Guide to Building a Basic Network

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Building a home or small business network or LAN is one of the simplest tasks when working with PCs. So, do not make it more complicated than it needs. You can buy the few components you will need either separately or in a kit form. You will save money buy shopping around for the components separately. The kits will come with complete instructions for the first time network builder. This is a choice for you to make. 
 
Let's discuss the few items you will need to start:
 
 1) Hub
 2) Network Adapter Card for each computer
 3) Cables to run from each computer to the Hub
 
The Hub
Hubs are the basic connector for a network, as a junction for the computers to connect together. If all the cards are the same speed, 10Mbps vs 10/100Mbps cards, buying a simple hub to match their speed is ideal and most economical. If the cards pre-exited in the computers and were mismatched in speed, you should use a switch, a device that allows the faster cards to continue to communicate at the highest speed and not slowed by the slower card. Today, hubs are very inexpensive and the price of switches has fallen dramatically. (under for a 5port hub and under 0 for a 5port switch). 
 
The Network Adaptor cards
Although you will find older 10mb network cards around in the price range, they are almost always ISA slot cards. I highly recommend you use 10/100Mbps network cards, now in the under range and they are usually PCI cards, which dramatically increases data transfer speeds and performance. 
 
The Cabling
Nearly all hubs and Network cards sold today are what is often called 10base-T or 100base-T. That simply means you use cables called Cat5, (sometimes called "twisted pair")... they have connector ends on them that resemble a telephone connector. The telephone connector is actually smaller, called a RJ-11 connector, while a 10base-T connector is an RJ-45. But, they are nearly alike, except for size. 
 
Installation
All you do is install the network cards into each computer, along with required drivers for the operating system. The drivers will be included with the Network Adaptor card or they can be downloaded from the manufacturer's web site. Windows95/98 makes the installation of these drivers simple. Then, plug in an appropriate length cable to the hub, then cables out from the other two computers to the hub. Remember that if you are using a hub that you do not want a "cross-pin" or "cross-over" cable. These are special cables used to connect two computers without a hub. Typically the cable you require is a "patch" cable. This is all very simple, so do not make it too complicated.