AimUser: I'm planning to buy a 16 port hub, but not sure what's suitable for me; Switch?, Router or Normal Hub
syntx53: well your differences are this:
a hub SPLITS it's bandwith to all of the ports -- this means that a 10mb hub can only have a maximum of 10mb going through it. this also means on a 10mb-10port hub, if all the ports were using it to the max they would each get 1 mb.
a switch, lets say a 100mb switch, gives each port 100mb.
... a router is completely different. a router connects two networks so they can talk to each other. so if you had an internal network so that your computers can talk to each other, you would use a router to connect them to say your cable modems network. that then allows both networks to talk to each other. what allows you to only use one ip address of the outside network is called network address translation (NAT), and that's a whole new ballpark. if you need to get one of these then definately get the one by linksys. they are very easy to configure and usually work very well. i personally don't think they work all that well for running your own BBS though (i think the constant stream of traffic is too much for it), but firmware that has come out since i last used it may have fixed it. my recommendation for that is something like a cisco like i have ;). but they cost mad cash and require some skills to configure.
for a hub or switch i would also recommend linksys. they make good products for good prices. 3com makes the best (IMHO).
syntax's mini network guide [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Re: syntax's mini network guide [Archive] - ForumsHQ
hehe.... You'd all crap a brick if I told you what kinda hardware I have sitting (not in use) in my room at home... stuff that I'm not allowed to talk about!! ;) Networking... what a wonderful life