I see two drawbacks to wifi. First it is infrared, and so, very easily blocked by walls, etc. Second, I already bought the switch. If what "the technician said" (see post #43) is true, then the power consumption does not matter, for I am always on computer A. There will be no excess power at all...

OK. You beat me, guys. I choose the router method. Would a Zeppelin 740N (wifi) do?

EDIT: I deleted the (old) second paragraph.

absolutely wrong. wifi work in 2.4 GHz range
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi
it is some nlocking from walls, especially concrete with steel, but in general, it is not bad technology for internet access point at home.
for share internet to another computer, as i say earlier, you must be use iptables for network address translation. it is not bad thing, if you want a learn yourself small about networking and so on, but in general, i agree, is be better to purchase wifi router. it has be prices from approh 15 - 20 usd...

on other side, you may have a linux boh, who already work at your home 24/7 to serves as your local fileserver, handle as your personal mail \ web \ftp\ dns server, and you can it additionally give a firewall role too ;)

sorry this thread is very hard to follow (i didnt know you already bought the switch -- then there is no need to use pc-a as a router).
fyi: wifi uses rf.

so you are set up at this point, correct ?
if not all you need to do is plug a cat-5 cable from the internet transceiver to the correct port of the switch (usually colored yellow). then plug a cat-5 cable from the swicth to pc-a and pc-b. then plug in the switch into a wall outlet.

not sure what software you needed...

it's becoming clear to me that this so called 'technician' doesn't know WHAT he/she is talking about

totally wrong, WIFI is a MICROWAVE radio,(2.4GHz, the same frequency as some cordless phones), and is NOT easily blocked by walls. what WiFi IS easily blocked by is METAL objects in walls.


second of all, wi-fi is OPTIONAL unless you have a LAPTOP, TABLET or other portable device, otherwise two PCs in close proximity should be attached to a WIRED router such as a Linksys BEFSR41, which has a 4 port switch, plus a wan port (technically a 5 port switch , with 4 lan ports and the 5th port segmented off as a wan port)

doing it with just the modem and a switch might work but it's wrong.

i suggested smoothwall in post #16 but maybe too advanced for op ?

Some providers give 2 ip's. Mine does so that with a switch you are still able to connect 2 pc's to the internet.

but that's still up to the internet provider, with a router you can have as many computers connected as the bandwidth of the internet connection allows (you'd probably overload the wan connection before running out of available IPs, especially on a residential internet connection).

Please tell me: I can get any of these:
Linksys E2500
Linksys E1200-AR
Linksys E900-AR
Zeppelin 740N
Zeppelin 841N
Zeppelin 941ND

But Linksys are rather expensive. Could some Zeppelin do?

I did not know there was a special port in the switch. May that's why I haven't been able to make it work yet. The switch is TP-LINK TL-SF1005D.

Only a router has a special wan port, you might try your switch with only one pc connected and if that works you can connect the other pc with a fixed ip. But it is not ideal. If your only intention was to connect the 2 pc's together you are better of with an extra networkcard.

switch do not have that special ports. looks like shneidz confusing switch with router, who, yes - have a WAN port :D

precisely (though technically a consumer grade router is a layer 3 switch that performs routing tasks, whereas commercial grade routers have two separate interfaces, but... same difference really)

sure it would work, but remember you get what you pay for
i would go with linksys, belkin or netgear personally, never heard of zeppelin

p.s. most wi-fi routers also come with a built-in 4 port switch (which is why wi-fi routers were mentioned in the first place since they have the bonus of giving you the OPTION for wi-fi if you ever needed it, but the radio on wi-fi routers can be shut off if you don't need it)

OK. Now I have what I could buy at a block from home: a TP-LINK [Zeppelin was a typo] TL-WR740N. The two following commands modify the kernel behaviour:
How can I undone their effect so as to begin again from scratch?