Can anyone explain the difference b/w router and hub to a newbie?

[Akaz1976]

thanx.

 

[LadyDi]

Check out this site www.practicallynetworked.com

You can get answers to the basics very quickly

 

[warlord]

or you could use that magic text box called the search function.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Or just look here...

I don't guarantee that my answer is correct or comprehensive, but here goes:

A hub is simply a repeater. That is, data sent to it from any one computer is repeated and sent out to every other computer connected to the hub. Hubs are typically used to connect small groups of computers together, i.e. on a home LAN, or 50 computers in a computer lab, etc.

A router is quite a bit different from a hub, and is typically used to connect large segments of a network together. They make up the backbone of the network. They are also smarter and rather than just sending their data every which way, they send it to where it's needed (a switch can also do this, but on a lower level). A router typically will not have 50 computers hooked up directly to it, but rather may have several hubs connected to it, and possibly a long distance connection to one or more other routers.

 

[Zach]

Everything connected to a hub is on a single network.

A router connects two networks.

 

[Akaz1976]

The reason i ask is if i have just one IP address with my cable connection. can i share the internet on 2 computers with a hub? or do i need a router?

i donot wish to use one of the computers as a server (as in ICS) and also i want to have both computers online at the same time.

AKaz

 

[Helevitia]

It depends. Without explaining everything, the easiest thing to do is get Win98SE and use internet sharing and then you can use a hub. This is the cheapest easiest route and really all that you need.

Dave

 

[Zach]

The easiest thing to do is get a router, not setting up Win98 and getting through torubleshooting if anything is instable...

 

[R0b0tN1k]

I hate it when those things are called routers...they're GATEWAYS!!! I think they work great...very easy to set up for a beginner.