Connecting an extra computer to Internet

[Paul Smith]

On 7/5/07, Dave Ihnat <dihnat at dminet.com> wrote:
> > I have a cable-based (not optic) modem/router to connect to the
> > Internet (ADSL), which works fine. However, a friend comes in from
> > time to time, bringing her laptop. Is there some cheap and easy way of
> > letting her laptop to connect to Internet? Unfortunately, I cannot see
> > any place in the modem/router to connect an extra cable...
>
> Sure--depends on how you've configured your LAN, though.  If you're
> using the Linux box as a firewall, you put a second NIC in it and either
> connect her to that, or (more useful) put a switch on it so you have
> more than one connection.
>
> If you're NOT using the Linux box as a firewall, then you absolutely
> should get a firewall appliance between the cable modem and your LAN.
> All of these have at least four, usually five LAN ports.

Thanks, Dave. I have still no LAN (as far as I am aware of it); I only
have a single computer and a modem to connect to the Internet. What do
you mean by NIC? How can I know whether I have already got NICs in my
computer?

Paul