[PLUG] Advice on switches for home network

[Steve Jorgensen]

On Saturday, June 08, 2002 9:57 PM, Stuart Mathews [SMTP:smathews at pcez.com] 
wrote:
> I'm hoping to avoid unnecessary pitfalls of setting up a small
> network.
>
> I have a DSL connection with a 2 Linux PCs, and will soon add a
> Thinkpad and a printer. I'll need some kind of switch to link
> everything up. Any ideas as to what they cost, what features I
> need to keep an eye out for, as well as advices on who makes good
> (bad!) switches? I'm guessing I'll probably see the best
> selection at Fry's??

For a home network, you won't usually notice the difference between a hub 
and a switch, especially if you are just printing and sharing an Internet 
connection.  Therefore, if price is an issue, just go with a hub.  A switch 
-will- give you some increased reliability, especially if a NIC on your LAN 
happens to go bad and start spewing junk onto the wire.