Build Your Own Home Network (Build Your Own Series) [Paperback]

Ron Gilster (Author), Diane Gilster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2000 | Series: Build Your Own Series

This visual guide offers advice on how to create a home network under a peer-to-peer and Ethernet hookup. It covers the costs and equipment necessary for setup and use and includes information on Windows 98, Ethernet and wireless topics.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Configure your home network under a peer-to-peer and Ethernet hookup.

Create a streamlined home network which will allow you to share high speed Internet access, printers, and other peripherals and even engage in multiplayer games - all under one roof! Filled with more than 100 easy-to-follow photographs, this straightforward manual will guide you through every step of setting up and configuring your home network. From gathering all the parts you need to get started to connecting cables and installing device drivers, this book breaks down the process of home networking in clear and precise language.

This guidebook explains:

• Basic networking concepts and terminology
• Cabling, connectors, and network adapters
• Testing and running diagnostics
• Networking with Windows, Ethernet, and wireless connections
• Dialup networking and connecting to the Internet
• File and print sharing

About the Author

Ron Gilster (College Place, WA) is the author of A+ Certification for Dummies and Network+ Certification for Dummies. He is A+, Network+, and I-Net certified and has been upgrading, repairing, and programming PCs for 30 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; Tra edition (July 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072124660
• ISBN-13: 978-0072124668
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,011,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Computers & Technology > Home Computing > Home Networks

More About the Author

Ron Gilster was born in Vallejo, California in 1947. Which is the last time he actually lived in any one place for very long at all. Ron began his computing and technology career in 1965 in the Air Force, in which he took refuge from the draft, but ended up a Vietnam vet anyway. Over the years, he has been a punch-card machine operator, a computer programmer, a systems analyst, a database manager, a manufacturing production manager, a consultant for what was then a Big 8 accounting firm, an executive in the audio/visual and telecommunications industry, a college instructor and administrator, and, oh yes, a writer.

Ron has had a number of best-selling books, including his first "A+ Certification for Dummies," "CCNA For Dummies," "Cisco Networking For Dummies," and a dozen more. He lives in Spokane, WA and continues to write at least four books per year; the latest being "MCAS: Exam Guide."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just enough information to be dangerous., August 19, 2000

By 

Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Build Your Own Home Network (Build Your Own Series) (Paperback)

What does a network in the home do for the average user? In most cases you have a huge advantage over everyone else in terms of how people can reach you. Build your own home network has some help for you, but you are better off looking for complex answers some where else.

While this book can and does introduce the neophyte to networking, it may give the user the impression that they are ready to tackle even more complex networks than they are capable of. The book skims over most topics giving just information to make any end user dangerous.

The book cover three basic topics, networking concepts, gathering parts and installing the network. There is no section on troubleshooting, so if problem arise you are on your own. While the pictures and diagrams are useful home networking is more than connecting a cable to a card, this book doesn't show that.

What may be needed in the next edition is more detailed information about networking. For $24.99 the price does not outweigh the expenses of making mistakes. If you want an overview this is the right book, if you want details call the professionals.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Caution: Windows 98 only!!, April 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Build Your Own Home Network (Build Your Own Series) (Paperback)

This book is only useful if you are hooking up PC's running Windows 98. If you have any other OS or want to connect to a Mac, this book is totally useless.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for novices to get their home network running, June 30, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Build Your Own Home Network (Build Your Own Series) (Paperback)

The title says it all. If you follow the steps given studiously, you should have no problems planning, purchasing and setting up your own home network, provided that you stick to the basic configuration of Win98, Ethernet, and dialup through the phone line/DSL connection. Nothing "fancy" like WLAN here. If this seems incredibly simple to you, there are thicker books out there.

This is one book which can be read easily from cover to cover, not least because of the large typeface. I felt very comfortable with it; there is no feeling of being "talked down to", or being overtaxed with jargon. The many pictures enhance the user-friendliness, apart from those which are rather grainy in quality or which do not convey much useful information due to the lack of creative use of graphics.