A Drink of Technology for the Thirsty Mind
I often see questions in the forums from people struggling with one of the most basic tasks in creating a home network: what to do when you run out of ports in your router. The answer is to just connect a switch, as shown in the diagram below. But since that makes for a very short article, I’ll answer some […]
Read moreKnowing how fast your network can move data is a question for more than just tweakers and speed demons. It’s a key skill to have when testing out wireless, powerline, MoCA and other “alternative” (to Ethernet) networking technologies. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to see how fast the bits fly and it even the pay-for options are easy on anyone’s wallet. […]
Read moreOur Essential Wireless FAQ gets a lot of regular use. So we figured why not try the same thing for powerline networking? If you don’t see your question here, let me know. I can put it in the next FAQ article or in an update to this one. 1. Are all powerline adapters the same? No. Powerline networking suffered through […]
Read moreIntroduction We often hear from people who have two (or more!) routers in their LAN and are trying to get Microsoft File and Printer sharing running among all their computers. This ProblemSolver will explain why this doesn’t work by default and provide some suggestions for working around the problem. Setting Up Figure 1 shows a two-router LAN configuration that I’ll […]
Read moreIntroduction What is a VLAN? Is it some sort of highly expensive technology or virtual reality? Not at all. VLANs are relatively simple, yet they offer a wide variety of options and capabilities to improve your network. VLAN, or Virtual LAN, is a technology that enables dividing a physical network into logical segments at Layer 2. Functionally, VLANs enable a […]
Read moreUpgrade Paths Existing OS Upgrade to Windows 2000? Upgrade to Windows XP? Windows 95 Yes No Windows 98 Yes Yes Windows ME No Yes Windows NT 4.0 Workstation Yes Yes Windows 2000 N/A Yes System Requirements: Windows 2000 Professional Hardware Minimum Recommended Processor Pentium 133 Pentium II or better Memory 64 MB 128 MB or more Disk Space Free 650 […]
Read moreType of Memory Description DRAM (Dynamic RAM) Memory that must be refreshed. SRAM (Static RAM) (L1, L2, L3) Does not require refresh. Used for cache memory. SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) Synced with the CPU clock. 168-pin. DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM Data read on rising and falling edge of computer clock to double the bandwidth of SDRAM. 184-pin, 64-bit DIMM. […]
Read moreTool Description or Purpose Compact Tool Box I like to have as small a toolbox as I can that can still carry my most essential tools to work on a computer onsite. Also consider a backpack for easier portability, and put your tools in a roll-up case. ESD Kit or Wrist Strap and Antistatic Bags A kit that includes the […]
Read moreSCSI Standard Number/Name Bus Width Throughput (MBps) Cable Pin Count Signaling Max Devices (Incl. Host Adapter) Max Length (M) SCSI-1/ “Regular” SCSI 8 5 50 SE 8 6 HVD 8 25 SCSI-2/ Fast SCSI Fast narrow 8 10 50 SE 8 3 HVD 8 25 SCSI-2/ Fast wide SCSI 16 20 68 SE 16 3 HVD 16 25 SCSI-3/SPI Ultra […]
Read moreProtocol Description IPX / SPX (NWLink) Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange. The default network protocol for Novell Netware prior to NetWare 5. (Current default is TCP/IP). NWLink is the Microsoft version of IPX/SPX. NETBEUI / NetBIOS These two terms are grouped together by many technical resources, which can be misleading. NetBEUI is the NetBIOS Extended User Interface. A non-routable protocol […]
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