The Discordant Opposition Journal Issue 10 - File 7
the newbie's guide to ethernet
authored by fwaggle
introduction
why did i write this? i don't exactly know. it's pushing 2:00am and i can't sleep. i'm talking to my dad online about networking. i live in another country now, and the network stopped working and he doesn't know what to do to fix it. so i figured i'd write this text for people like him, who either relied on someone else to do networking, or haven't the first clue on how to network two computers together.
in this text, i'll try and explain things in terms that the common newbie will understand, but i'll also try not to over-simplify things so as to leave you a brainless wreck too. we'll see if we can find a happy medium :)
what you will need
assuming you have two computers to connect together, and you aren't wanting to connect adsl or a cable modem up (see separate how to guides for these, after completing this one), you will need two (count 'em, 2) ethernet cards. isa or pci, take your pick. but i find that jumperless/plug and play ne2000 compatible isa cards are the way to go. you can always get those babies to work somehow.
hopefully the network cards that you get will come with a neat little disk. if you just got some old cards "from a friend" and they didn't come with a box or a disk, forget about it. these aren't the sort of thing that you will accidentally get working (this is a hidden hint to my uncle, who keeps getting shit hardware like footlong ethernet cards, with no disk or manual, and he expected me to try and get 'em to work...) networking and network cards need careful planning, or you will spend hours working on nothing more than getting a headache.
you will also need a way of physically connecting the two ethernet cards (also known as network cards, or NICs - network interface cards) together. this can be one of three methods.
- cat5/rj45 cabling and a hub or switch - while expensive, this is definitely the way to go. i spent five long years using BNC, and i tell you this is much more reliable, and if a piece of cabling goes bad, you only lose one computer, not the entire network.
- cat5/rj45 crossover cabling - this is probably the cheapest and easiest way to go, but unfortunately, it limits you to two computers (and only two computers). not recommended if you have any kind of expansion in mind.
- bnc/10base2 cabling - this is cheap, expandable, but you get what you pay for. these things break easy, seem to be more susceptible to interference, and if one piece of cable goes bad the entire network stops.
if you are using a hub/switch
as you can see, option 1 is the preferred way. if you are using option 1, install the cards into the computers. next, plug the phone-like cable into the back of the network card, and the other end into a socket on the hub. do the same for the other computer. plug the hub into the power for the wall. if your hub happens to have a socket that's all by itself, or slightly seperated from the others, do not use this socket. use the ones that are grouped together.
when you power on the hub and the computers, the lights on the hub which correspond to the computers should light up. these will flicker as traffic is sent between a particular computer and the hub, but they should remain on at any other time, except when you power off the computer or your dog gnaws through the cabling.
one final note, you saw the word switch mentioned above. switches and hubs are actually different things. they basically do the same thing, but switches do it better - and are more expensive. out of laziness, i normally call switches hubs most of the time anyway..
if you are using crossover cat5 cabling
crossover cabling is the easiest. simply install the cards into the computers, and plug the phone-like cable into the back of each computer. that's as simple as it is.
if you are using bnc/10base2 cabling
these are probably the worst to hook up, and the worst to maintain. install the network cards in the computers, and then place the middle connector of the T shaped joiner which came with your network card on the connector on the back of the card. just push it on gently but firmly, and turn it quarter of a turn or so until you see the little pins are siting nicely in their groove.
if you didn't get these "t pieces" with your network cards, go to your local radio shack and ask for them. tell them you want 10base2 ethernet "t pieces". if they have no idea what you're talking about, show them your cabling.
while you're at rat shack, you'll need a pair of 50 ohm bnc "terminators". these are essential, expensive (well, expensive for a 15 year old), and don't be fooled by those little plastic fuckers, they DO BREAK! and sometimes they can be the cause of headaches.
now that you have your t pieces and terminators, as i was saying... connect the t pieces to the network cards. you can't put them on the wrong way, they'll only fit one way. next, connect one terminator to each network card (either side of the t piece, it don't matter).. finally, connect the cable to the remaining openings.
testing the connection
no matter what your connection choice, there's an easy way to test the network. assuming that you bought your cards brand new, they're both the same brand, and they both came with disks, then it's a piece of piss.
simply start the computers in ms dos mode, insert the disk, and look for a .exe file (yeah, a program). i mostly use realtek cards (hey there was a pile of them laying around where i used to work, i ain't gonna pass up free shit), so the setup program is rset8019.exe.
run it, and it should pop up, for a split second it should say "looking for card" or something.. then it should bring up a menu. from here, you should have something like "diagnostics".
under here, there's probably something like the following choices:
boot rom diagnostics (ignore this)
start diagnostics server (server might be called host, repeater, echo point, or something)
start diagnostics client (might be called transmitter or something)
here's what you do. on one machine, you start a server. this waits for packets of information to be sent down the line, and if it receives any, it sends 'em back. now go to the other machine, and start a client.
the client will send a whole bunch of packets (little bits of information) to the server, and then wait for them to come back. if everything's working fine, then your client computer should say something like 100% packets received and just generally look like everything's okay.
if it's not receiving any packets, ie it's losing them... then it's time to check all your connections and wiring carefully. there's no point in going any further, cuz it just ain't gonna work, capisch? these diagnostics programs are the most low-level way of testing a network. if it don't work here, the problem is hardware.
setting up the network cards and the operating system
while you're in the setup program, you can have a play around with a few things. if you are using windows 95/98, you can leave them on plug'n'play... but if you're using linux, unix, windows NT, or anything else, i'd suggest you use jumperless mode... pick some settings, and write down the IRQ, the IO port, and the dma if it uses it.
windows 98 hardware install
skip this bit if you aren't using windows 95 or 98. if you're using windows 2000, this is probably the most relevant part. anyway. if you're lucky, it'll detect it when you start up. if not, put the disk in, go to the control panel, then pick add new hardware. if using 98, it may detect it right now. if not, or you're using 95, then tell windows "no i don't want you to detect it". from there, you can usually pick "have disk" or something. if you don't see have disk, you may have a list of different types of hardware. pick network cards and click next.
finally, browse the disk looking for the folder which best matches your windows, and under there should be a .inf file. click on that, and it should install your network card and it should work.
if you're using your cards in jumperless mode, i would recommend making windows detect it. if it still asks you for settings, use the ones that you wrote down. install stuff from the disk and/or the windows CD, and reboot when it tells you to.
windows NT hardware install
windows nt isn't supposed to support plug'n'play. however, it does.. but it's not documented. and because it's not terribly good, we're not going to discuss it here. so nur. use jumperless mode.
next, you'll have to add hardware which i believe is under the services section of the control panel. i'm not certain though, as it's been a looooong time since i used nt (or windows for that matter). besides, this information can be readily found elsewhere, and if you're using nt, you should probably know how to install new hardware anyway :)
unix/linux and others
there's plenty of how tos out there which cover installing network cards in your flavour of unix or linux. you just have to know how to look :) this is a lazy howto, so i can't be bothered explaining it really.
setting up file/printer sharing (all windows 9x machines)
hopefully after rebooting, you will have a network neighbourhood icon on your desktop. you may have even had a prompt asking you for a password. you can just hit cancel for this if you like.
right click on network neighbourhood, and pick properties. from here, go to identification, and put a sensible name for the computer.. something like the name of the person who considers it their computer. ie, i would have "fwaggle" and "sabriena" for my two computers. name the workgroup something sensible... if you can't think of anything, just name it "workgroup".
do the same on your other machine, naming it accordingly. but don't hit ok on either of them yet! we have much more work to do..
go back to the first tab, and click the file and printer sharing buttons. check both check boxes (even if you don't own a printer.. who cares? check 'em both to save a reboot down the line)...
next, make sure you have all of these things. if you don't, click add, and find them, and install them:
client for microsoft networking
client for netware networking
<your hardware nic here>
ipx protocol
tcp/ip protocol
file and printer sharing for microsoft networks
we'll set up tcp in just a second, so don't go anywhere, just make sure you have all of them!
setting up tcp/ip for windows 9x
there's a few things you should know about tcp/ip and ethernet. this is especially important if you want to share your internet connection. the first thing is ip addresses and subnets.
an ip address is a group of four numbers, with each number greater than 0 and less than 255. every computer out there on the internet has at least one ip address.
however, because not everyone running a little home network can afford to pay for an ip address for each computer, there have been a group of ip addresses that are assigned so people at home can use them for free. but there's a catch. these ip address must NEVER be made available to the internet (except behind a proxy, more about that later).
there are several, but we'll use the address block 192.168.1.X, because that's what everyone uses. this means, that you're free to use ip address 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254 for your home computers.
so, we'll set our first computer (the one with the modem on it if you plan on sharing internet, just to make things easier), to use ip address 192.168.1.1, and the second one to be 192.168.1.2. simple eh?
ahh what about a subnet mask.. well this basically tells you the extent of your network. it's complicated, geeky, and the common man doesn't need to know it. for a small lan, be content that for reasons too technical to explain, the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 is a good compromise. so put that there.
that should be all you really need to do. hit okay on both machines.. let them reboot, and that's it for tcp/ip!
testing the connection with tcp/ip
windows' implementation of tcp/ip comes with it's own method of checking tcp/ip network connections. and it's called "ping". for example, sitting the the second computer, you would go start; run; then type command; then at the command prompt type this:
ping 192.168.1.1
you should see something like this:
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=128 time=1.095 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=0.979 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=128 time=1.042 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=128 time=1.026 ms
^C
--- 192.168.1.2 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.979/1.035/1.095/0.041 ms
that 64 bytes stuff means that the "ping" is "ponging" back from the first machine. which means the connection works. if it says something like "connection timed out" it usually means that the cable is messed up. if it says "no route to host" or something like that, it means that something is goofed up with your network card.
sharing drives and printers and stuff
sharing folders couldn't be simpler. right click on the folder of your choice, and pick "sharing" from the menu. from here, pick a useful name for it. if it's where your work lives, call it "work" or something.
the most important thing is, SET A DAMN PASSWORD! you never know when someone malicious (either via the internet, or coming into your house) might get access to your network, so set a password cuz it's your final line of defense! you can save them in the password list on the other computer anyway so it's not as if it'll be hard to remember.
now to access them, go to network neighbourhood. you should see both your computers in there. pick the computer that holds the drive you want to access... under the computer should be the share name that you specified. double click, enter your password, check "save in my password list", and that's it!
if you need to use the network folder in a dos program, or you just wanna make it simpler to use, right click on the share name and click "map network drive", and then assign it a drive letter!
now for printers, this is just as easy. go to the printers section of the control panel, right click on your favourite printer, pick sharing. share it as normal. installing it on the other computer is a little more complicated, but just as easy really. open network neighbourhood, go to the computer, then right click on the printer share, and choose install. follow the prompts, and it should hopefully copy the necessary software from the other machine so you won't even have to put the cd in.
sharing internet
there are numerous ways to share internet. if your modem is on a windows 9x machine, or a windows NT machine, i recommend WinGate 2.1d (and ONLY this version, trust me you'll have nothing but problems with any other version). you can get it at ftp1.deerfield.com/pub/wingate/ or something.. if in doubt, try www.wingate.com.
if you're using windows 2000, i believe it comes with it's own internet sharing wizard.
if you're using linux, i suggest you look up ipmasquerading, as it's by far the best way to share an internet connection. freebsd users, look up ppp and nat.
last but not least
this is by no means a complete how to. it's just a shove in the right direction. you will probably have to read other documentation... so start searching if you can't find an answer to your problem.
have fun, and i hope everything works for ya!
fwaggle
fwaggle@subterranea.net
