Home, sweet (networked) home: whether you're a tech pro or just a beginner, connecting your home PCs is an easy way to achieve domestic tranquility. (Technology).IN THE 1960S, PEOPLE ASKED IF YOUR TV WAS COLOR OR BLACK and white. The '70s were all about the 8-track. The '80s and '90s found us toying with CD-ROMs, DVDs, and computers with superhigh-speed processors. Well, welcome to the new millennium, where the big question isn't what kind of PC do you have, but how many. And, as the number of systems and peripherals in homes increases, families are looking to embrace another new technology--home networking. Whether you choose a wired or wireless solution, there are a number of compelling reasons for networking your home PCs. Networking lets you use a single printer for all the systems, share file storage and backups, and enjoy after-hours online games with the family. Homes with networked computers can share a single phone line, making arguments over who gets the connection a thing of the past. If broadband Internet access Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is high speed Internet access—typically contrasted with dial-up access over modem. Dial-up modems are generally only capable of a maximum bitrate of 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second) and require the full use of a via cable or a DSL modem ADSL modem or DSL modem is a device used to connect a single computer or router to a DSL phone line, in order to use an ADSL service. The acronym NTBBA (network termination broad band adapter, network termination broad band access) is also common in various countries. is available, you'll quickly discover that a home network is essential for domestic tranquility. Shared Internet access See how to access the Internet. even works well over a 56Kbps dial-up connection, and it can help lower your monthly ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. charges--and your phone bill. Better yet, networking lets you access files from other servers, such as those at work. That could put telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. squarely in your future. GETTING STARTED Whichever type of network you choose, you'll need a gateway--a hub that directs network traffic to and from your devices. Many of the new wireless residential gateways pack most of the functions into one easy-to-install package. A good unit will bundle a DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary or cable-modem wireless access point, an Ethernet hub A device that all lines on an Ethernet segment are plugged into. 10Base-T and 100Base-T Ethernets are star networks and require a hub for operation. The earlier 10Base5 and 10Base2 Ethernets are bus networks, but are often wired into a star configuration using a central hub for improved , a firewall, and an Internet router (1) A router in the Internet that forwards IP packets between local, regional and national providers. Same as "IP router." (2) (InterNet Router) Macintosh software from Apple that internetworks different access methods (LocalTalk, EtherTalk, TokenTalk, etc. in a single box. Because different DSL providers have different modem requirements, you typically buy an all-in-one unit preconfigured Set up ahead of time. It implies that the device or software application has been modified to suit the customer or situation. See ghosting server. by your ISP when you set up service. Before you begin, be sure to ask your provider if there are any additional specifications that you should know about or any other equipment you'll need. Other new gateways are designed to work with the DSL or cable modem cable modem Modem used to convert analog data signals to digital form and vise versa, for transmission or receipt over cable television lines, especially for connecting to the Internet. you got from your ISP. You buy these gateways off the shelf from computer and electronics retailers (such as Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA) and handle setup yourself. If you choose a wireless network get ready to spend a little extra money. In addition to the gateway, you'll need a PC Card, a PCI card A circuit board that plugs into the computer's PCI bus and contains the control electronics for a peripheral device. Starting in the latter half of the 1990s, PCI became very popular. See PCI. , or a USB adapter Refers to some type of network or communications controller that plugs into the computer via the USB port. It may refer to an Ethernet adapter, Bluetooth adapter or serial or parallel port adapter. for each device on the network NO SNOW DAYS Joseph M. Edwards, 27, and his fiancee, Carmen Carmen throws over lover for another. [Fr. Lit.: Carmen; Fr. Opera: Bizet, Carmen, Westerman, 189–190] See : Faithlessness Carmen the cards repeatedly spell her death. [Fr. Harris, 24, live in Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a Maryland, U.S. city located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street. The official population estimate for Laurel city was 21,945 as of 2006. , where the winter weather can often leave them stuck at home. Their home network however, has made snow days as well as sick days a thing of the past. Edwards, a senior network engineer for eLink Communications in Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda is an urbanized, but unincorporated, area in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, just Northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a church located there, the Bethesda Presbyterian Church, built in 1820 and rebuilt in 1850, which in turn took its name from , is a self-professed networking guru who has been providing PC and networking support to telecommuters for the past seven years. Edwards discovered his talent for computers through an internship at the National Institutes of Health while he was a student at Howard University Howard University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; with federal support. It was founded in 1867 by Gen. Oliver O. Howard of the Freedmen's Bureau, to provide education for newly emancipated slaves. A normal and preparatory department was opened the same year. . Says Edwards, "I am always connected to my office from home. That's why I built my own network there. I am on a dial-up connection right now because the higher-speed connection is not available yet in my neighborhood. [But when it is], we'll go wireless." Edwards built each server with remote-access capabilities so he could reach the office network at any time. If something goes wrong in the middle of the day, his clients can call him at home, where he can then simply access their server. "I don't have to say, `Give me two hours and I'll be in to fix it.' I just do it right from [home]," he says. Harris, a senior account executive at Infotech Strategies Infotech Strategies is an integrated communications firm that services organizations in the technology and education markets. History Infotech Strategies, Inc. is headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in Seattle, WA and Tucson, AZ. in Washington, D.C., can also access all her files from work. "It's been great because I can dial in at home. I am also a student, so I take classes at home online," says Harris. "I have the Internet connection, fax, and printer, just as I would at the office. I can also capitalize on the equipment we have to stay home more often, which gives me more flexibility. And when those late-night client calls come in, I can dial in to the office easily and fax and receive information just as I would at the office." Home networking has allowed both Edwards and Harris to telecommute See telecommuting. when necessary. The one drawback? Edwards laughs, "There's no guarantee that I will ever get a vacation. I can take a day off, but I'll still get a call. If a customer calls, a customer calls. As long as I don't have to get dressed and leave the house, it's OK. It's only bad when someone calls and says, `Hey, this thing is on fire.'" KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES "Keeping up with the Joneses" is a popular catchphrase in many parts of the English-speaking world. It refers to the desire to be seen as being as good as one's neighbours or contemporaries using the comparative benchmarks of social caste or the accumulation of material goods. Dr. Thomas A. Jones, 60, and his companion, Lesia Hegeman, 43, found that much of their after-work hours of Internet usage were being dominated by Lesia's two sons, Michael, 15, and Malcolm, 11. It seemed that the ninth and sixth graders, respectively, were logging more time surfing the Web and e-mailing friends than he and Lesia were. Jones, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri at the Kansas City Dental School, needed to find a solution that suited everyone's productivity needs. "I do a lot of work from my home, especially, bookkeeping, PowerPoint presentations, and university reports, and [keep] data on my dental outreach program in South America," says the Shawnee, Kansas, resident. Lesia is an accountant for the Leavenworth Water District and often brings work home with her as well. The couple found themselves constantly connecting and disconnecting one PC to accommodate a print job and reconnecting another one so the boys could surf. Weary of the cables and wires that were plaguing the house, Jones decided to visit his university bookstore to research networking. A store clerk recommended Netgear products. Jones decided to continue the research on his own, but still chose the Netgear wireless solution because he already had a DSL connection at home. Besides, he says, it sounded like the easiest solution. After purchasing an additional 50 feet of Category 5 (Cat 5) cable, Jones connected the computers to the Netgear router and then connected the router to the DSL modem. "I was amazed at how easy it was to set up the network," says Jones. "The router is very small and light, so space is not a problem. I have the Netgear router connected to two PCs and one laptop computer. Michael and Malcolm use the router to surf, download games, research topics for school projects, and send video e-mails and photos." The biggest improvement the wireless network has brought the family is in the area of productivity. The couple can use their computers at the same time and have access to the Internet 24 hours a day. They can both work in peace--for a while at least. Michael and Malcolm are now preparing to lead air combat missions over the Internet with their flight simulator. LOOK MA, NO WIRES Like Jones and Hegeman, Alonzo Ellis, 28, who resides in Tracey, California (about 45 minutes east of San Francisco), decided to go with a wireless solution. Ellis, the chief technology officer and co-founder of Imperito Networks, was introduced to the benefits of home networking while in the IT division at CitiCorp, where he concentrated on information security. Ellis uses his wireless setup with his DSL connection supplied by Pacific Bell. The house, which is only a year old, is wired for Cat 5 cabling. "My PC at home can sit on the corporate LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. and have access to the Internet, and it's all done securely. Anything that I would normally be able to do inside the corporate environment, I can do right here at home," says Ellis. Ellis and his fiancee, Kalena Alston-Griffin, 25, use one desktop machine that acts as a server, and two laptops. Each laptop has a wireless Ethernet connection to communicate with the wireless access point at the server, which is wired for high-speed Interact access. For Ellis, security was a serious concern. "Although the wireless solution does have its own security, it's very easy to break and has a lot of flaws in it. I run Imperito VPN (Virtual Private Network) A private network that is configured within a public network (a carrier's network or the Internet) in order to take advantage of the economies of scale and management facilities of large networks. [virtual private network] software on top of it. I also use a personal firewall because once you connect to the Internet, someone who's listening can connect to your computer. You're a sitting duck if you're on the Internet without VPN software and a personal firewall," warns Ellis. Ellis says that he chose the Netgear wireless solution, even though it wasn't the cheapest, because he didn't want to have to worry about connecting any cables to the wall. Although the system has been dependable, there were some problems in setting it up, he admits. "The DSL signals will sometimes conflict with the phone signals, and then you won't get the best performance. Sometimes the lines will drop," he explains. Overall, because of the networking solution, Ellis finds himself being more productive. "Before I installed the networking devices, if I needed access to a particular resource, I'd have to wait until the next day so that I could get the information from the company server. Also, if it was an emergency, I was able to dial into the company server, but it was extremely slow," he says. The Home Network * 800MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. Pentium III PC (built) with 256MB RAM, 20GB hard disk, DVD-ROM DVD-ROM: see digital versatile disc. A read-only DVD disc used to permanently store data files. DVD-ROM discs are widely used to distribute large software applications that exceed the capacity of a CD-ROM disc. * 650MHz Pentium III with 256MB of RAM, 20GB hard disk * 500MHz Pentium III PC/server (built) with 128MB of RAM, 10GB hard disk, 8GB tape backup * 500MHz Pentium III PC (built) with 128MB of RAM, 10GB hard disk, CD-RW (CD-ReWritable) The only rewritable CD technology. CD-RW disks look like other CD media, but with close inspection, they have a more polished surface with a very dark blue-gray cast. drive, and scanner * Dell PowerEdge Server with 128MB of RAM, 30GB hard disk * An eight-port 10/100baseT Ethernet hub * A four-port KVM switch (used to connect multiple computers to one monitor, keyboard, and mouse) * HP deskjet printer networked through the server NETWORKING EQUIPMENT COST About $600 SETUP TIME less than three hours The Home Network * Two Dell desktop computers, one with a DVD-RW (DVD-Read Write) A rewritable (re-recordable) DVD disc for both movies and data from the DVD Forum. Also called "DVD Dash RW" and "DVD Minus RW," DVD-RW uses phase change recording. The media hold 4.7GB per side and can be rewritten 1,000 times. , CD-ROM drive, and Zip Drive * IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) laptop computer * Intel video camera * Canon Powershot digital camera * Hewlett-Packard 970cse printer * Hewlett-Packard 1215 Photosmart printer * Hewlett-Packard 710 Officejet printer * Hewlett-Packard 6200C scanner NETWORKING EQUIPMENT COST $120 SETUP TIME 30 minutes The Home Network * Dell Dimension XPSB XPSB X - Protocol Stream Benchmark XPSB X Protocol Stream Benchmark 1000 * Sony Vaio PCG-F190 * Sony Vaio PCG-Z505 * Compaq iPAQ PocketPC 3650 with PC jacket and Cisco-Aironet 340 PC Card * Alcatel/Efficient 4060 USB/DSL modem * 3Com 3C905C 10/100BT PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). NIC (1) (Network Interface Card) See network adapter. See also InterNIC. (2) (New Internet Computer) An earlier Linux-based computer from The New Internet Computer Company (NICC), Palo Alto, CA. (network interface card) * Netgear WE102 wireless access point/bridge * Two Netgear MA401 wireless PC cards * Netgear FS108 eight-port switch NETWORKING EQUIPMENT COST About $600 SETUP TIME Two weekends Getting Started besides the options mentioned, there are several home networking packages on the market. Be sure to consider your choices carefully. Take a trip to the bookstore or log on to get more information. A few good sites that provide valuable tips and product information are Cnet.com (www.cnet.com), HomePNA (www.homepna.org), and ZDNet (www.zdnet.com). Some of the top-selling home networking products on the market are the following: * 3Com HomeConnect Home Network Phoneline USB USB in full Universal Serial Bus Type of serial bus that allows peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, digitizers, data gloves, etc.) to be easily connected to a computer. Kit ($179; www.3com.com) * Intel AnyPoint Wireless Home Network 10Mbps USB ($79; www.intel.com) * Orinoco Wireless Networking Kits for Small Businesses and Home Offices ($349 and up; www.orinocowire less.com) * US Robotics Wireless Access Network Combination Set ($289.95; www.usr.com) We Tried It in an effort to bring even more real-world experience to this story, BLACK ENTERPRISE set up its own wireless solution, the same Netgear system Dr. Jones and his family used. (It's one of the top-selling wireless packages on the market.) While setup was relatively smooth, we did have a conflict with the ISP, Mindspring. Our DSL settings had to be reassigned because we could not get Internet access without having these changes reset. And because the BE test home was built in the early 1920s, we did blow the circuits a couple of times. It's a good idea to keep surge protectors on hand; this will help alleviate the problem. Alonzo Ellis advises: "If the home is older than five or 10 years, you may want to look at going with a cable modem or DSL, whichever is available; but certainly you'll want to consider wireless [rather than] phone-line networking. The lines in older homes were never meant to carry high-speed data traffic." Our advice: If you decide that the wireless solution is appropriate, proceed slowly and read all the instructions carefully before you begin. This will save you time and prevent networking headaches during installation. |
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