This part of my website is dedicated to my own network. I will add pictures etc
as and when
I
get the chance. I have always been interested in computers, but really my main
interest has always been in linking them together and getting them talking to
one another. So it is probably no surprise that I have my own network setup
containing a few weird and wonderful machines.
When I
first started trying to link machines together I was using Null modem cables. I
soon found, however that this was very slow, very un-reliable and only allowed
me to link up two machines unless I had very specialised equipment. So I soon
took it one step further....
I
then bought two network cards and stuck one in my main pc, and one in a pc I
built for my sisters. I have to say it took me nearly a whole day just to
configure 2 peer to peer machines
but
I did it in the end. After that I wanted to add more and more so I bought a job
lot of network cards and cable (BNC cable simply because it was cheaper). I then
set about networking every computer I can find. I very soon found however that
peer to peer network was not the most secure method ever invented, in fact it
was pretty terrible in terms of security so..........
I
decided that I needed to switch to user level security. For this I needed a
Security provider, so I chose Microsoft Windows 2000. I
now have
about 6 machines al running on my network, with the capabilities of both BNC and
RJ45 connection using a HUB. So far I have an Apple Mac, two Windows 95
machines, a DOS 6.22 machine, and a Windows 3.11 / DOS machine. I also have a
Windows 2000 machine that acts as my server.
My next mini project is to learn how to use Linux (just received a boxed copy from a competition I entered) and then how to network it with the rest of my network, I think this may take some time.......................
I have to say that windows 2000 is one of the best versions of the Microsoft Operating system I have ever used. It is stable and does what it is supposed to do. I use win2k as the security provider on my network because.....
a). it works
b). I cant afford windowsNT
c). ANYTHING has to be better then peer to peer networking.
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The following link is one of the BEST networking sites that I have come across on the web. It has been VERY helpful while I have been setting my network up.
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If you have any comments, questions or ideas please e-mail me.
Till next time, keep :-) 'in.
And remember, THE COMPUTER IS (nearly) ALWAYS RIGHT!
Dean Graham