Brad Lund wrote:
> The only way i can get broadband is through my wireless phone provider via a
> wireless modem on my laptop.
>
> How to i install a wireless network so i can connect my desktop and printer?
> What equipment do i need and how do i set this all up? I'm new to this
> wireless network stuff. My laptop has an 802.11g card and my desktop has an
> Intel Pro/1000 PL network connection.
>
> Any help will sure be appreciated.
>
> Brad
Just to be clear: your laptop has an 802.11g card and a separate
wireless broadband modem -- correct?
You can share the Internet connection using Windows Internet Connection
Sharing. You can do this with either a wireless or wired network,
depending on where you locate your laptop relative to your desktop.
See
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_ics/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314066/en-us
Assuming that your laptop also has an Ethernet adapter (virtually all
do), the very simplest way to connect your computers would be to get a
crossover cable and connect the laptop to the desktop that way.
Alternatively, as mentioned in the Practically Networked article, the
LAN connection to your desktop can be wireless. In this case, at the
very least, you will need to buy a wireless adapter for the desktop.
This can either be an internal PCI card or an external USB device.
As far as your printer is concerned, if it is connected directly to the
desktop, once you have networked your desktop and laptop together, you
can share the printer. Remember to click the button to "turn on file
and printer sharing" as you're going through the Network Setup Wizard
(on each computer). If you have third-party firewalls on either
computer, you will have to configure them to allow traffic between your
desktop and laptop as trusted. You can do this by specifying IP
addresses: the laptop's IP address on the LAN is 192.168.0.1 (assigned
by ICS). The desktop's IP address will be assigned by ICS as
192.168.0.x (where x is a number between 2 and 254).
If you have a network-ready printer or if you want to buy a print server
(so you can print without the desktop being turned on), or if you think
you might want to add more computers someday, you will also need a wired
or wireless switch. The cheapest, most versatile thing to do in this
case is probably to buy a wireless router and then configure it as an
"access point" (
http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html - details will
change, but the principle's the same).
--
Lem MS MVP -- Networking
To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
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