will cost you functionality.

Good luck with your network,
Robert Reese~

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