replies interspersed below.
At 09:29 PM 1/3/00 -0500, chris Job wrote [in part]:
>Question 1: All 3 PCs have network cards. How can I find out what type of
> cards they are if they are compatible with Linux?
To find out what card it is, opne the box and look at the card. There should
be identifying information on it. There may also be a "works with Netware"
sticker on the back -- that usually (always?) means NE2000.
To find out about compatibility, look at the Ethernet HowTo and the Hardware
Compatibility HowTo. A lot of cards not identified by name as compatible
with Linux work with the Tulip driver (100 Mbit) and the NE2000 driver (10
Mbit).
>
>Question 2: What is the best (and cheapest) way to go about building this
> network?
What will work best for you depends on where you are located. Here in
Northern California, I'd bicycle over to Fry's Electronics and buy 3 NE2000
cards @ $9, a small hub @ $25, and 3 cables @ $5, for a total cost of $70.
If you don't have a good, cheap source locally, I'd recommend trying the MEI
catalog.
You will need to do some configuration on the RH host to make it function as
a router for the others. Depending on details of your Internet connection
that you don't tell us, you may (probably do) want to run IP Masquerading on
it (there's an IP Masq HowTo). You will also need to enable IP forwarding in
the kernel (on newer versions of Linux, all you need to do for this is enter
cat "1" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
but I don't know about RH 5.2 specifically)0
.
>Question 3: I have very little knowledge of networking... Where can I find
> information on the basics of networking? (Web sites, HOWTOs
> and books)
Start at the Linux Documentation Project, URL
http://www.linuxdoc.org/
They have the HowTos I mentioned earlier and other networking resources.
That should get you going on the Linux part. I don't know about the Windows
part -- in my limited experience with WIn9x, setting up networking has
usually been trivially easy, but if real problem arose I wouldn't know how
to troubleshoot them.
>Question 4: Must I get a hub(?) so that all the PCs can recieve email and
> access the web? If I do need a hub, then where can I get a
> good one cheap?
Assuming you use 10BaseT connections between the machines, you do need a
hub. If you are running slow, 10 Mbit Ethernet, you do have the alternative
of running 10Base2, also called thinnet -- run using coaxial cable. With
only 3 machines, this may be a sensible choice for you, but even so I
wouldn't actually recommend it.
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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