Is a hub necessary?

[wjal]

I am setting up my first network and the manual suggests that if I am using twisted pair, that I should be using a hub. I have wired the house such that I have an RJ45 duplex outlet at each of three stations. Is this not the same as a hub? Is there something in a hub besides parallel connections?

 

[JackMDS]

This page includes a collection of links thta might help.

Link: Basic Networking.

 

[Garion]

If you have RJ45 jacks, they must lead back somewhere.

Generally, two computers can be directly connected together using a "crossover" cable - A special Category 5 (twisted pair) cable that crosses the send and receive pair. If you have more than two computers, you need to connect them all into a hub or a switch (A fancy hub) using standard Cat5 (straight through) cables.

You have wired your house with an RJ45 jack at the stations, but what's at the other end? Typically, you'd see all the wires run in your house terminated at a single point. This is where you'd put your hub and have everything connected together.

One note - Getting the computers all physically connected is just the first step. What do you plan on doing? Sharing files, sharing Internet access, etc?

- G

Edit: And Jack-The-FAQ-man beats me yet again!

 

[wjal]

I should have added that I will be using one of the 3 computers as a server for the 56K dial-up shared connection. (internal modem)

EDIT: Yes, it is my intention to share files, printer and a dial-up connection.

Presently, I have 2 Cat5 lines running from my SOHO to two other rooms in the house. My intention was to connect it all in parallel. Is a Star configuration necessary? Am I going to be running into collision problems otherwise?

Nice links Jack. I've learned a bunch of new stuff already.

 

[skyking]

you need a hub. Tx pairs and Rx pairs get switched around for you in a hub or switch, otherwise you would use a crossover cable as mentioned by garion above. I have not tried splicing a bunch of wires together in a parallel setup, but I suspect it would not work at all.

 

[wjal]

Thanks all, I've ordered a 5 port network switch from Belkin ($11.99). I trust that will do the job.

Belkin F5D5130-5