DoN. Nichols wrote:

In article ,
Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Well the real question is that I want to add a computer to my shop.
Wanting to network it to the house computer and the internet, I would need
about
100-120 feet of cable. Are there any problems placing computer that far
apart? The longest distance I have in the house is 34 feet using Cat 5
cable. Can I go 120 feet?

It depends on the speed. You can go a greater distance with a
10BaseT connection than with a 100BaseT connection -- but of course the
data transfers are slower. I feel pretty sure that the 100 foot plus
range is within reason for the 10BaseT, but I have my doubts about
pushing 100BaseT over it. I think that your network hardware will step
down in speed if it can't establish a 100BaseT connection.

I would really *not* set up the networking so the machine shop
computer(s) are visible from the outside net -- especially if one is
going to be running a CNC machine tool. You want to think about might
happen if in the middle of a cut on a big milling machine, the computer
controlling it is taken over by a virus. For getting things from the
outside -- use one of the computers in the house to get it, and then
transfer it over a private net (e.g. 10.?.?.? ip range, or 192.200.?.?,
or one other which I forget for the moment -- all ones which will *not*
be routed to the outside net unless you set up a proxy to do it.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated. BTW I do also
have
a wireless router for my wife's laptop. She is able to get about 30 feet
away and then loses signal. Maybe there are better routers?

Does she have encryption turned on on that wireless router? If
not, then people outside can connect to your computers and use your
network connection. I see about a half dozen wireless networks from my
house, and only one of them has encryption enabled (other than my own,
which also has a true firewall at each end of a connection to a friend's
house.)

You can get better range outdoors than you can through the house
walls. You can add directional antennas to increase the range in
specific directions. (This is what the person sitting parked in the
street will probably be using to connect to your wife's computer, and
perhaps snoop on her passwords to connect to her ISP.

Good Luck,
DoN.
First generation wireless encryption was almost worthless; IIRC passwords
sent in clear text. I gather second generaction is a bit better. Maybe I'm
just paranoid, but I wouldn't let any form of wireless near any control
application.

If you want a clean connection in a noisy or lightning-prone environment
spend more money and go fiber optic. It would be a LOT cheaper than a
crashed CNC machining center or getting killed.
--
Keith Bowers - Thomasville, NC