Assuming I'm reading the original question correctly, you want to share files and/or printers between a few machines? All you need is a suitable hub (say £40 for a 4-port 10/100bT) and network card in each machine (say £10 for 100bT PCI card; rather more for a PCMCIA card for the laptop) plus a cable for each. Assuming you're running some version of Windows (95 or later) pretty much any card ought to do as they all come with drivers. My most recent purchase was a 'dabs value' card at £7+VAT which has been fine, though the instructions were less than helpful.
If you're only using two machines you can dispense with the hub but you need a crossover cable between the two machines; I've never tried this though as it's a pain as soon as you get another machine.
Assuming I'm reading the original question correctly, you want to share files and/or printers between a few machines? All you need is a suitable hub (say £40 for a 4-port 10/100bT) and network card in each machine (say £10 for 100bT PCI card; rather more for a PCMCIA card for the laptop) plus a cable for each. Assuming you're running some version of Windows (95 or later) pretty much any card ought to do as they all come with drivers. My most recent purchase was a 'dabs value' card at £7+VAT which has been fine, though the instructions were less than helpful.
If you're only using two machines you can dispense with the hub but you need a crossover cable between the two machines; I've never tried this though as it's a pain as soon as you get another machine.
