Hi there,

Well first I apologize for asking this question as it may have been asked many times elsewhere in various forms, but the information I need is scattered in so many places so I decided to ask this again.

My configuration:
I am using a Pentium III, 256MB RAM desktop with RH7.2 Linux as workstation and I also have a Toshiba Notebook with Win 98/2000 (dual boot). I may keep my PIII as my Linux workstation and soon be buying a P4 to be used as WinXP desktop.

Questions :
- From where I can get a real simple & easy to understand and implement "HOWTO" written for a Newbie for RH Linux-Windows networking ?

- What are the minimal components I need for networking at home, just a 4 port 10/100 Mbit/s HUB and NIC in each of these machines ?

- Do I additionally need a router/switch or not for this small network and in case if I do need then I must have to buy a router/switch or I can configure my Linux box as a router ?

- I have a 3Com Sharkfin Cable modem which has a Ethernet interface as well as a USB interface (but only one interface can be used at one time). Now what will be the best way to have fast internet access to all these machines, either connect cable internet to Linux and install proxy server on it to serve two windows clients

or

- I can put my cable modem on LAN and can access this modem from all machines directly, in this case no dependency on Linux box for proxy ?

- From where I must obtain my IP addresses for all machines (please note that I don’t get a static IP from my cable internet provider).

- Can I run my printer Canon S300 on this network which has only a USB port ? (So far this printer is not supported on my Linux box as I couldn’t find its driver).

Thanks for taking time to read through all this :-)
Will love to have your detailed answers !

Best regards,
Salman

http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Net-HOWTO/index.html
This is where I started out long ago. It seems that this doc only covers up to 2.2 kernels. This is fine until you get into forwarding and masquerading. 2.2 uses ipchains where 2.4 uses iptables.

Yes that should do. If you stick with two machines you can do without the switch, if you buy or make a crossover ethernet cable. Google for "crossover cable" and you will see.

If you want to share a single internet connection you will need a router. You can either buy a internet router, or you can configure your linux box as a router. Configuring your linux box is very powerfull, but mistakes can be costly.
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/IP-Mas...WTO/index.html
There is an up to date how-to!
I use an old P60 for a router/firewall to the internet. It works great. The box rejects everything from the outside with the exception of forwarding port 80 and 25 to a seperate linux box in the DMZ. And do to my rules it provides very detailed logs.

Did I answer this already. Put two NICs in your Linux box and set it up to masquerade. Using the ethernet is the best way for any OS, because the OS really doesn't have to know what type of device it is.

No.

That is why you can't do the above. One machine will have to get the DHCP assigned IP address and all the others will use "internal" IP address either 10.x.x.x or 192.???.x.x addresses. The router will masquerade the internal address as your single Internet address when using the internet from any internal machine.

Dunno.

Hope this helps.