f13.net

Alright, just upgraded PCs, and I again get to meet my mortal enemy in a battle of strength, deftness, and most of all attrition.

I use MS's internet connection sharing on my box to farm out the singnal to a hub, which then spreads the connection to two other PCs (one of which is out of town). ICS is working, mostly, but for whatever reason, I can't get file sharing to work. I've even run it through the networking wizard to no avail.

I followed a few guides at homenethelp.com, but relied mostly upon this one: http://homenethelp.com/ics/ics-install-arch.asp - it's worked in the past.

I have client, netBEUI, and file and print sharing on both cards. Any ideas?

The theory sounds great, and it SHOULD work - in theory.  I've never gotten it to work in XP.  Although I'm not a Windows network admin, a couple I do know have said to hell with ICS.  I've only seen it setup once (one of those MS classes), and the instructor who set it up wasn't too keen on it either.

Two things that I have had work really well for me.  One is a software proxy.  My preference is winproxy (http://www.winproxy.com/).  Used it for years, back when we had 98.  Worked like a champ, and gave the fewest fits with all the software we used (ICQ, AIM, web, FTP, gaming, etc).  Downside is it's fairly expensive as those things go.  There are other alternatives - you could run a search on Tucows. (http://www.tucows.com/).  

I use a Linksys (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1051826240114&skuId=5450451&tab=1&type=product&productCategoryId=) wireless router now.  Replaces your hub, and comes with one "free" wireless PCMCIA card.  You'll pay close to what you'd pay for WinProxy, so is the better bargain imo.  I'd go with the "B" standard, over the higher quality "G", mainly for cost and lack of need for the higher quality G standard.  

Of course, if you can get ICS working for free, that'd be most preferrable - but good luck :/

Get a router.  Theres a good chance you can get one off ebay for cheap.

G really isn't really expensive at all, at least not anymore.

Router costs around 2x as much to go with G over B.  G cards are around 20% more expensive.  Unless you're streaming vidio around *inside* your network, there's no use for G - your internet connect is far slower than a B router.  And even then, it's a moot point for any device using the ethernet cable ports (you get 4).  


*shrug* Dunno about you, but I can do a lot with $50 - especially $50 toward something that I know I won't, and mostly can't, use.

Joe plays games. He'd be a stupid fucker if he went wireless.  Just go buy a cheapo wired router, plug that fucker in, and get to playing CoH.

See, my cheapo Belkin has four wires as well - which is good because it's only a b and the LAN I'm on often gives me speeds close to 22 Mbit both up- and downstream.
Not all internet connections are slower than the theorectical 11 Mbit a b will give you, but most are. And mine doesn't slow gaming - even without the wire.

Doesn't this thread belong in the PC gaming/hardware forum?  tsk, Joe, you know know better.

ICS?  NetBEUI??  !!!  <shudder>

Gah, get a router Joe, you're going to be a lot happier in the long run.  

And in case Hanzii's deconstruction of Schild's arguement wasn't clear enough... having a wireless router doesn't mean you have to use wireless; it just gives you the option.  The router will still have at minimum 4 ethernet ports and give you more than enough throughput.

So do I - but I also have two laptops (work and home).  PCs get cabled in; no reason not to.  Laptop gets carried to the living room, outside deck, whatever.  Aside from that, Best Buy currently has a deal selling B router kits (router + one PCMCIA card) for LESS than the comperable router by itself.



Um... unless you're piping in some real serious bandwidth, you're not going to get close.  Cable standard is 1.5 Mbps, equivalent to a T-1 (for download only).  It's going to be a long, long time before you can use that 22Mbps on the net - you would need around 14 multiplexed T-1 channels (it's half a T-3).

Best tip I have is to use pen&paper to document your network. I am semi-senile after after an accident and have gained a new appreciation about documenting your networking..

Oh and dont forget to dole out access...

I would go with a router that can do nat for your outside connection and then add extra network cards to each pc for your internal network. For the minor cost you can get 10/100 network cards for now, I find it makes my life a lot less hassle. My computers only share files on the internal network using a non routable class c network and the outside world cant see my shares even without a firewall. I use a second switch for the internal network but if you only have 2 computers you can get by with a crossover network cable connecting the 2.

Toss my vote in for a Router. Never have I had an easier time setting up and maintaining my network (2 PCs, 1 Mac, 1 Mac laptop). I'm sorta old skool though, having run ethernet access ports to various rooms in my house.