Trying to set up a home network
 

Hello All,

I have few old laptops that are still working. I want to set up a home network for practicing. One of the laptops (say Machine1) has linux installed on it, and on another laptop I have a linux vm (say Machine2) running on top of VMware workstation (which is running on Windows 7). If I want to access Machine1 from Machine2 or communicate with each other for things like FTP, Repository, etc, can I straight away hookup an ethernet cable into their ports? If not what is it I'll be needing to do that. Please advice. Thanks in advance.

For a basic wired ethernet LAN a simple switch will do what you need, but if you want internet connectivity in the mix, an ADSL router will usually provide a few LAN ports for connecting a few networked devices such as laptops, printers, NAS etc. BTW, it is possible to connect two computers directly, but depending on how old the network interfaces are, it can require a crossover cable. Most modern NICs have auto MDIX which has eliminated the need for crossover cables.

A typical home network typology is something like this:

Cable or DSL modem

connected to

Wireless Router

connected to

Computer 1, Computer 2, Computer 3, etc., plus in some cases a network printer.

Computers 1, 2, and 3 can connect to each other and the printer via the router.

Note that a "wireless router" for home use in general terminology is one that accepts wired connections (usually three or four) as well as wireless connections. Generally, wired connections are faster.

Here's a good primer: http://michaelminn.com/linux/home_network/

A web search for "home network linux" will turn up lots of links, including YouTube tutorials.

Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate it. I'll try that out and see how it goes.