Is there any reason this wouldn't work? (cable-router-wifi-ics-switch-lan)

[karsten]

This sounds kinda ugly but here's the scoop. I'm trying to get a folding farm set up (3 pc's in addition to my main rig), and I'm trying to figure out how to get them networked.

Gonna stick w/ 98 for each box, i avoid linux like the plague. i already have wireless installed in my house and want to install this farm downstairs with a laptop running win2k to receive the wifi connection from upstairs (and an ip), and then share that with the 3 other pc's through a switch via ics in win2k.

Sound do-able? here's the drawing, I'd appreciate any feedback or whatever. And I'm doing f@h for 32 :)

http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfiles/karsten/farm.jpg

[Shazbot]

For what you're doing you should consider dropping ICS and just using the "bridge connections" feature of Windows 2000. It justs passes packets from one NIC to the other without adding subnets and routing. You'll be able to browse between all of the computers without any hassle.

Check this link for a tutorial... http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/windows-xp-bridge-setup.asp

Good Luck!

[karsten]

hi, thanks for the input :) i don't think win2k has bridging though, it wasn't introduced until xp. my lappy cant handle xp anyways, it's only a 166! i need the ics part though cuz the f@h clients need to be able to connect to the net to send their results in, otherwise, yeah, having a workgroup would be alright.

[Shazbot]

Doh! You're right. Sorry about that; ICS should work for what you want.

FWIW - If your laptop can handle Win2000 then it can probably handle XP just fine, or at least not much worse. If the laptop is solely there to give wireless access to the folding machines XP might be worth considering just to simplify your network. :-)

[su root]

Avoid linux like the plague? lol.

That setup will work fine with ICS, however, the one running ICS must be on for the wired boxes to have internet access.

Another solution would be to buy a "wireless bridge", which is used to replace the box bridging the wireless & wired networks. These may be expensive though, but if you need an always-on solution that isn't a 166mhz running linux, a wireless bridge is your best bet.