Can I set up a router in this situation?

[PushHands]

A friend has AOL DSL without a router. Currently the modem is connected to his PC via USB port but I did notice that the modem has a ethernet port. I'll get the model on the modem soon so I can look up the specs on it.

The one network card in it right now is connected to his printer, which I do not want to make any changes to, its just more work I do not want to do. The printer is one of those corporate size, waist high printers.

I want to install a router for him so my question is:
1) Is it possible to install a second nic and connect it to the router? This would mean he would be running two nics on his machine, one for net access and one for his printer.
2) Will there be any conflict as the computer tries to figure out which nic is suppose to do what?
3) Has anyone done this before and comment on some potential problems I could run into?

 

[JackMDS]

I do not know how the printer is used, but using two NICs creates two networks and the printer would not be on the same Network as the Router.

If you do not want to reconfigure the printer, find what the Printer IP is and write it down.

Unplug the Printer from the NIC configure the NIC to obtain IP auto, plug the computer to the Router and change the Router?s IP range to be the same as the printer.

Plug the Printer to one of the Router?s port, every thing should work in harmony.

:sun:

 

[Rapidskies]

You should really forget adding another nic and just plug both the PC & the printer into the new router. If you are set on not giving the printer a new ip you can change the default subnet on the router to match what the pc and printer are currently using. On a side note most printers are easy to change ip's on via a web browser or telnet, so I wouldn't be too afraid of doing that. Good luck.