cable modems, LANS, Laptops, and docking stations.

[scroce]

situation:

1 Laptop
2 docking stations.

1 docking station at employee's home, other at the office.

The office has an ethernet LAN

The Laptop has a built in NIC, a built in modem, as well as two extra slots for PCMCIA cards.

MAIN OBJECTIVE: to make it as easy as possible for the employee to transition use of computer from home to office.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:

employee would like to take advantage of cable modem access at home for fast internet connectivity.

PROPOSED(yet still somwhat muddy) SOLUTION:

Put 1 docking station in each location. That will allow the employee to plug in their laptop and use peripherals like 19in monitors, mouse, and various printers.

The confusion is surrounding the LAN vs. Cable modem. I imagine the laptop will be configured such that it has normal access to the office LAN. Since there is a nic already installed, once configured, all need be done is plug in the RJ45 connection when at the office and the employee would have LAN connectivity.

But what happens when the employee is at home and wants to use her private cable modem connection? it is my understanding that a cable modem requires a NIC card, but the on board NIC will already be configured for the Office LAN.

Since I have open PCMCIA slots, do I purchase a PCMCIA ethernet adapter for dedicated use to the cable modem when the employee is at home? Can this be done?

I've also heard rumours of a PCMCIA cable modem - is there such a thing?


Requesting ideas. I may have made some incorrect assumptions - if so feel free to point them out.

Thank you.




I ask lots of questions, but I take care to be clear, and always post back results and resolutions so they can help others.

 

[racer514]

A cable modem connection is essentially a LAN.
Just like at work. If the laptop is already set up
at work you should rename that hardware profile with a name relating to work. Then when you have the cable modem setup you will set up a second harware profile with the properties needed when accessing the cable network at home. You will be promted at startup to choose which hardware profile you want to use at that time. depending on the operating system you'll probably find the hardware profiles in the control panel. Try under System. You will not need any other equipment.

 

[scroce]

thanks for your reply.

ok, so you are advocating the use of hardware profiles. I know what they are, but I have never set one up. Do you know of any web/resources FAQ's or places one could find out any necessary info before it is attempted? How much water would there be in the ocean if it weren't for sponges?

 

[racer514]

What operating system?