Routers? I have no clue.

I made a post in the Aftermarket forum about memory and virus protection. I got help with the memory, but everyone started telling me about routers.

I am a complete, and total idiot. I read all of Nick's guides including the dummy one...

Okay, the two computers I list in my signature are going to be connected to the net at the same time.

At Home:

My Mac uses an ethernet cable that goes into a standing "hub" of sorts that came with my Bellsouth DSL internet service. It has many etherent jacks on it's back. It comes with a firewall.
My Dell, when it arrives, will also be plugged into it with a ethernet cable. I play two games, Second Life and World of Warcraft and the general consensus is, wireless does not go well with them. So, when the notebook is stationary on a desk it will be plugged in.
I wouldn't mind being able to use it on the porch or in the living room though.

At College:
Every dorm comes with one ethernet jack in the wall. Thats all.
Last semester my Mac plugged into that ethernet jack with it's cable. No problems with security as far as I can tell.
I suppose I need to buy something that will either let me "split it" or I can unplug and replug the computers as neccessary.
However, I need to be able to connect wirelessly (with security) when I take my notebook over to my friend's dorm, or figure out a way to convince them to share the ethernet jack (which i still am not sure how that works).


Here is what comes on the dell in terms of connecting-to-the-net stuff:
Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps) for Inspiron 9400/E1705
Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR), for Inspiron9400/E1705

I couldn't tell you what that means, by the way.

The entire campus has wireless internet, wether its reliable depends on who you ask. I hope I should be able to connect relatively easily with the bluetooth.... not that I know how it works.

The problem is, do I need a router or a "wireless access point"? Those things come with firewalls, for security right? Do I use it at home with the "hub" thing Bellsouth gave me? Do I use it in school? (I assume I plug the router or wap into the wall, and then plug the Mac and Dell into the router or wap... and it comes with an option to unplug my Dell, detect my bluetooth thing, so I can use it wirelessly). I read about securing it to make sure that no one can see it or steal your bandwidth, isn't a firewall the thing that makes it secure?

Please use as few acronyms as possible. Talk down to me like a 70 year old grandmother who is afraid of those "technological stuff". Better yet, if you can just link me to the thing I need, then problem solved, yes?

 

Usually Wireless Access Points (WAPs) are against the rules for you to set up on your own at college, so you shouldn't need one of those for wireless.
Most of the time your school will only let you get one IP address per port (the jack in your room), so you probably won't be able to just use a switch (a device like a hub. All it does is let all the IP signals that hit it go where they need to, it doesn't do any active changes or anything) to connect both of your computers to the wired network. So what you may look into doing is either asking your school about multiple computers, or you need to use a router with the wireless disabled or nonexistent on it.
As for the firewall making it secure: the firewall only protects from things coming from the outside, from the big bad Internet. If someone can connect to your wireless point, they're already inside, so you've already lost. You'd need to enable something like WEP or WPA to make it more secure. But your school already has a wireless network, so you shouldn't need to worry about that. Just use theirs.
What would probably be the easiest for you is that when you want to play games, just unplug the Mac from the wall, and plug in the Dell, then switch back when gaming time is done.
Also, I'd get more RAM in your Dell ASAP. 512 is barely enough, especially for a gamer. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the comprehensive (and easy to understand) reply! Yes, the memory is on its way =)

 

if there is a jack then it is on thier LAN (local area network). That means that you plug your hub or switch(doesnt matter with only 2 pc's connected) to the jack and then your pc's to the hub and youll be fine. If you can use WiFi in the dorm then there is no need unless your gaming.

The only time youll need a router is when connecting to a WAN (your ISP). A router acts as an intermediary to the ISP network and your LAN. What it does is find and use a public IP address uses NAT to convert your LAN IP's to be able to communicate outside your LAN (I.E the internet). Now since you have a jack that jack is connected to a switch which is connected to the schools router. Thier router does all you need for going on the internet and gaming.

Always remeber this:
*Internet*
ISP/WAN <---> your Router <---> switch/hub or PCs (if router has built in switch)

 

Since there are so many notebooks in one dorm and so many people now with wireless, routers and such are banned(like mine) just as Pitabred said. They usually give high speed internet to each room. Only areas with wireless usually are the libraries and also the common areas where they are more open to wireless.

 

liquidxit2: My school used to limit each physical port to a single IP. Just plugging in a hub/switch didn't work. I had to run a router, essentially (just did routing from my Linux box to the other machines on the hub.). But I think that's a bit complicated and overkill for the use that zoekills is going for, which is why I suggested just swapping cables when he needed to, otherwise just using wireless. If they do allow more than one IP per port, he's fine with you rsolution. Depends a lot on his school's policies and the savvy of their IT department.

 

that sucks for you guys. I go to UMCP (university of maryland) and I get wifi on my pocket pc and lappy everywhere.

yeah I agree that running and starting a dhcp server is too much work and involved for him at this point. But he may get lucky and not be limited like your school. Me I don't and never have lived in a dorm so I never had to eal with such things. my apt has had sDSL and a 24 port switch since day 1. except they switched us to aDSL recently.

 

i'll have to contact my school on their policy, but i'm pretty sure Pitabred is right. I'll just take his advice, unless i find out otherwise and i'm feeling patient enough to go thru it.

Thanks everyone =)