If you don't have any sort of network yet, then the simplest way to connect your computers is a wired network. Most modern computers already come with a network card already installed. If not you can purchase a network card for very little these days.
To connect just two computers all you need is a CAT5 "crossover" cable directly connected between your two computer's network sockets. An Ethernet crossover cable is a special type of Ethernet cable used to connect computing devices together directly where they would normally be connected via a network switch, hub or router, such as directly connecting two personal computers via their network adapters. You should know that crossover cable is NOT the normal ethernet cable. You can either buy a crossover cable or buy a crossover cable adapter. If you would like to make your own cat5 ethernet cross cable from the standard cat 5 cable, you can follow the following instructions:
To make a "Crossover" cable, you need to change the pinout connections on one end of the cable. If you do it on both ends of the cable, you have crossed-over the crossover and now have a straight-through cable.
Pins 1 & 2 from one end are connected to pins 3 & 6 on the other end, and pins 3 & 6 from the first end are connected to pins 1 & 2 on the other end. Pins 4 & 5 and 7 & 8 don't change.
The pinouts looking from the bottom of the cat 5 ends (White/Orange starts on the left) are as follows:
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Standard End Crossover End
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Pin 1 White/Orange Pin 1 White/Green
Pin 2 Orange Pin 2 Green
Pin 3 White/Green Pin 3 White/Orange
Pin 4 Blue Pin 4 Blue
Pin 5 White/Blue Pin 5 White/Blue
Pin 6 Green Pin 6 Orange
Pin 7 White/Brown Pin 7 White/Brown
Pin 8 Brown Pin 8 Brown
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If you are connecting more than two computers you will need a network hub and normal CAT5 cables between each computer and the hub.
