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Hub of a Connected Home: To PC or Not to PC
A new generation of connected entertainment devices is appearing this year, and many of those devices seek to usurp control of digital media tasks from the PC and move them into your living room. I can understand why many people want to enjoy digital photos and movies on their TV, which is usually much bigger than their PC monitor. Likewise, stereo systems in people's living rooms are often more powerful than the speakers connected to their PCs and are in a more central spot in the home. No wonder many companies�including some PC companies, incidentally�have introduced products that work with TV and stereo technologies and, in many cases, obviate the need for a PC. However, pushing the PC out of the picture is often an extreme step that's not necessarily the best way to go. Source: Connected Home Magazine, April 3, 2002.

Microsoft Announces Wireless-Networking Hardware Plans
Microsoft revealed this summer that it will enter the wireless-networking hardware market later this year with a set of still-secret products that the company says will help consumers quickly and easily set up home networks and share Internet connections. I spoke with company representatives about this plan a few times, and although I'm not sure why they're still being so vague, the gist of the story is that wireless networking is still a niche market, especially on non-Windows XP systems. Microsoft's wireless-networking solutions will be based on the 802.11b standard technology, not the newer (and faster) 802.11a or 802.11g. Source: Microsoft Press Release, July 11, 2002.

Other home networking articles by Paul Thurrott
Palm vs. Pocket PC: Two Mobile Challengers Improve in 2002
Portable computing devices based on the Palm OS have long dominated the market, thanks largely to the simplicity of the underlying software and a wealth of available add-on software and hardware products. But devices based on Microsoft's competing mobile platform, Pocket PC 2002, recently have made strong gains in the market, especially with enterprises. The Pocket PC is known primarily for its powerful Windows-like environment, its compatibility with Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel, and digital media features such as video and music playback. To counter Microsoft's gains, Palm and its OS licensees have advanced the Palm OS platform to include many of the most popular Pocket PC features. So as we move into the second half of 2002, let's evaluate these products to see which platform is best for the connected home. Source: Connected Home Magazine, July 10, 2002.

Making the Connection
Implementing these technologies is easier than you might imagine, but first you must have a general understanding of how to install home networks and how to combine and connect computers so that they're more useful and powerful than they would be on their own. The first step, however, is to make a connection with the outside world. For the past few decades, most people have accomplished this connection through a dial-up modem, and although this method is still popular today, broadband connections such as cable modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and even satellite are now making headway. Source: Connected Home Magazine, February 20, 2002.

Fun with Home Networking
My father was recently in town visiting and after he saw the Apple iPod in my car, we started talking about digital media and home networking. As I walked him through all the digital music, photo, and video tasks I perform at home with my PC, I realized that all this modern technology can be overwhelming; my father was constantly amazed at what is possible today. Most amazing, of course, is the price of this technology: Most of it is inexpensive, although it can often be time-consuming to figure out. Source: Connected Home Magazine, February 6, 2002.

Almost Anything Is Possible with Wireless
I think most PC users are now comfortable with the concept of wireless networking; modern wireless hardware and a state-of-the-art OS such as Windows XP or Mac OS X are an unbeatable combination. When you're connecting a home network, however, wireless isn't always the best choice. I prefer to connect desktop PCs in my home office by using 100Mbps Ethernet, a wired solution that is less expensive and much faster than wireless. For laptops in a home or office, however, wireless access is crucial because of the mobility it offers. I like being able to check email out on the deck on a nice day, or look up important statistics online during my family's regular Sunday afternoon football get-togethers. Source: Connected Home Express, January 9, 2002.

Welcome to the Wireless Generation
Proxim's 1.6Mbps Symphony products offer an adequate solution for home users who want simply to share a wireless Internet connection. Proxim has upgraded its products to conform to the HomeRF standard, but they're still 1.6Mbps and I don't think that's enough, especially if you want to do any network file sharing (HomeRF will run at 10Mbps). The 802.11b networking offers a number of advantages over a HomeRF solution. In addition to its much faster speed of 11Mbps, 802.11b-based networks can be configured in various ways that make them more appealing than other wireless solutions. Source: Connected Home Magazine, June 14, 2001.

Home networking tips
From Connected Home Magazine
Sharing Files Between OS X and a PC
If you've recently added a new iMac or other Apple Macintosh computer to your home network, you've probably seen how easy it is to share your PC-based Internet connection with the Mac. But the Mac can also access your Windows-based files if you know the trick. On Mac OS X, this capability it built-in, if hidden: To access Windows-based file shares on OS X, select Go then Connect to Server from the Finder menu and type the following address into the Address text box:
smb://[machine-name]/[share-name]
where [machine-name] is the name of a valid Windows machine and [share-name] is the name of a valid share point on that machine. If you typed in a valid address, OS X will prompt you to supply valid Windows workgroup name, user name, and password information to access the share, and then add a shortcut to the desktop from which you can navigate the share. OS 9 users--or OS X users that wish to have their Mac appear as a Windows machine on the network--will need to purchase a third-party application for this functionality. I recommend Thursby Software DAVE.

Save Money When Going Wireless
Many people assume that you need to get a wireless access point in order to add wireless devices to your home network, but that's not the case. A thrifty alternative is to forego the access point and simply install a wireless network interface card (NIC) in one of your home PCs, and configure it to work in ad-hoc, rather than infrastructure, mode. Then, any wireless-equipped laptops can be configured this way, and you'll be up and running, sans access point, and at a savings of at least $100.

Networking XP with 9x/Me Machines
If you move from Windows 9x/Me to XP in the coming days and want to network your new PC or new OS with other machines in your house, you need to remember a few key details. Unlike 9x/Me, XP was built with networking security in mind, so you'll have to logon to an XP box before you can use it and, if you're wise, you'll password protect that account as well. But once you do this, you won't be able to access shares on your XP box from 9x/Me machines. Here's why: In a Windows workgroup based on NT, 2000, or XP, you must supply valid credentials (your logon/password) before you can access network resources. And these logons and associated passwords must be configured on any XP (or NT/2000) machine on the network. So let's say you logon as "sally" to a Windows 98 machine. To access an XP machine on the same network, you'd have to set up a "sally" account on the XP box that used the same password. Once you set it up like this, accessing shares will work the same way it did with 9x/Me.

Keep It Secure with Wireless
Following up on last week's tip, if you do go the wireless route, be sure that you're securing your home network against intrusion. Many wireless networks are automatically set up so that someone with a wireless card could come by your house--or live next door--and access your home network, and the Internet, using your connection. To ensure that your data is safe, and your network bandwidth isn't compromised from the outside, there are a couple of simple things you can do. First, make sure your wireless access point isn't broadcasting its SSID, which will prevent most cards from even finding your network. Then, harden your network from the outside, by hard coding the MAC addresses of your wireless cards into the management software for your access point, so that only your machines can use the network. Be sure to use 128-bit encryption if possible, and if you're using a bridged network, with wireless and wired components, consider keeping them separate so that machines on the wireless network can't access resources on the wired one. Also, be sure that you've got the latest firmware update for your wireless access point; many companies, such as Apple, Linksys, and others, have shipped crucial security updates for their hardware.

Home Networking the Easy Way
The benefits to networking your home are pretty clear, especially if you've recently purchased a new PC and want to keep the older model in service. But wiring a home for CAT-5 Ethernet cable can be invasive and expensive. Instead, consider wireless networking based on the 802.11b ("Wi-Fi") standard. Wireless network cards are relatively cheap, usually $100 or less, you won't need an access point--the piece of hardware that connects your wireless network to a more traditional wired network--because Wi-Fi can work in "ad-hoc" mode (no access point). So for $200, it's possible to connect two PCs wirelessly, and these PCs can then be moved anywhere in the house without a need to rewire or deal with cables. And with speeds up to 11 Mbs per second, you won't experience delays.
 

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