Frequently Asked Questions:

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Frequently Asked Questions:

1) What is Intranet?

Put simply Intranet is 2 or more PCs connected together with Ethernet cable. Each PC requires an Ethernet card or parallel port Ethernet connection.
(The parallel port connections are usually more expensive than the plug in cards)

The cable can be configured as a star

where the PCs are connected to a central hub or router,
or as a daisy chain ( no router required).

If you dont want to install cable you may be able to purchase infra red ( line of sight ) or radio frequency connections ( eg. 802.11b ), or use "HomePNA" over your phone wiring.

The cheapest and simplest setup is Ethernet cards with BNC connections, thin wire Ethernet and daisy chaining.

2) Why do I need an intranet?

If you have 2 or more PCs running Windows for Workgroups, Win'95, Win'98 or Win NT then connecting them up with Intranet means flexibility in terms of multiple work places, processors and disks.

It means easy backup facilities, just copy from one PC to another.

It also means better availability, if one PC fails you can continue working with any others on the intranet with the same shared resources.

3) Is the installation and software setup complicated?

With the availability of Wizards and Help, no. But lets go step by step through the process.

You've installed your Ethernet card. Now go to "Start, Settings, Control Panel", select "Network" and install a Network adapter.

(You can also get the system to detect your new hardware and if its Plug'nPlay, as most are now, then you really don't have to do much more with the network card.)

Select "Network ", "TCP/IP Lan card" and "Properties". Enter an IP address such as "150.100.100.1", this must be unique for each PC on your net. Add a subnet mask, "255.255.0.0" will do just fine.

While you are in Properties make sure that Wins, Gateway and DNS are turned off.

Finally you are going to need a "Hosts." file. There is usually a sample of this in the windows directory. In this file you list each of the PCs (hosts) to connect to over the intranet. It looks like...

150.100.100.2 PC1
150.100.100.3 FRED
150.100.100.4 JACK

Allocate each of your PCs an individual 150.100.100.1 number. You dont need the number and name of this PC in the file, only those PCs to which it will connect.

Now do the same on each PC on your network, and then reboot them all. You should now be LAN'd up and ready to go.

4) It didn't work, what do I do now?

- check the Ethernet cards are connected to the cable. (This is via the T piece BNC connector.)

- there is normally a test utility provided on your Ethernet card installation disk. This will check whether the card is there, what the Interrupt and Ports are set to, whether it thinks the cable is connected and whether it can detect any other cards on the network.

- try using the DOS level "Ping" utility to call other hosts, this will help you check whther the IP addresses and network names are correct.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) What is Intranet?

Put simply Intranet is 2 or more PCs connected together with Ethernet cable. Each PC requires an Ethernet card or parallel port Ethernet connection.
(The parallel port connections are usually more expensive than the plug in cards)

The cable can be configured as a star

where the PCs are connected to a central hub or router,
or as a daisy chain ( no router required).

If you dont want to install cable you may be able to purchase infra red ( line of sight ) or radio frequency connections ( eg. 802.11b ), or use "HomePNA" over your phone wiring.

The cheapest and simplest setup is Ethernet cards with BNC connections, thin wire Ethernet and daisy chaining.

2) Why do I need an intranet?

If you have 2 or more PCs running Windows for Workgroups, Win'95, Win'98 or Win NT then connecting them up with Intranet means flexibility in terms of multiple work places, processors and disks.

It means easy backup facilities, just copy from one PC to another.

It also means better availability, if one PC fails you can continue working with any others on the intranet with the same shared resources.

3) Is the installation and software setup complicated?

With the availability of Wizards and Help, no. But lets go step by step through the process.

You've installed your Ethernet card. Now go to "Start, Settings, Control Panel", select "Network" and install a Network adapter.

(You can also get the system to detect your new hardware and if its Plug'nPlay, as most are now, then you really don't have to do much more with the network card.)

Select "Network ", "TCP/IP Lan card" and "Properties". Enter an IP address such as "150.100.100.1", this must be unique for each PC on your net. Add a subnet mask, "255.255.0.0" will do just fine.

While you are in Properties make sure that Wins, Gateway and DNS are turned off.

Finally you are going to need a "Hosts." file. There is usually a sample of this in the windows directory. In this file you list each of the PCs (hosts) to connect to over the intranet. It looks like...

150.100.100.2 PC1
150.100.100.3 FRED
150.100.100.4 JACK

Allocate each of your PCs an individual 150.100.100.1 number. You dont need the number and name of this PC in the file, only those PCs to which it will connect.

Now do the same on each PC on your network, and then reboot them all. You should now be LAN'd up and ready to go.

4) It didn't work, what do I do now?

- check the Ethernet cards are connected to the cable. (This is via the T piece BNC connector.)

- there is normally a test utility provided on your Ethernet card installation disk. This will check whether the card is there, what the Interrupt and Ports are set to, whether it thinks the cable is connected and whether it can detect any other cards on the network.

- try using the DOS level "Ping" utility to call other hosts, this will help you check whther the IP addresses and network names are correct.

- recheck the Hosts file and Network settings.

Useful Links

Back to Top

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) What is Intranet?

Put simply Intranet is 2 or more PCs connected together with Ethernet cable. Each PC requires an Ethernet card or parallel port Ethernet connection. (The parallel port connections are usually more expensive than the plug in cards)

The cable can be configured as a star

where the PCs are connected to a central hub or router, or as a daisy chain ( no router required).

If you dont want to install cable you may be able to purchase infra red ( line of sight ) or radio frequency connections ( eg. 802.11b ), or use "HomePNA" over your phone wiring.

The cheapest and simplest setup is Ethernet cards with BNC connections, thin wire Ethernet and daisy chaining.

2) Why do I need an intranet?

If you have 2 or more PCs running Windows for Workgroups, Win'95, Win'98 or Win NT then connecting them up with Intranet means flexibility in terms of multiple work places, processors and disks.

It means easy backup facilities, just copy from one PC to another.

It also means better availability, if one PC fails you can continue working with any others on the intranet with the same shared resources.

3) Is the installation and software setup complicated?

With the availability of Wizards and Help, no. But lets go step by step through the process.

You've installed your Ethernet card. Now go to "Start, Settings, Control Panel", select "Network" and install a Network adapter.

(You can also get the system to detect your new hardware and if its Plug'nPlay, as most are now, then you really don't have to do much more with the network card.)

Select "Network ", "TCP/IP Lan card" and "Properties". Enter an IP address such as "150.100.100.1", this must be unique for each PC on your net. Add a subnet mask, "255.255.0.0" will do just fine.

While you are in Properties make sure that Wins, Gateway and DNS are turned off.

Finally you are going to need a "Hosts." file. There is usually a sample of this in the windows directory. In this file you list each of the PCs (hosts) to connect to over the intranet. It looks like...

150.100.100.2 PC1 150.100.100.3 FRED 150.100.100.4 JACK

Allocate each of your PCs an individual 150.100.100.1 number. You dont need the number and name of this PC in the file, only those PCs to which it will connect.

Now do the same on each PC on your network, and then reboot them all. You should now be LAN'd up and ready to go.

4) It didn't work, what do I do now?

- check the Ethernet cards are connected to the cable. (This is via the T piece BNC connector.)

- there is normally a test utility provided on your Ethernet card installation disk. This will check whether the card is there, what the Interrupt and Ports are set to, whether it thinks the cable is connected and whether it can detect any other cards on the network.

- try using the DOS level "Ping" utility to call other hosts, this will help you check whther the IP addresses and network names are correct.

- recheck the Hosts file and Network settings.

Useful Links

Back to Top

Put simply Intranet is 2 or more PCs connected together with Ethernet cable. Each PC requires an Ethernet card or parallel port Ethernet connection.
(The parallel port connections are usually more expensive than the plug in cards)

where the PCs are connected to a central hub or router,
or as a daisy chain ( no router required).

150.100.100.2 PC1
150.100.100.3 FRED
150.100.100.4 JACK