"LAN/Router question"

I have a LAN with 5 PCs connected through an 8 port Ethernet hub and will soon be getting cable broadband.

I will be buying a Linksys 4 port cable/DSL router which will allow me to connect 4 of my PCs but not the fifth one. My question is, can I plug my Ethernet hub into one of the router's ports and leave two of the PC on the hub? And if I can will those two PCs also be able to connect to the internet without problems?

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

>not the fifth one. My
>question is, can I plug
>my Ethernet hub into one
>of the router's ports and
>leave two of the PC
>on the hub? And if
>I can will those two
>PCs also be able to
>connect to the internet without
>problems?
>

Yes you can! Should work fine as long as you can set up the PC's ip addresses correctly (via dhcp or static behind the router)

Mike

Thank you, Mike. But one more clarification please:

Referring to what you said about correctly setting static IP addresses, I have a working LAN now using IPs 10.0.0.1 thru 5 and the standard subnet mask of 255.0.0.0. Will that be enough to keep the LAN working behind the router and give internet access to all the boxes? Sorry if I am asking dumb questions, but I am a self taught nerd and have to work harder at it than most.

Thanks again!

Hi Rich

I'm sitting around here suffering from insomnia, so I thought I'd chip in.

Basically the easiest way to go is set all of your client machines up for DHCP (Obtain IP address automatically), and don't worry about static IP's at all. When you get your router installed and all your wiring finished, so that the router, hub, and all your PC's are physically connected, you should be able to set each PC to obtain IP automatically, then reboot it(you don't necessarily have to reboot depending on what OS you're running, but if u reboot it eliminates any doubt)
Your router by default will assign IP's from a 192.168.x.x pool. If you need to be able to refer to one of your machines by IP across your home network, you can easily use LinkSys' web based utility for your router to see which machines have been assigned which IP's.
The only other thing i would look out for is- when you're physically setting up the network, and you come out of one of your router's ports to go into your hub, make sure you plug into the UPLINK port of the hub. It should be designated somewhere on the back.

although dhcp is the easiest I would recommend configuring them static, much better if you are going to be mapping network drives and cross sharing apps, files, etc.

Rich you will need to change them over to the linksys ip #'s like mark said they will be from a 192.168.x.x pool. The router will come with all the details. Here is what one of my comps look like (although I am using a SMC router).

Windows 2000 IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix .:
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . .: 192.168.123.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . .: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . .: 192.168.123.254

Mike

Mike, Mark, thank you both very much. After reading everything I can get my hands on I almost had a clear picture (keeping all the bazillion acronyms straight was the daunting part), but you two have boiled it down very clearly for me. I'm now ready for UPS to bring my router -- cudos to you both!!