I own an older home, 1954 vintage. When I moved in, I signed up for DSL and plugged four computers into a little hub. That worked okay, except that one of my computers had two network cards and ran SyGate to give my other computers access. It meant that one computer had to be on 24/7, and it had all sorts of funny problems hosting videogames.
So I switched: I bought a LinkSys BEFSR-model router, which has two plugs: one goes into your DSL modem, one goes into your hub. Basically, it just works. We can all get on the Internet and we can all play local LAN games, but... some games don't work well when played behind a firewall.
Recently, I hired an electrician to wire my house for 100Mb Ethernet. That cost $800, because my walls were not properly designed for cables (there were only two phone outlets in the entire house). I recommend calling electricians and asking them if they have installed CAT5 cable (most of the time, they don't know what Ethernet means).
I also purchased a Linksys Wireless Ethernet hub for my laptop. Some advice: Wireless Ethernet works, but it's spotty. My laptop bounces in and out of connection when I'm two rooms away from the transmitter. Don't play games on Wireless; use Wireless for browsing the net. Wired connections are best for games.
Also: Be careful not to let the home network interfere with your girlfriend. Those are costly to route around.
A good friend of mine designs layoff plans for employers. At one time, a newly hired employee, eager to start work at a new dotcom, called the HR manager and suggested that he arrive at work at 8am on his first day. The HR manager suggested that he show up at ten, because the company was not an early-morning place. The employee arrived at 10am, and was greeted with a all-hands meeting announcing that (effective immediately) everyone was laid off. Total time spent at the company: less than an hour.
Less humorously, this same HR manager worked with me at our dotcom, where we successfully hired a talented engineering program manager and moved him to LA from Seattle. We were so glad to have him on board, that we all went into a collective funk when our investors abandoned us a week later and forced our closure. The poor program manager received three weeks pay for one week's work (including the meager severance we could afford).
Happy ending: We lined him up with a lot of our favorite recruiters and he got a job soon; he still likes LA.
It is absolutely imperative that you find and watch The Vision of Escaflowne, which is scheduled to be released on DVD shortly. This anime was created by Shoji Kawamori (whose most famous credits were for Macross, the TV series that became Robotech in the US), and Yoko Kanno, possibly the world's greatest living composer. I should preface this by saying that Escaflowne is not a typical anime by any means. This is an almost operatic story that constantly builds on the power of fate in an alternate universe. The characterizations are incredibly strong; the animation is fluid and beautiful; and when the music starts playing you'll forget you're even watching the television. There are 26 half-hour episodes that run a total of about 11 hours. Be warned: once you start watching, it's nearly impossible to avoid watching the entire 11 hours in one sitting. Oh yeah - Shoji Kawamori and Yoko Kanno also made Macross Plus, which is very good.
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I own an older home, 1954 vintage. When I moved in, I signed up for DSL and plugged four computers into a little hub. That worked okay, except that one of my computers had two network cards and ran SyGate to give my other computers access. It meant that one computer had to be on 24/7, and it had all sorts of funny problems hosting videogames. So I switched: I bought a LinkSys BEFSR-model router, which has two plugs: one goes into your DSL modem, one goes into your hub. Basically, it just works. We can all get on the Internet and we can all play local LAN games, but ... some games don't work well when played behind a firewall.
Recently, I hired an electrician to wire my house for 100Mb Ethernet. That cost $800, because my walls were not properly designed for cables (there were only two phone outlets in the entire house). I recommend calling electricians and asking them if they have installed CAT5 cable (most of the time, they don't know what Ethernet means).
I also purchased a Linksys Wireless Ethernet hub for my laptop. Some advice: Wireless Ethernet works, but it's spotty. My laptop bounces in and out of connection when I'm two rooms away from the transmitter. Don't play games on Wireless; use Wireless for browsing the net. Wired connections are best for games.
Also: Be careful not to let the home network interfere with your girlfriend. Those are costly to route around.
A good friend of mine designs layoff plans for employers. At one time, a newly hired employee, eager to start work at a new dotcom, called the HR manager and suggested that he arrive at work at 8am on his first day. The HR manager suggested that he show up at ten, because the company was not an early-morning place. The employee arrived at 10am, and was greeted with a all-hands meeting announcing that (effective immediately) everyone was laid off. Total time spent at the company: less than an hour. Less humorously, this same HR manager worked with me at our dotcom, where we successfully hired a talented engineering program manager and moved him to LA from Seattle. We were so glad to have him on board, that we all went into a collective funk when our investors abandoned us a week later and forced our closure. The poor program manager received three weeks pay for one week's work (including the meager severance we could afford). Happy ending: We lined him up with a lot of our favorite recruiters and he got a job soon; he still likes LA.
It is absolutely imperative that you find and watch The Vision of Escaflowne, which is scheduled to be released on DVD shortly. This anime was created by Shoji Kawamori (whose most famous credits were for Macross, the TV series that became Robotech in the US), and Yoko Kanno, possibly the world's greatest living composer. I should preface this by saying that Escaflowne is not a typical anime by any means. This is an almost operatic story that constantly builds on the power of fate in an alternate universe. The characterizations are incredibly strong; the animation is fluid and beautiful; and when the music starts playing you'll forget you're even watching the television. There are 26 half-hour episodes that run a total of about 11 hours. Be warned: once you start watching, it's nearly impossible to avoid watching the entire 11 hours in one sitting. Oh yeah - Shoji Kawamori and Yoko Kanno also made Macross Plus, which is very good.