Hello,
I know that there are different styles of networks. I'm considering attempting to put in a very basic, simple, and small local area home network... which style or type should I use and what points should I watch out for in putting one in? Also what kind of hardware and software do I need to install on it?
Thank you

a simple approach would be to just use the 4port / wifi router that your ISP gave you.
- plug any Desktops into some of those ethernet ports,
- connect the other things via the wifi connection.

the Windows based ones will detect each other & connect in a simple network.
- Linux ones should not need very much configuration, to get them networked, as well.

if you have a wifi connected printer, then connect that via usb to one desktop,
and use it's wifi connection for the rest of the devices.

Almost everyone uses tcp/ip. It is almost defacto standard on common OS's. The hardware is almost always built into the home computers. So, you only need some way to attach the computers.

I use homeplugs but many people use wireless or dedicated wires.

Your user agent icon indicates that you are using Ubuntu or one of its derivatives.

This article should help:

https://www.howtoforge.com/creating-...er-with-ubuntu

If you are not using Ubuntu, the basic principles will be the same. The HOWTO might a little different.

I use Samba for my own file sharing (rather than NFS), as there are both Windows and Linux computers (and occasionally a Mac) in this house.

If all your computers have ethernet. And are younger than 2008. You just need ethernet cables to connect two computers. And potentially multiple NICs or a multiport hub if you have more than two computers. Before 2008 the MDI-X standard wasn't well adopted or didn't exist and you might need a cross-over cable to connect two computers directly. Otherwise cables and something like an asus rt-n12 should get you a basic home network. It's also nice in client bridge mode to act as a wifi dongle that you attach to with ethernet.

There's basically three things to be familiar with as any one that is not setup or setup in a non-productive state can prevent your network from working. You have your interface, a route, and a firewall.

# ifconfig -a
(without the -a it only lists configured interfaces)

# route -n
(there's also netstat -r)

# iptables-save
(it doesn't actually save, but lists the current rules as they would appear in the save file)

Sorry to nitpick, and it might be off-topic. I agree that these are the most important commands, but the venerable 30 years old ifconfig, route and netstat are on the way to retirement. As an example, Centos/Redhat 7 doesn't have ifconfig anymore. Instead use
The first lists your network interfaces, their status and MAC and IP addresses.
The second lists your network routes.
The replacement for netstat is ss (socket status); not sure if it has a -r option.

It may be worthwhile pointing out that wireless doesn't work well in some homes, and some people report health issues (I used to laugh about it, but a medical doctor friend of mine who is not so easily fooled by new-age assertments has exactly this problem). If you can't pull cables through your house, Powerline (or Homeplug as you call it) can be an excellent alternative. You can even use all of these technologies at once.

Slackware also includes the ip command. It's quite versatile, but I've been just too lazy to learn it yet.