I would like to connect 2 computers to share a printer and files. I've done some research and I am getting a bit confused.

Do both computers need to share the same internet connetion?

Is it possible to connect 2 computers with each computer having a seperate internet connection?

That the 2 computers are related absolutely must be a secret to anyone on the internet who might check. Do I need to run both internet connections through the same router or hub or whatever? Or can both connects run directly to it's respective computer?

I've looked at the back of my computer (the second computer hasn't been bought yet). The current DSL connection is going into what I believe is the ethernet card which has only one input. Does that mean I need 2 ethernet cards on each computer? One for conneting to the other computer and the other card for the internet?

I hope I'm not confusing anyone but myself with these questions. I will apreciate any help. Thanks

it's somewhat more different with DSL than it is with cable
you have a lot of options, best one being to buy a router with a built in 4 port switch

if you wonna go cheap, you get the second network card and use ICS (internet connection sharing) which is built into the windows box u use, the catch is, if your machine dies, the other machine won't be able to get to the internet, as you are the bridge on the network

back in days it was possible to use only one network card and a $5 switch to do this, but it's quite unsecure, but using the 2nd NICs is also unsecure since there are no traffic filters or anything, if there's an attack, both machines will automatically receive it since they're on the same medium

i highly recommend the router
this site helped me back when i was first starting out with the whole networking deal:

http://www.homenethelp.com/sharing/dsl.asp
check the different options at the bottom

What you want to do is not hard at all in the normal case.

However, this requirement

puts things in an entirely different light.

How secret must it be and from whom?

From your ISP?

From a web board master?

From that geek woman computer nerd on Criminal Minds?

If you have dsl depending on the provider you may already have a router i.e. bellsouth and others use westell and that is a modem/router combo so all you would need is a switch. If not then you need a router and depending on whether you need wireless or not determines the router. wired and wireless routers both usually have built in 4 port switch so thats all you need to connect 2-4 computer together. You need to make sure for file and printer sharing you enable it on each computer then make sure each is on the same workgroup. After you share out printer and files and reboot your computers should automatically find the shared files and if your lucky install the shared printer. Its not hard just sounds like a lot.

Awesome! Thanks for the resonses guys.

To carltonje and FatTony, I'm not sure but what you wrote seems to still imply that the computers would share the same DSL connection, thus possibly sharing the same IP address, which is what I'm trying to avoid. I'm a bit lost when it comes to networks so perhaps I just don't understand the responses.

Iceblue raises an important question, the answer to which should have been my original post. Please read:

We both make our living on eBay. One of us is at risk of being permanently banned from the website (reasons relating a billing address problem). That means any other account in the same household could be cancelled just for that.

eBay uses several methods to determine if two accounts are related. Cookies is one method, that is easy to take care of. IP address is another, which is my main concern.

QUESTION 1: I guess the first question is if the 2 computers share a DSL connection with a home router, will they be able to assosiate the two eBay accounts by that, or would the two computers appear to have totaly differnt IP address?

QUESTION 2: I don't know if sharing a DSL connection through a router will give us away, so I have assumed it will. So then we will have a seperate DSL connection for each computer. In other words 2 different phone lines from 2 different companies. The next question then is how can I connect the 2 computers together to share printers and files while each has a seperate DSL connection? Is that possible?

MORE QUESTIONS: From what I understand, in a normal home network with one DSL line and 2 computers, you would have a single router to which both computers, printer and DSL are connected. How do I do this with 2 DSL connections? Simply plug both DSL lines into the router? But then would using the same router give us away? Can I run 1 DSL line into one computer and the other DSL line into the other, and aslo have the 2 computers connected to eachother and the printer through a seperate router? But wouldn't that mean each computer needs 2 ethernet inputs, one for the router and one for the DSL? Doesn't a single computer only have one ethernet input? Or can I have 2 ethernet inputs? Or am I looking at it in the wrong way? Probably :s

Sorry guys, I'm totaly confused. I appreciate the responses so much and I will totaly appreciate any further help.

For question 1, they will have the same IP, if they are sharing the internet connection.

For question 2, Having two DSL connections and a network is possible with a switch linking the two, as windows does not share internet connections by default. You will need two ethernet cards though...

Hope this Helps!

Thanks a lot for the answers brenthegeek.

Right, so I'll have to use 2 connections.

So you mean I run DSL A into one of computer A's ethernet card, run DSL B into computer B's ethernet card. Then I need one more ethernet card for each computer. I should connect the two computers through the second ethernet cards using a switch. Right?

BTW, if I use an ethernet switch, I can connect the printer to that, right? What about a cross over cable?

Correct.

You use the crossover cable for a network of 2 computers with nothing else. So, you would not need a switch if you are not adding anything to the private in-house network besides the 2 computers. Just run the crossover cable between the two NICs.

If you want to add a third, or more, client (such as a printer server, NAS, another computer, etc.) you'll need a switch. Most switches made these days will accept a crossover cable as well, so you can start with the crossover cable and later add the switch and not waste a cable.

Let's get some facts out of the way before I try to explain it to you as easy as possible. When you have a connection to the untrusted world [internet] via a logical address [IP] you are going to have some security risks. All you can do is minimize your risks by the actions you take afterwards. If you don't want people to see you connection them you need something to NAT your addresses, basically NAT does a many-to-one address translation, most modern router do that for you anyway, what it does is make your internal [trusted] network address some other IP address, also what you need to do is include a hardware firewall for anyone may get your internet [WAN] IP address. Most attacks are port based attacks, so shutting down useless ports will be to your advantage and a router with builtin firewall will do that. You also want a software firewall, that is something like zone alarm as being the last line of defense; this will protect your system just in-case they do get in through the router. Lastly turn off any serives that are not needed, always monitor the CPU useage, this will sometime indicate a virus or some other attack like [D]DOS is happening. My sugesstion is getting something like a Cisco 501 PIX were it allows you to get home based security in a smalll corporate box. I hope this helps anyone who reads it!