Home Networking Bible

Rating:
Summary: Easy understanding
Review: Even in the years of the dot com crash, PC usage and upgrading has continued unabated, driven by a still relentless Moore's Law. One huge area of this usage has been the home, and Plumley devotes her book to aiding you. Unlike an office environment, you have no IT staff to delegate the gruntwork to. Just you. And her.

So she carefully goes over enough technical detail to be intelligible and useful to you. Covering the latest Microsoft operating systems, with accompanying details on the Macintosh and linux. As an aside, the fact that she chose to include linux in a book like this speaks eloquently to its rise in a mass consumer market; no longer confined to server side applications.

On your network, she gives extensive information about having a wired or wireless setup. The pros and cons of both. Like a wired net being more secure against evesdropping, and usually having higher bandwidth. But being much more labour intensive to install, and often greater capital costs, compared to having just some WiFi hub. Certainly though, WiFi has been and is one of the bright spots in hi-tech right now, and Plumley walks you through its acronym-filled thicket.

She also does not ignore various other devices that can live on your net. Like a PDA or Xbox. Here is a chance for you to test for yourself some of the fabled convergence of computing and entertainment, about which so much has been postulated and invested by others.


Rating:
Summary: A good buy for multiple purposes
Review: I bought this book with only the goal of setting up a LAN for gaming and tranferring files with friends. It turns out that I really only had to read about 15 pages to achieve this goal. Although it was odd only reading 15 pages of a 681 page book, I was very impressed with it. The book went in depth about how to share peripheral devices such as :modems,printers, and scanners. It gave advice on buying equipment, AND told the reader exactly how to set up the software, or Windows, to have a TCP/IP, NetBIOS, IPX/SPX, and other major network protocols. The book was niether for strictly novices, nor experts, but had a perfect tone and was easy to understand. Before reading this book, I knew not much about networking, but now I feel I know enough to handle ANYTHING on a network of 20 computers or less. Probably the best aspect of this book was that is wasn't necessary for the reader to read from the front cover all the way through the topic they were needing to know. The reader could easy just begin at the chapter which he/she needs to learn about.

Rating:
Summary: A good buy for multiple purposes
Review: I bought this book with only the goal of setting up a LAN for gaming and tranferring files with friends. It turns out that I really only had to read about 15 pages to achieve this goal. Although it was odd only reading 15 pages of a 681 page book, I was very impressed with it. The book went in depth about how to share peripheral devices such as :modems,printers, and scanners. It gave advice on buying equipment, AND told the reader exactly how to set up the software, or Windows, to have a TCP/IP, NetBIOS, IPX/SPX, and other major network protocols. The book was niether for strictly novices, nor experts, but had a perfect tone and was easy to understand. Before reading this book, I knew not much about networking, but now I feel I know enough to handle ANYTHING on a network of 20 computers or less. Probably the best aspect of this book was that is wasn't necessary for the reader to read from the front cover all the way through the topic they were needing to know. The reader could easy just begin at the chapter which he/she needs to learn about.

Rating:
Summary: Not Helpful
Review: I was expecting more due to the title. This book tells you what to consider for your network but does little to prepare you for the technical issues you're going to encounter. Its an OK book; but certainly shouldn't be called a "Home Networking Bible" as it really doesn't cover very much in detail...its a wide book but also a shallow one.

Rating:
Summary: Home Networking Bible
Review: Only addresses Windows 95-98 and NT in any depth. Unix,Linux and Samba are completely overlooked.

Rating:
Summary: a decent book, but "Networking by Example" is better
Review: This book looked pretty good, but I wanted to point out another book, "Networking by Example" by Barry Press which is truly outstanding. This Bible book, as I remember it, contained a lot of information that was specific to Windows 98 and NT as well as protocols and OS's not around anymore. Also, in general the "bible" books tend to be cluttered with more information you don't really need. The home networking bible was helpful, but Networking by Example was much more succinct.

Rating:
Summary: a decent book, but "Networking by Example" is better
Review: This book looked pretty good, but I wanted to point out another book, "Networking by Example" by Barry Press which is truly outstanding. This Bible book, as I remember it, contained a lot of information that was specific to Windows 98 and NT as well as protocols and OS's not around anymore. Also, in general the "bible" books tend to be cluttered with more information you don't really need. The home networking bible was helpful, but Networking by Example was much more succinct.

Rating:
Summary: a decent book, but "Networking by Example" is better
Review: This book looked pretty good, but I wanted to point out another book, "Networking by Example" by Barry Press which is truly outstanding. This Bible book, as I remember it, contained a lot of information that was specific to Windows 98 and NT as well as protocols and OS's not around anymore. Also, in general the "bible" books tend to be cluttered with more information you don't really need. The home networking bible was helpful, but Networking by Example was much more succinct.

Rating:
Summary: Great networking help for newbies!
Review: This book really helped me set up my in-home business network. My wife and I work in separate rooms; we wanted to share files and especially the laser printer. Home Networking Bible made it so easy. It told me what to buy, how to set it up, and what to do to make the Windows computers see each other. Highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: You can set up a network in your home, on your own!
Review: Whether you want to connect two computers quickly with a parallel cable or connect 5 or 10 computers using twisted pair, Ethernet, hubs, and all of the trimmings, this book can help you. I cover various methods of connecting computers, tell you about available kits to help you network your computers, describe networkable applications, permissions, privacy issues, and even smart homes. This book can help you whether you're spending a lot of money or a little, whether you're a beginner or an expert!