You don't need a computer to run your network, you will do just fine with a mid range consumer grade router.

If something goes wrong or you want to change some setting, how do you see what you are doing if there isn't a computer running things?

Doc, you should probably look for some on-line courses on home networks. You've got some assumptions that aren't quite correct. Generally, a network is just a connection between two or more computers. If something goes wrong with that connection it would be addressed on one or the other of the machines. Your home network probably consists of a wire coming into the house; either DSL or Cable, which is hooked to a box. That box is probably a combination modem/router that you plug other computers to. There isn't anyplace in that model for a central computer that "runs the network" there really isn't anything to run.

You administer the router* from one of your computers (wired or wireless).

Instead of typing forumserver.twoplustwo.com, you'd type something like 192.168.1.1 (depending on what your router's ip address is) in the address bar.

You'll be prompted for a login/password, then you'll see a page similar to this:



* Like kerowo said, you might have a separate modem and router or a single box that provides both functions.

Think of the router as the computer that runs your network. Only it doesn't have a keyboard, mouse or monitor. That's why you have to connect to it via one of your computers to admin it.

Here's a picture of what one looks like on the inside:


The labeled parts are as follows:

1. Telephone decoupling electronics (for ADSL).
2. Multicolour LED (displaying network status).
3. Single colour LED (displaying USB status).
4. Main processor, a TNETD7300GDU, a member of Texas Instruments' AR7 product line.
5. JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) test and programming port.
6. RAM, a single ESMT M12L64164A 8 MB chip.
7. Flash memory, obscured by sticker.
8. Power supply regulator.
9. Main power supply fuse.
10. Power connector.
11. Reset button.
12. Quartz crystal.
13. Ethernet port.
14. Ethernet transformer, Delta LF8505.
15. KS8721B ethernet PHY transmitter receiver.
16. USB port.
17. Telephone (RJ11) port.
18. Telephone connector fuses.

Google "home network setup" and you'll get 70 million hits to choose from, complete with diagrams.

It's not that difficult.

See, having to connect it to a computer to admin it, and wanting to compartmentalize stuff, is why I want to have a computer dedicated solely to the admin functions.

It might be overkill, but in this case I like overkill.

So what are the minimum specs for such a computer?

Also, where would you put it based on the following? Two possible locations are the dining room or the living room. Both of which are at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms where our desktop computers will be. Don't know if brick interferes with signal strength, but we have a massive fireplace in our kitchen and it is inbetween the dining room and the bedrooms. The living room is in front of the kitchen.

But you're already going to have computers connected to the network. You really don't need a separate one just to log in to your router's admin console once every few years.

If you like overkill that much surely you should get another computer to switch on your admin computer remotely, and a third one to log the temperature in the room.

Edit: if the reason you want a separate computer to "run" the network is tinfoil hat malware paranoia, then bear in mind you could achieve pretty much exactly the same result by just running a virtual machine on one of the web browsing computers and using the VM for router admin only.

What a great idea!

This is a bizarre tangent.

You realize your router is, like, a computer, right?

Probably falling on deaf ears, but you don't need a dedicated server with a coax PCI card stuck in it running windows server and hosting your email or wtf ever you're envisioning.

If your network is slow, get a better router. Problem solved without excessive and unnecessary complicatedness.

Given that was written and not spoken, shouldn't you have said blind eyes?

It's a turn of phrase afaik, so no

You're too serious.

Been using the home wifi since Saturday. No problems other than I haven't hooked the desktop back up.

have a wd mycloud attached to the network (not at the moment) and it's always worked fine, except whenever windoze starts, i get the "unable to connect to remote drives" error

had a batch file running a series of pings at startup that sometimes fixes the problem (something about network services not being loaded before the connection check or whatever, nbd).

Well, we're rearranging furniture and the mycloud isn't plugged in, and I don't know when it will be.

I would love for some way to stop windows trying to connect to it whenever i startup, but also not have to remap the drive when we do put it back in use.

Any thoughts?

FURTHER question

if i wanted to turn a spare laptop into a sort of linux webserver, how difficult would that be? what all is the process that i would need to do to be able to, say, register a dns name (assuming my IP changes) and host a web page that basically acts as a media player for everything we have on network storage?

I already replied to the latter question in the Programming forum. For the former, it is easy to write a script that will map the drives that you can have auto run on a delay after startup.

Ah, cheers, I'll have to look up how to do that. Thanks!

I'm pretty sure there are media server specific distros out there as well that should be fairly close to what you want out of the box or a day or two of googling...

it seems damn near impossible to find quality technical information on consumer devices. can anyone comment or recommend a good resource?

my mom got a new 2015 kindle paperwhite (wifi only) and we'd like to connect it to a free xfinitywifi hotspot. note that this is one of the many free hotspots for xfinity customers, not home wifi. once connected, xfinitywifi requires you to launch a browser to sign in with your xfinity username and password, similar to free hotel wifi requiring you to sign in with room # and last name or similar.

however, the paperwhite will give the error message that it has connected to the network but failed to connect to the internet. the only option at that point is "cancel", which disconnects. there is no time where I can connect to the network and manually open the web browser to try to authenticate.

is it possible to connect a kindle paperwhite to a wifi hotspot that requires a username and password via captive portal? it seems that the answer may be "no", but I figured it's worth asking. I did find this post, but there isn't a solution http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_...x205NK5PI95Z62

call xfinity

also, have you tried all the stuff in this thread?

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_...x2KQJXVWMPAU2V

edit

sounds like a known issue, no resolution from Amazon atm

Thanks. I did see that thread before posting. It is actually fairly representative of the frustration that is searching for quality info on consumer devices.

non-technical person 1: my non-specific thing isn't doing a non-specific thing and I think it should.
mildly technical person: now that I have misinterpreted your question, you have to follow these 32 unrelated steps that are "sure" to fix your issue.
non-technical person 2: I am hijacking your still unresolved thread with my only mildly related issue.
[repeat]


Can you link your source for your edit saying that it is a known issue? It's not that I don't believe you, but that I would like to read the details.

AVG says it can sell your browsing data in updated privacy policy [engadget.com]

The company is adamant that it doesn't sell anything with identifying information...

Probably a dumb question, but can't figure out the answer.

When I need to transfer media to my android phone I setup an ftp server and upload everything from my main pc. My upload speeds are limited by my internet connection, if both the pc and phone are on the same network, why is that a limiting factor? Thanks

Can't you just use a usb cable for data transfer to an android device?

I could and have, just looking for a faster option.

USB3 is 480MB/S
Your internet faster than that?

On your home network your hardware is the limiting factor, do you know what kind of network cards you have in the machines? It could also be the machines themselves, can you describe your network setup?