don't think it's difficult. In fact, if we just set up a small local area network, we can do it ourselves by adding a few network cards and some data lines. As we know, Win98 has built-in PC-to-PC network configuration capability, which makes it easy to build a small network. If there are many computers in your local area network, then you need a mature network operating system to manage the network, such as WinNT, Netware or Linux.
serial-parallel port communication networking
If you just want to connect two PCs with Windows series operating systems, we can directly connect the two microcomputers through the serial and parallel ports of the computers and use serial and parallel communication cables (pc to pc), and then select the "dial-up network adapter" and "protocol" of Microsoft from the "adapters" under the "control panel/network" of Windows. Then start the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, click Install Windows Programs, select Communication, click Direct Cable Connection, and then use the Windows installation disk to install. After installation, restart the computer. Select a computer as the host, right-click a drive (such as drive C) in the host "My Computer", select "* * * Enjoy", and select the * * * Enjoy level. Run "direct cable connection" in the accessories of the two machines respectively, and select the communication port used on the host machine. Choose another client, follow the prompts, wait a moment, and finish online. Open Network Neighborhood on the desktop of Client, and you will find that you are no longer lonely. You can access your host through Network Neighborhood, or map the network drive into your own virtual physical drive through the method of "mapping network drive". Even better, if the host you are connected to is already on the LAN, you can also access all online resources through the host. Moreover, when you visit, it will not affect the normal work of the host, which is especially beneficial to the users of notebook computers.
network card communication networking
when there are more than two personal computers (PCs), network cards, network cables and hubs are needed. If there is no network card in the local area network, it is like a river without bridges on both sides. Network card is the abbreviation of NIC(NETWORK Interface Card), which is one of the most basic components of LAN. The network card is installed in the expansion slot of the network computer and server, and acts as the physical interface between the computer and the network, so it can be simply said that the network card is a bridge to receive and transmit data. Network cards can be divided into 1Mbps network cards (ISA socket or PCI socket), 1Mbps PCI socket network cards, 1Mbps/1Mbps adaptive network cards and Gigabit network cards according to the transmission rate. At present, the network card with 1Mbps ISA socket still occupies a certain share of the market at its low price. However, because of its low network transmission rate and occupying a lot of CPU resources, the network card with 1Mbps ISA socket is only suitable for those local area networks that do not require high speed. Therefore, I recommend using a network card with 1Mbps PCI socket or a 1Mbps/1Mbps adaptive network card, which is inexpensive and can adapt to the application environment where there are many users, a large amount of data transmitted online and multimedia information transmission is needed.
when selecting the network cable, you should first look at the interface type of the network card you purchased. There are two types of network card interfaces (RJ45 and BNC): BNC port is a network card interface using thin coaxial cable as the transmission medium. RJ45 is a network card interface using twisted pair as transmission medium. The interface of RJ45 resembles the interface of telephone line, but the network line uses an 8-core connector. The disadvantage of using RJ45 is that it is expensive to set up, but it is convenient to install and maintain, so we generally use RJ45 interface. HUb (Hu: According to the number of microcomputers, the HUB is used to form a star structure. When there are many workstations, the processing speed of the hub is far lower than the transmission speed of the communication line, thus causing bottleneck problems. Therefore, you can choose a switch if you have the conditions. The domain formed by a Hub is called a collision domain, that is, when any computer on the network sends and receives data, all other computers can receive it, and these computers can't send and receive data at the same time, otherwise a collision will occur (CSMA/ CD protocol will prevent the collision). In addition, every computer connected to the Hub must check the destination address of the received data to confirm whether it has received its own communication information. Therefore, the computer's CPU utilization rate is high and the whole network communication efficiency is low, which is only suitable for small workgroup-level applications.
The function of HUB hub or switch:
(1) Each twisted pair interface is only connected to one workstation (network card), and the signal is transmitted point to point.
(2) when a port receives a signal, the HUB reshapes it and broadcasts it to every other port.
(3) the hub itself can automatically detect signal collision, and immediately send out jam (jam) signal to inform other ports when collision occurs.
(4) when the transmission line or network card of a port fails, the HUB automatically isolates the port, so that it will not affect the normal work of other ports. Because the current 1MB switch is very cheap, 1Mbps network card and 1M switch are generally selected.
all the components needed for the local area network are complete. Now, come with me to set up the local area network step by step based on the most stable personal operating system Windows2 Professional.
steps for connecting the LAN:
1. install the network card. Turn off the computer, open the chassis, find an idle PCI slot (usually a short white slot), insert the network card and screw it in.
2. connect the network cable. Plug one end of the network cable into the network card connector and the other end into the switch or HUB.
3. Install the network card driver. When you turn on the computer, the operating system will detect the network card and prompt you to insert the driver disk. Insert the driver disk sold with the network card, and then click Next. When Windows finds the driver, a confirmation screen will be displayed, and then click Next. If Windows cannot find the driver, click the Browse button in the Device Driver Wizard to specify the location of the drive. If your driver is not the latest version, you can open Device Management, run the Update Device Driver Wizard, double-click Network Adapter, select your network card, select the Driver button, and click the Upgrade Driver button. Windows will prompt you to insert the Windows installation disk, just follow the prompts. You must also give each computer in the network a unique name and the same Workgroup name (such as the default workgroup), and then restart the computer. The specific operation is to right-click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and click "Properties". Click "Network ID" in the pop-up dialog box, then click "Properties", fill in the machine name you want to specify in the name of "Computer", fill in the unified workgroup name in the workgroup, and click OK to finish.
4. Install the necessary network protocols. Right-click the desktop Network Neighborhood icon, click Properties, right-click the Local Area Connection icon, click Install in the pop-up properties dialog box, double-click Protocol to install Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), double-click Client to install Microsoft Network Client, and restart the computer.
5. realize network enjoyment. Right-click the desktop Network Neighborhood icon, click Properties, right-click the Local Area Connection icon, click Install in the pop-up properties dialog box, double-click Services to install Microsoft Network Files and Printers, and click OK. These settings will not take effect until you restart your computer. If you want to * * * enjoy a drive or directory, open My Computer in the Explorer or on the desktop, right-click the drive or directory you want to * * * enjoy, select * * * enjoy, and fill in the corresponding contents. If you choose * * * to enjoy the whole drive, all directories under this drive will be shared by the network * * *. Open the Network Neighborhood icon to get a list of computers on the network. Double-click the computer you want to access and enter the drive. To map network drives, please consult the Windows Help file. If there is a problem when accessing the printer or other computers through the network, please check your network cable connection to ensure that the connection and * * * enjoyment settings are correct.
6. Set an optional startup password. When you start the computer for the first time after installing the network driver, a dialog box will pop up to prompt you to type the user and password of Microsoft network. Type the user name, and it will be displayed automatically every time you start the computer (you can use the computer name specified in step 3). If you don't want to set a password, leave the password line blank and then "OK"; otherwise, type the password and confirm it. If the password entered does not match the password set, the computer can run the operating system locally, but it cannot access the Internet to enjoy resources.
haha. We have set up a simple local area network based on Windows2 Professinal. You can also set up a local area network between your neighbors by the above methods.
If you have two or more computers, you naturally want to form a network. For the convenience of description, the following convention calls it LAN. In the home environment, you can use this network to * * * enjoy resources, play games that require multiple people to participate, * * * enjoy Internet connection with a modem, and so on. In the office, the use of such a network mainly solves the problem of sharing peripherals such as printers. In addition, the office LAN is also the infrastructure for multi-person collaboration.
despite such a small network project, professionals were needed to configure the network in the past. At that time, most of the operations were manual, and ordinary users did not have the corresponding knowledge and experience. It just belongs to the situation that "high is not enough, low is not enough", which naturally limits its development. The appearance of Windows XP has broken this situation, which depends on its built-in powerful network support function and convenient wizard. After the user completes the physical connection, he runs the connection wizard, which can detect the network hardware, install the corresponding driver or protocol, and guide the user to complete all the configuration steps.
This paper introduces two networking schemes under Windows XP operating system, and introduces various distinctive functions of Windows XP used in LAN.
1. objective:
form a home LAN: externally, you can connect to the Internet, allowing all computers in the LAN to enjoy the connection. Internally, you can enjoy network resources and equipment.
2. what network form is used?
Computers in the home network may have desktop computers or portable computers, such as palmtop computers or notebook computers, and may also have interfaces for various transmission media. Therefore, wired networks are not suitable for all networks, and wireless interfaces must be considered. However, if it can be clearly located on a pure wired network, there is no need to set up a wireless interface. Therefore, here are two solutions:
1. Wired and wireless hybrid.
2. wired.
3. Selection of network hardware
The network adapter (network card) can be a card with PCI, PC or PCMCIA interface (the latter two are mostly used in portable computers or notebook computers), and Windows XP also supports a network adapter with USB interface. Which adapter to use depends on the computer connected to the network. No matter what kind of adapter, you need to pay attention to the coordination with the existing computer interface and HUB. The adapter with USB interface may be more adaptable, but for older computers, you need to pay attention to whether it supports USB interface.
Coaxial cable and twisted-pair cable are commonly used as network connection lines, which are familiar things and need not be explained much. Which one to adopt depends on what you think.
IV. Available network structure and medium
Ethernet structure: This structure is the most popular among office or business users, and many people are familiar with it, and technical data and maintenance personnel are easy to find, so I won't go into details.
telephone line connection: the main features of this form are low cost and simple physical connection, which is suitable for most home users.
radio waves: electromagnetic wave signals are used to transmit signals, which can be used for communication without any wires, and can be used on the move. However, it is necessary to install a wireless adapter on each computer, and the high cost is certain. In China, wireless communication is rarely used in computer network communication. In the United States, a standard protocol called IEEE 82.11b is used for wireless network communication. With the support of this protocol, the achievable network speed is 11 Mbps.
v. One of the schemes
This is a wired and wireless hybrid scheme, and the specific structure can be seen in Figure 1. In this example, a hybrid network is composed of four computers. PC1 is the host computer, and it has three paths to connect with the outside:
1. Modem connected to the Internet: all computers used in the whole network can access the Internet.
2. wireless adapter: used for communication with wireless devices in this network.
3. HUB: used to "drive" the downstream computers in this network.
in this scheme, PC1 and PC2 computers must use Windows XP operating system, and the wired part is connected by Ethernet structure. HPNA in the picture is the abbreviation of home phone line network adapter, which stands for home phone line network adapter. The PC3 and the mobile computer in the picture do not need to use the windows XP operating system, and other Windows versions will do. The network connection between the mobile computer and the host computer is wireless.
if you want to build a hybrid network, this scheme already has typical functions, and you can expand the network scale without spending a lot.
About the connected operation:
Figure 1