Re: Home Networking, what's best

["Keith Milner" <kamilner@xxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@y..., "Paul Smith" <wheelbarrowhandle@b...>
wrote:
> People,
>
>
>             Since I will soon be leaving the company I work I will
no
> longer have remote access and will need to sort out direct
connection to
> the net. I have Home Highway and Bt Internet and want to have a
simple
> router, which does controlled dial on demand, acts as dhcp server
and
> print server.

Pretty much any modern ISDN router will do this, except for the print
and dhcp serving functions.

Most small routers that serve DHCP only do it as a temporary method
of supplying an IP address to a small number of machines until the
connection is made and DHCP can be done to a central server.
Typically this is done in a private n/w remote dial-in situation and
is not applicible for Internet access. I would question your need for
DHCP in a home environment. I personally use DHCP at home but it is
certainly not essential.


For printing I would suggest a cheap standalone print server, such as
a D-Link, which can be obtained for around 60 pounds.

Alternatively there are a number of "appliances" which perform
some
or all the functions you ask for, but these tend to be expensive.

Alternatively, get a cheap 486 or low-end pentium and install Linux
on it (ideally with a PCI bus). You can set this up to be a print
spooler and server, web server, Masquerading ISDN router, and many
other things. Once it is set up, you take off the keyboard and
monitor and leave it in a corner somewhere.

regards,

Keith