X10 Home Control | Renewable Energy | MP3 | Palm Computing
If you have more than one computer, it may be advantageous to set up a home network. This allows you to share printers, files, internet access (see section on Internet Access), or even play games across the network or internet (see XBox Internet Gaming).
A home network is similar to a business network, but much simpler, and easy to understand. There are a few basic components:
- A Computer
- A Hub (or Switch)
- Cables
A diagram below shows how the network is plugged together. Any Windows PC from Windows 95 through Windows XP has the software built-in to support a home network.
How Stuff Works gives a complete easy to understand treatise on how to set up a home network, so instead of re-inventing the wheel, I'll send you to their excellent guide. http://www.howstuffworks.com/home-network.htm
also see http://www.homenethelp.com/
The most basic way of connecting to the internet is with a modem. usually internal to your PC, sometimes external, and involves your phone line. This is a very slow method of connecting to the internet. Today's common methods are through a DSL or Cable Modem. Once your Cable Or DSL Modem is connected to the internet, you need to connect it to your home network. This is done through a router. This device in many cases can replace the Hub mentioned above in the section on Home Networking.
Wireless:
In Home (or office)
Out and around
Sprint PCS Wireless (cellular)
Once you are connected to the internet with an always on, high speed connection, you may want to serve up content to other internet users. This may be a web server, a game server, or even a chat server. There are many types of server services you can host. Cable and DSL providers usually do not give Static IP Addresses, found in commercial server businesses (See ISP). Instead, you are usually given a Dynamic address that changes periodically. This is not advantageous for a server, as people would have a hard time finding your server after the change. A solution for this problem is using Dynamic DNS, which keeps updating your web site name with your current address. DNS2GO is one provider of such services. Once this is setup, you are ready to run your own server. See the following tutorials, http://www.sharewire.com/nav/Articles/running_your_own_server.shtml
XBOX Live Now Available!
If you have the new Microsoft XBox game machine, you can play other XBox machines across your network, or across the Internet. There are a number of sites with information on how to do this, but it basically comes down to the following:
- Plug your XBox into your Hub
- Run the game Hosting software on your PC
- Enter the address of the XBox you want to connect to.
System link compatible games that can use this functionality include Unreal Championship, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x & Halo. As you find others, please email me at sspence@green-trust.org
Renaming Your Xbox - Pop in your Dead or Alive 3 game into your Xbox (Run down to Blockbuster if you dont have a copy and dont want to buy it) Play the timed mode, when you
get a high score the menu will pop up for you to type in your name. (you will see your boxes name in the list as well as the option to enter a new one. Contributed by "Informed" in alt.games.video.xboxXBOX to XGA/VGA Monitor - http://www.digital-x.de/knowhow/xbox/xbox_dx_vga_box/xbox_dx_vga_box.htm#9999
See the following sites for details:
http://www.xboxstatus.com/instruct.txt
http://mrhack.realgamers.net/xbox.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/30g4kzxzkwidg/104-6101133-0818302
http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10101-100-1475940.html?tag=st.dl.10001-1
http://www.gamespyarcade.com/support/tunnel_xbox.shtml
