OK, tech-types... I am upgrading my home network and want to do some new things. Since I spend about 12 hours a day in the office, I haven't bothered with anything more than cable tv and a dsl at home. What I want to do is have my (new) cable modem hooked to my big screen, so I can split the screen in two (it does that anyway), and have TV on one side, and the web on the other. That way I can trade after hours on redi, or simply answer emails and/or enjoy my (seemingly endless hours) time on "elite trader" from my comfortable chair. I know a bit about webtv, and I know MSN has a new unit with a cordelss keyboard and mouse (but I really don't need to buy into MSN I hope), and I can add another 1.5 gig server and a wireless or Cat5 LAN if need be. I would like to add a webcam, so I can log into video conferencing and all that stuff. My brother is building a new house, and I am trying to be the "beta tester"for the home networking. Does anyone have any good ideas? Does anyone have such a setup? Should I "get a life?" I would appreciate some help. If you prefer to send email direct, send it to don@stocktrading.com
OK.. take 2 the problem with web tv and the like is screen resolution. A TV screen has poor resolution (even if it is big). If you split it, it gets even worse. But that's my opinion. I have a suggestion : why not take a small (and/or cheap, price being not proportional to size here ) laptop. You want a keyboard anyway. The laptop will have great resolution, you can surf the web, answer email and do videoconferencing with it. Yes, the laptop should use wireless LAN. I use Linksys solution at home. it works great. You may have multiple wireless cards (one per device) so one laptop in your living room. You may move it around or have another laptop when you want to go outside or the bedroom (although my wife never likes that!). just an idea. if you like it, I can give more details. if not.. it's cool too. tntneo PS : the linksys wireless is a PCCard (pcmcia) so it slides right into any free laptop's slot. You can adapt it to a PC too (I use a DWLink card for a desktop PC.. the wireless hub is still the linksys), so internal too. For home networking it is perfect. You don't need more speed (it is way faster than your internet connection anyway).