LAN and @Home

My problem is in two parts.
1. I have a LAN at home that connects my home computer with a laptop and printer. It is configured using NETBEUI. I chose NETBEUI because I use my laptop on a hospital network which uses TCP/IP and I could not get my LAN to work using TCP/IP. Both computers are running Windows98 (not se).
I have @Home service connected to my home computer. I also have 2 nic cards because when the @Home service was installed, the @Home contractor could not get my LAN to work with just one. I read you should only use one nic card, that 2 was asking for trouble. Is that true? If so, how do I get just one to work?
2. I want to share my cable modem with my laptop but I am unable to ping between the two. The IP address on the second nic card is 10.0.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. My laptop is the same with the IP address of 10.0.0.2.
When I ping from laptop to computer I get Request timed out, from computer to laptop I get transmitt failed, error code 10050.
I am also trying to use AnalogX Proxy (once I can Ping).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Alex

1. RE: LAN and @Home
lbyard Dec-16-00 07:30 PM
In response to message 0

I don’t like Proxy Servers for a small network. They are usually too complicated and often difficult to setup. Many times, if something is free, that is about what it is worth. I recommend a broadband router such as the SMC Barricade, which is reviewed at http://duxcw.com/digest/Reviews/Network/smc/smc7004br/smc7004br.htm and discussed in numerous posts in this forum. A Barricade costs about $100 and is well worth the money. My second choice would be a Network Address Translator (NAT), such as SyGate (http://duxcw.com/digest/Reviews/Network/sygate/sygate.htm). NATs are simpler, usually easier to setup, and a good one works well. Another possibility Windows ICS (http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/win98se_cab/intro.htm) found in Windows 98 SE and Me, which is also a NAT. Windows Me is presently available for $49.95. SyGAte is better than Windows ICS and costs about the same for two user license as the Me upgrade. A router only needs one adapter in the computer that connects to the Internet. The latest version of SyGate is advertised to work with only one adapter, but I have not tried it yet. Windows ICS requires two adapters.
First, let’s get that network going. To simplify the problem, I would temporarily remove the adapter for the Internet and uninstall any Internet sharing software. You may have to uninstall and reinstall all network components to clean up the mess if there have been a lot of attempts to install protocols, etc. Install and verify that NetBEUI is still working. Install TCP/IP and assign static IPs of 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.02 with subnet masks of 255.255.255.0. You network configuration should look like the one at http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/win98se/tcp.htm, less the dial-up adapter. Be sure to login into both PCs and ping. Remove NetBEUI if it does and see if you can see the computers in the network neighborhoods. Come back if you still have problems, OK? Larry