setting up wiring for home LAN.....

[randomlinh]

I'm going to probably run a cat5 cable from upstairs to the basement... the path being about 100ft most likely. Here's the couple questions.. should I use solid or stranded wire? I've come across a lot of solid wire that just seems to snap when bent some. Stranded on the other hand i've heard to not perform quite as well. How much of a loss? Also, what about a repeater... will it be necessary?

can we tell i need some help here? hehe. anyway, if anyone can give me some pointers/point me in the right direction, it would help. Also, any info on sharing internet.. be it dial up, DSL, or cable...

TIA, Linh

 

[sohcrates]

you should use cat 5e cable ( you can get 500 feet for 33 bucks at home depot). it's 8 wire twisted pair cabling (4 pairs). it's stranded i think, but as long as it's cat5, you'll have what you need.

for a 100 foot run, you don't need a repeater by any means. if you're networking with a cable modem, you need a hub or switch. you plug the cable modem into the hub/switche's "uplink" port and then all the other computers into the other ports on the hub/switch. if there's no dedicated uplink port, you need to use a crossover cable from the cable modem to the hub. most of this applies for DSl, etc. too, with slight differences in setup.

 

[purplehayes]

You don't need a repeater until you hit 100 meters with Twisted Pair cable.

Your best bet on sharing a cable modem connection with 2 computers is 2 NIC's in the gateway machine and 1 NIC in the other machine. If you only network two computers, you can use a crossover cable to go from the 1 machine to the other. You'll need a hub or greater to share your connection with 3 or more machines.

Your sharing your network with all of your neighbors if you plug the cable modem into the hub and plug both computer into the hub also. Not very secure.

PH

 

[sohcrates]

well, he's running win2k, so it's not like he's got file and printer sharing on with a 98 box. so using a hub would be slightly simpler and at least decently secure..but that's just my opinion. i like the triple NIC setup too.

 

[randomlinh]

thanks for the info. i'm using a HUB since it will be 3 comps.

as for the cable modem sharing.. i never even thought of that... what's the best way for dealing w/ cable modems and sharing?

 

[purplehayes]

Set up your Win2K box with the cable modem. Give that box two NICs and set one for cable modem and the other for LAN.

Here's the set up that I just gave in a different thread:

ON WIN2K COMPUTER
1) right click on My Network Places
2) Double click the icon for you LAN NIC
3) Click on Properties
4) Click on the Sharing Tab
5) Check Enable Internet Sharing for the connection
6) Click on the OK's to get out of it. It may or may not ask you for the Win@K disk, I can't remember.

ON WIN98 COMPUTER
1) RIght click on Network Neighborhood and select Properties
2) Select TCP/IP and click on Properties
3) Assign your IP number, either through DHCP or from a static IP address
4) Click on the Gateway tab.
5) Type in the IP number of your WIN2K computer and click on add.
6) Click on the OK's to get out of it. It may or may not ask you for the Win98 disk, I can't remember.

PH

 

[FUBAR]

If I can jump back to cable... If you want to run by the code, that says you are to use solid from wall plate to patch panel and stranded from wall plate to pc and patch panel to whatever else is on your wiring rack (hub, another patch panel.) At least that's how I think it is supposed to be, 98% sure on it though.

That's a good point below... As far as I know and have experienced stranded cable does not work well for most kinds of make-your-own-end connecters.

 

[cavingjan]

The Home Depot cat5e is solid core. I have a 1000 ft spool. And if you are using patch panels and wall plates, you will need the solid core. Stranded does not do well for punch-down type of connection but will hold up to moving better than solid core.