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I told my family that I'm thinking of moving back home to help cut down costs and that may happen when my lease runs out provided I don't get housing first. But it has gotten me started thinking of what I might do at home as far as networking the computers in the house go.
So I was thinking "What would be the best network setup for a mixed computer network (Mac\PC) in a 2 story house?" There's one thing for sure... I don't want any USB adaptors that require drivers. That wouldn't work for my Mac.
A little background. The last time I lived at home I used HomePNA 1.0 network cards to share an internet connection which turned every phone jack in the house into a network jack and that worked pretty good although the downside to it is because of the ISP we had to use I had to use windows internet sharing which meant that I had to keep my computer on and if I had to reboot for any reason it would cause internet downtime for the others on the network. So I would like to avoid having to use ICS if at all possible. I was thinking of going with HomePNA for the networking part of the equation again but I'd have to get new network adaptors\bridges to get it all setup and I seem to have a hard time finding good non USB adaptors for the new spec. A thing that was cool about HomePNA is that even when the phone service was shut off for whatever reason the network still functioned and it was a lot faster than dial-up... also I could setup both internet and networking over the same line (when we had to use dialup).
The simplest and cheapest way would be to tack up some ethernet cable and use my current router... and that wouldn't be too bad at least for one floor. But I kind of don't want to do that between floors. I would have to tack cable up the stairs or have a hole drilled to snake cable to downstairs. So I'm thinking of some kind of bridge for connecting floor A to floor B. But I have a whole year to think of that. The simplest and cheapest way would also be the fastest but I don't relish having to run wire all over the house.
I know my sister might want a wireless network but I've heard that they don't work too well between floors and I don't have an airport card in my Mac Mini so I'd have to have it ugpraded... so again the cheapest way would be the string cable everywhere way. =P
I also thought of power line networking but reading about it the performance\stability seems spotty. There's also a HomePNA and other named standard that uses coaxial cables (like cable internet\tv) but I don't know if the cables in the house are setup properly to allow that to happen... but I know that's gotta have good performance.
One last thing is I have to find out what kind of broadband service we can get if any. I checked comcast's web site and they say they install in our area but I'm not sure if that was correct information. My Dad said he hasn't seen them out there.. but then again I don't think my family stays there long enough to find out with having to work out of town and all. The other alternative is satellite internet but the latency on that kind of scares me off a bit. I wonder if any wireless ISPs are available and affordable.
While looking at wireless ISP stuff I noticed the KOA Campgrounds in my state have wireless hot spot. That's interesting to me... hmmm.. and other campgrounds too.. that's awesome!
Hmmm... it looks like Cable internet is available in my families area! I ran the adress there through comcast's site a few times and they are offering internet packages... hmm..... I want to go for that, man.
So I was thinking "What would be the best network setup for a mixed computer network (Mac\PC) in a 2 story house?" There's one thing for sure... I don't want any USB adaptors that require drivers. That wouldn't work for my Mac.
A little background. The last time I lived at home I used HomePNA 1.0 network cards to share an internet connection which turned every phone jack in the house into a network jack and that worked pretty good although the downside to it is because of the ISP we had to use I had to use windows internet sharing which meant that I had to keep my computer on and if I had to reboot for any reason it would cause internet downtime for the others on the network. So I would like to avoid having to use ICS if at all possible. I was thinking of going with HomePNA for the networking part of the equation again but I'd have to get new network adaptors\bridges to get it all setup and I seem to have a hard time finding good non USB adaptors for the new spec. A thing that was cool about HomePNA is that even when the phone service was shut off for whatever reason the network still functioned and it was a lot faster than dial-up... also I could setup both internet and networking over the same line (when we had to use dialup).
The simplest and cheapest way would be to tack up some ethernet cable and use my current router... and that wouldn't be too bad at least for one floor. But I kind of don't want to do that between floors. I would have to tack cable up the stairs or have a hole drilled to snake cable to downstairs. So I'm thinking of some kind of bridge for connecting floor A to floor B. But I have a whole year to think of that. The simplest and cheapest way would also be the fastest but I don't relish having to run wire all over the house.
I know my sister might want a wireless network but I've heard that they don't work too well between floors and I don't have an airport card in my Mac Mini so I'd have to have it ugpraded... so again the cheapest way would be the string cable everywhere way. =P
I also thought of power line networking but reading about it the performance\stability seems spotty. There's also a HomePNA and other named standard that uses coaxial cables (like cable internet\tv) but I don't know if the cables in the house are setup properly to allow that to happen... but I know that's gotta have good performance.
One last thing is I have to find out what kind of broadband service we can get if any. I checked comcast's web site and they say they install in our area but I'm not sure if that was correct information. My Dad said he hasn't seen them out there.. but then again I don't think my family stays there long enough to find out with having to work out of town and all. The other alternative is satellite internet but the latency on that kind of scares me off a bit. I wonder if any wireless ISPs are available and affordable.
While looking at wireless ISP stuff I noticed the KOA Campgrounds in my state have wireless hot spot. That's interesting to me... hmmm.. and other campgrounds too.. that's awesome!
Hmmm... it looks like Cable internet is available in my families area! I ran the adress there through comcast's site a few times and they are offering internet packages... hmm..... I want to go for that, man.
