Question regarding adding a laptop

[Drawoh Tesremos]

I currently have a PC a bit over 4 years old, which works well. I want to get another machine – a laptop - partly for my wife to use at home, and partly for either of us to use when we go away, both as a standalone device and for occasional internet access.

When at home, I would like to be able to operate the laptop through the same broadband connection that I am currently using for my PC.

Not being familiar with this sort of connection, I have a few questions, which I hope someone can advise me on.

Presumably I’m going to need a router of some description. My PC has no wireless capability. Would it be necessary, or even possible to add anything to the PC to give that capability? Or is it possible to get a router which would serve the PC using wires, and the laptop using wireless?

Is it likely that my ISP needs to be informed about two machines using the same connection? And would they need to make any adjustments to my connection?

Is there a minimum config I need to look for in the laptop?

Ideally, but not essentially, I’d like to be able to access my printer from both PC and laptop. Is this feasible?

Are there any relevant questions I haven’t thought about asking?

 

[TomElZ]

I currently have a PC a bit over 4 years old, which works well. I want to get another machine – a laptop - partly for my wife to use at home, and partly for either of us to use when we go away, both as a standalone device and for occasional internet access.

When at home, I would like to be able to operate the laptop through the same broadband connection that I am currently using for my PC.

Not being familiar with this sort of connection, I have a few questions, which I hope someone can advise me on.

Presumably I’m going to need a router of some description. My PC has no wireless capability. Would it be necessary, or even possible to add anything to the PC to give that capability? Or is it possible to get a router which would serve the PC using wires, and the laptop using wireless?

Is it likely that my ISP needs to be informed about two machines using the same connection? And would they need to make any adjustments to my connection?

Is there a minimum config I need to look for in the laptop?

Ideally, but not essentially, I’d like to be able to access my printer from both PC and laptop. Is this feasible?

Are there any relevant questions I haven’t thought about asking?

Regards to adding the capability of wireless to your pc, there is two things you could do. You could either buy a wireless card for your pc which should just fit into a port on your motherboard (simple enough to install) or you could either buy a usb wireless device which you can just put into your usb port.

Regards to telling your isp, no there is absoutely no need to as your router will sort out the connections for you. As long as you have got your main adsl/cable line going into the router you should be fine mate.

Hope that helps.

 

[Draeger]

Would it be necessary, or even possible to add anything to the PC to give that capability? Or is it possible to get a router which would serve the PC using wires, and the laptop using wireless?

You can add a Wireless card to your PC quite easily. Or a Wireless USB adaptor. Depends on where you are going to physically have the desktop PC located in the house in relation to the router. Common setup is the main desktop PC is wired to the router and the laptop and/or additional PC's are wirelessley connected.

Is it likely that my ISP needs to be informed about two machines using the same connection? And would they need to make any adjustments to my connection?

Nope, won't matter a jot to your ISP how many PC's you have connected, no adjustments required.

Is there a minimum config I need to look for in the laptop?

Not sure what you mean, but any modern laptop will have wireless built in and its just a case of booting up, looking for the network from the icon in your taskbar and connecting using the relevant security ( WEP or preferably WPA ).

Ideally, but not essentially, I’d like to be able to access my printer from both PC and laptop. Is this feasible?

Perfectly feasible. Just Google "Printer & File Sharing" for your chosen OS, XP or Vista. Pretty easy to set up. Even easier if your running a Networked printer through the router, what model do you have?.

Hope that helps.

 

[Drawoh Tesremos]

Thanks, TomEIZ and Draeger, for your optimistic responses.

Regarding your question about the printer, Draeger, I've got an Epson DX6050 scanner/inject printer.

 

[Draeger]

Hi,

I believe that printer is USB only with no capability to connect it directly to a router.

However, it will still be perfectly capable of being used to print from your laptop via your desktop PC once you set up Printer & File Sharing.

I do believe however, in order to print from it from your laptop, because the printer will be USB connected to your desktop, the desktop would have to be switched on at the time.

 

[Drawoh Tesremos]

Once again, thanks to those who responded to my query.

Being the holiday season, I haven't been able to do anything about laptop or router yet, but I am expecting to do so this coming week.

Thinking further about it, I have one further question which I don't know the answer to. And that is - where does my existing modem fit in?

Is the system set up as:

phone socket <--> modem <--> router <--> computer

or

phone socket <--> router <--> modem <--> computer

or does the router replace the modem, thus giving

phone socket <--> router <--> computer


I'm sure that any documentation that comes with the router will explain, but it would be useful to know in advance.

 

[sneakypenguin]

by modem do you mean the old dial-up modem? if so then you won't need that.
As said above, if you want to go wireless, just go and a buy a usb wireless adapter (cost you around £20 for a basic one) plug it in,install the drivers and away you go. Nearly all modern laptops have wireless built in.

it will go like: phone socket <--> router <--> computer.
doesn't matter how many computers you connect to the router (physical connection is normally 4 maximum (ehternet connection), wireless is more or less unlimited) it will assign ip addresses automatically so that each computer can use the internet.

 

[Drawoh Tesremos]

excellent. thanks for the response, sneakypenguin