Ok. So I have never set up a network in my life, and now I want to set one up at home. I have 2 boxes, windows and linux. I have a hub that they are plugged into. I want the two boxes to be able to access each other's files (shared files?) and also share a single internet connection.

Now I tried some basic, obvious stuff. I plugged in the ethernet wire connected to a router (my roomate has the router in his room) into the uplink and the computers a plugged into the other ports. Now obviously this was too easy to actually work.

So can someone tell me how I would get this network up?

Thanks guys

Well, I used to have a similar set up and it worked fine.

You won't need to plug it into the upload port however - just a normal one.

The issue you are having is probably getting an IP address for your PC's. Basically you need to either use DHCP or assign static IPs.

Is the router also the DHCP server?

If it is then trying the setup I mention and set both machines to use DHCP. does this work? (this is default for both windoze and Ubuntu I believe.)

Both boxes are set to accept assigned DHCP ips. The router is the DHCP server. Still doesn't allow internet connection. I am confused because I can see the shared folders and files on the network now, but I can't connect to the internet? Also, I can only see the the files on other windows boxes in the house, not my Ubuntu box. Hope this helps a bit more...

Thanks again

Have you set the default route on your boxes to the IP address of the router?

How would I do that?

Specifically... how would I get the IP of the router and then change the IP on my boxes?

i would recommend plugging the cable directly into each machine to ensure that it actually works before trying the other steps....

Check your router manual or Google for your router model. Linksys routers for example are normally accessable at 192.168.1.1. You'd do:.
If you need more help with this, please post details of your router model and the output of these commands: